Mine Would Be You (95)

We settle into her bed after a moment. I throw my arm over her waist. “How are you today?” Nina asks gently.

It hits me in the chest.

Nina has a way of checking in on me without making me feel suffocated. She doesn’t chase me around and attempt to make sure nothing is wrong, because that’s not life, and she never expects me to talk about it if I don’t want.

But every few days, she checks in. With a simple question like the one she just asked.

“I’m good today.” And I mean it. I miss Dad all the time, but on easy days, it’s a low hum, not an overbearing ache.

“You promise?”

I nod, kissing her nose. “Promise. You know I’d tell you.”

She nods, her body loosening into my touch as we lay there. I flex my hand before roaming over her back until landing on her butt and giving it a pinch.

“What?” she asks, but there’s a smirk growing on her lips.

“Say it.”

She grins, her bright smile taking my breath away. “I love you.”

Rolling into her, I bury my face in the crook of her neck, smiling against her skin. I place a few kisses there. “I love you too.”





“Come on. Emma said she’s inside and is holding a high-top for us,” Harper says, pulling Roman along with her as we all walk towards Bar 13.

“Harper, dude, why are you sprinting?” Roman jokes, practically jogging to keep up with her fast walk. She glances back. Her orange-red hair flows softly against her face as she raises a brow at him.

“Because I’m fucking cold. Now come on.”

Roman smiles with a shake of his head. “You are aggressive.”

The rest of us laugh. Sloan, Jackson, and I walk behind them, not bothering to attempt to keep up. Harper hates the cold more than anything and can only stand to be outside in it for approximately five minutes. The bar is busy but not overflowing yet, and we enter, waving to the bouncers we recognize, and head back to where Emma told us she was sitting.

She smiles. Her brown hair flows down over her outfit as she leans up and waves when she sees us, and my eyes instantly land on the shots lined up on the table. I grin, knowing it’s tequila.

We all stand around the table, and she wiggles her eyebrows. “Figured tequila would warm us up,” she says with a laugh and goes around and gives us all a quick hug before landing next to me on a seat.

She leans in towards me. “So, we may have a slight issue.” I turn more towards her, Jackson giving me a quizzical look that I ignore for the moment. “Myles may or may not show up.”

I raise my brows in surprise. I don’t really care one way or another if he does. We’ve put most of our issues to rest, and I accept that being friends with Emma means I’m going to have to see him occasionally in casual settings. I get that. But I’m not worried about me as I sneak a glance to Jackson. I’m worried about him and Jackson being in the same room.

Because Jackson has made it clear, after he told me about their phone call and Myles’s multiple attempts to apologize, that he’s just not ready. And I may not really know Myles anymore, but I know enough to know he’s persistent and is probably at his wits end at being avoided. I know that Jackson has Roman and other friends, but it doesn’t mean he can’t be upset about losing Myles. He suffered two losses this year, different from one another, but losing a friend is still a loss.

I lean towards Emma, away from Jackson’s listening ear. “I mean it could be good or it could be bad, but honestly it needs to happen one way or another, so they can move on. At least it’s in a crowded bar.” I shrug and grip the shot glass, and Emma smiles, agreeing silently.

Jackson’s arm wraps around my waist gently, and he leans down. “Everything okay?” he mumbles against my ear, and I feel shivers down my spine.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you in a minute,” I respond, leaning up and placing a quick kiss on his cheek.

“All right, cheers!” Sloan shouts, holding up her glass with a smile, and we all touch our glasses to hers, hit them gently on the table, and tip back the liquid. The tequila burns in the best way, warming me instantly from the inside out as I stand around with all my friends.

I lean forward on the table as Jackson goes with Roman to grab drinks from the bar, and Sloan leans over. “You two are disgustingly in love, and I love it. Just thought you should know.”

With a roll of my eyes, I tap her nose. “Shut up.”

She pulls me closer and hugs me tightly. “I love you and love to see it, honestly. Took you long enough.”

I pat her butt gently. “You suck,” I laugh. “I love you too.” I glance over at Jackson and Rome at the bar, the same bar where we met in the cold of the last February, and he turns his head, connecting his eyes with mine and winks at me from afar. I shake my head with a smile.

“Like I said, disgustingly in love.”

I don’t bother answering her this time. I just give her the finger, and she laughs infectiously as we fall into an easy conversation until the boys return. Jackson slides me and Sloan our drinks. Jackson has easily become fast friends with both Sloan and Harper, getting along better than I could ever have imagined. I take a sip, leaning my head on his shoulder as he drinks his old fashioned.

“What were you gonna tell me?” he says, and I lean up, already having forgotten to warn him about Myles. Just as I open my mouth, Emma pinches me, and I look over the crowd to the door and see Myles entering the bar, slowly taking off his coat.