The Grand Pact (The Grand Men #1)(68)

Nina’s quiet beside me, her thumb stroking over the rim of her own empty glass. “I guessed as much. It’s not a shock to any of us. You know that, right?” She bumps my shoulder with her own. “Don’t you remember that bet Mason made with me in Bora Bora? He was so sure nothing would happen, but I always knew.”

“How?”

“Call it a woman’s intuition. The way you looked at her and the small things you’d do that I don’t think even you noticed yourself.”

“Like what?”

She smiles at me. “Do you remember the first night I stayed at Mase’s with you all? You took me back to his when he went out to Lowerwick to see his dad.”

I nod.

“We were all in bed the next morning: Luce, Megan, and me and you came in with breakfast for us.”

I frown, trying to remember.

“You brought us toast, in nothing but your tighty-whities and that handsome smile you steal names with.”

“I always knew you fancied me more than him,” I tease.

“Shut up.” She laughs. “You gave Megan the tray, bypassed me, and handed Luce the toast.”

“What?” I rear back, a half laugh blending with my words and making them rasp. “That’s all you’ve got?”

“No. I have years of it, but do I really need to go on? You know as well as I do how you are with her.”

“And then there’s all the things you don’t know.”

“Oh, really,” she drawls out. “Like?”

“Top secret.” I give her the smile she referred to moments ago.

“Luce will tell me.”

“I’m sure she won’t.” I pop a brow, hammering my statement home.

“We’ll see. Either way, I find it kinda sweet that you’re so clueless over it all. The way everyone else can see it but you.”

I swallow harshly, running my tongue over my teeth. “I see it.” And I do. I guess I’ve always seen it—contrary to what everyone thinks. “But I also see her, what she wants, what she needs. Where I am, who I am.”

“Who are you?” Nina asks as if she already knows where my mind is. It pulls my attention back to her.

“I’m notorious.”

“Notoriously what?” she snaps, her eyes pinching in.

I tip my head, giving her a knowing look. “Come on, Nina, I don’t need my ego stroked, and you’re not dumb.”

“I’m serious.” She frowns, her annoyance at me building. “Notoriously funny, kind, caring, bold. You’re one of the most thoughtful and giving people I’ve ever met, Elliot. You care about Lucy—it’s painfully obvious to me and everyone else, and it doesn’t stop there. The way you treat my son—who I know looks up to you—Mason, me, the girls. Megan told me how you were over there on Thursday to help her put her new desk together. You didn’t have to do that. You didn’t, but you did. You treat everyone around you with such love and respect,” She grasps my forearm, her tone absolute. “Even the women you take to bed at the end of a night. They don’t ask for anything beyond the motive, yet you see to it. Because you know there’s a misted perception to your life and the way you choose to live it. A sticky label you get slapped on the chest with after them knowing you for all of two minutes. That’s not on you. It’s on them.”

“Two minutes,” I tsk, making her pause before her face cracks and she laughs.

“My point is…” she sobers. “It doesn’t mean shit. They don’t know you like we do. You are notorious, but not in the way you think you are.”

I scrub at my face. It’s like everything I’ve lived to fight against is being unravelled at my feet. And by a tiny five-foot-nothing pixie at that. “I still don’t deserve her.”

“That’s your opinion.”

I laugh at that, shaking my head. “A pretty important and crucial one if anything is going to happen.”

“Not really,” she says, full of confidence.

“No?” I snigger, not understanding the happy smile dancing across her face.

She shakes her head. “Love is love. It doesn’t give a shit about your opinion, Ell.”

“Love,” I repeat, my face growing blisteringly hot.

“Love.” She chuckles, with pity in her laughing eyes. “We’ll come back to that when you’re ready.”

She’s still smiling like a fool.

But I’m still not over her original comment about Luce. She’s doing so good without us. Although, is she? Lucy isn’t doing anything without me. I’m at the end of the phone, morning, day, and night.

“I’ve never seen you this quiet. It worries me.”

“I’m fine,” I tell her.

“Hmm, okay, I’ll let it go. But only because I’ve given you too much to think about as it is.”

I look down at her, rolling my eyes and dragging her under my arm in an embrace. She wraps her arms around me, and I kiss the top of her head.

“If you hold back because of the opinions of people who don’t truly know you, you’ll end up resenting yourself, not them. They aren’t there at the end of the day, and they certainly aren’t important. Fuck them, okay?”