Page 145 of I Stop Somewhere Waiting For You

The lights suddenly pop on as various cheers, catcalls and hollering fill the space. Glancing over the side, I’m filled with overwhelming joy at the sight of our loved ones spilling onto the dance floor below. Nicky, Daph, my parents, and the boys, along with various other friends from work, employees from the clubs, I even spot Val down there. All of them look up at us, baring expressions of pure happiness and excitement.

“What is this?” I glance up at Mav with a smile.

“It’s our engagement party.” He leans forward, playfully dragging his nose up the length of my own.

“Oh, so you were just super confident I was gonna say yes, huh?”

“Well, if you said no, I was going to use them to guilt you into a yes. So their presence really serves a dual purpose.”

“You’re an idiot.” I swat at his chest before being pulled back into him, his forehead pressing against my own.

“I’m your idiot. You’re stuck with me now—” Mav dips to the side where his lips graze the tattoo on my neck “—Mrs. Bishop.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“‘Til the wheels fall off?” Mav looks to me, brushing the hair from my face.

My eyes meet his, my smile widening while my heart expands ‘til it feels as though it may burst. “Forever,” I whisper as his lips find mine once more.

CHAPTER 60

NICKY

“You sure you don’t want us to host Christmas here?” my sister asks, her voice expelling from the speaker, echoing throughout my living room.

“Nah, Baby J. I got the space. We got a bunch of people coming. Plus, you did Thanksgiving. Let’s do it here.”

“Have you cleared it with Daph?” I can practically envision her brow arching with judgement as she tosses the question out.

“Daph’s not gonna care. I think it would be good for us.”

“Nicky,” Jones sighs, “you have to stop making decisions on your own thinking you know best. She’s still living in the guest house. You ever think maybe she doesn’t want to have a bunch of people she has to host when you guys are still working through stuff?”

“I don’t know, Jones. Maybe having everyone over here will be a nice change of pace. Things have been… tense. It will be a reason to chill out.”

“There’s nothing chill about hosting, Nick. Ask her. You want her to start acting like your wife? Start showing her the respect she deserves and treat her as an equal.”

“Who’s that?” I hear the deep bass of Mav’s voice in the background.

“It’s Nicky,” J answers him. “He hasn’t told Daphne they’re hosting Christmas yet.”

The distinct sound of a snort escapes him. “Gimme the phone, baby.” A smack rings out followed by a playful high-pitched shriek. “Yo, fucker.” Mav turns his attention to me.

“Did you really just smack my sister’s ass while on the phone with me?”

He chuckles. “Yup, and I’m gonna give you some solid advice, then rush you off the phone so you don’t hear what I’m about to do to her next.”

“Maverick!” she scolds, her voice calling out somewhere far from the receiver.

“Like he don’t fucking know! Baby,” he whispers, as though he’s pulled the phone away from his face, “go put the thing on. You know the one I like, the red one. Mmmhmm. I fucking love you.”

Jesus Christ. As tight as I am with Mav, it’s times like this a small part of me misses when we hated each other.

That’s a lie. Maverick loves the fuck out of my sister. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. The two of them make one another so disgustingly happy, and their PDA has only gotten worse since their engagement a couple months ago. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still a grumpy fuck. But not when it comes to her. She’s his whole world.

The truth is I’m jealous, because the way Mav is with my sister is the way I long to be with my wife. I miss how effortless we were, back when Daph was still all about me… and I was too fucking stupid to tell her how I felt. That’s how we got here. Because after the way I’ve spent the last five years treating her, she’s struggling to believe I could possibly be serious about this. That my motive for marrying her could never be anything other than protecting her while simultaneously ensuring I still have my fuck buddy.

She knows I care about her. Hell, she’s been family forever. But she doesn’t believe that when I look at her, I see the center of my universe. That for the past five years I’ve been a dick not because I didn’t care, but because I cared so much it scared me.

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