Page 112 of Forbidden King (Magnolia Falls)

I put on a pot of coffee, grabbed the pain reliever, and gave Hayes a glass of water to drink while he waited for his coffee.

“Take these,” I said, and he took the two little pills from my hand. He hadn’t spoken yet.

I poured us each a glass of coffee because, obviously, there wasn’t going to be a lot of sleep going on tonight. I took the seat across from him at the kitchen table.

“I heard you had quite a night,” I said, surprised to see that he had a little cut on his lip. So they’d clearly both thrown punches.

“Did you hear that from your boyfriend?” he said, sarcasm oozing from his body as he reached for the coffee.

“I did, actually. He’s pretty devastated by the whole thing.”

“Well, I think he’s got good reason to be devastated.”

“You realize how ridiculous this whole thing is, right?” I asked.

“Anyone else, Say. Any-fucking-one-else. He’s my best friend. These four guys, they’re my family, you know?”

“I know. They’re pretty amazing guys. And I just happened to be in love with one of them.”

He closed his eyes and groaned. “Love? You fucking love him? He’s not that guy, Saylor.”

“Look at me,” I hissed, waiting for him to open his eyes. “We’re in love, Hayes. We have been for a while.”

He narrowed his gaze. “He told you that he loves you?”

“Many times.”

“Walk me through this. Make me understand why I had to find out this way. Why you’ve both lied to me for God knows how long.”

“I’d be happy to,” I said, refilling both of our coffees.

I took Hayes back to the months that I lived with the Pierce family. How he slept with me every single night, held my hand, listened to me talk about my day—and never touched me. Not once.

I told him about our connection. About the dandelions. I explained how it all started and paused because I knew this next part wouldn’t be the most pleasant for him.

“He fought it hard, Hayes. He brought you up every day. Worried endlessly about crossing the line.” I reached for my mug, remembering how hard he’d tried to stay away from me. “He stopped going out months ago, if you hadn’t noticed. He was—suffering with discomfort.”

He let out a long breath. “I do remember that. He thought he was dying from a bad case of blue balls. But I don’t need the details on how you fixed that situation.”

“The first time he kissed me, he was riddled with guilt, Hayes. He tried to walk away several times.”

“But yet he never came to me. My best fucking friend. My brother,” he said, shaking his head.

“You’re not going to like this next part.” I cleared my throat, and I looked him right in the eyes. “I am the one who didn’t want to tell you. He insisted he go to you. It was my line in the sand, Hayes. I didn’t want you or anyone else involved. I was adamant about it.”

“What? Why would you do that?”

“Because I’m a grown woman, Hayes. And I know you see me as a child, and I can’t even be mad at you for it. But I wanted to see where it went without you threatening him and putting pressure on the situation.”

“He’s never been in a serious relationship, Saylor.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but he’s sort of been in one for the last few months. Even before anything happened—he and I were always together. It was a friendship at first, and then we couldn’t fight it. I’ve never felt anything like this. And he tried hard not to feel it. He even put that dandelion tattoo beside theRide or Dietattoo all those years ago as a reminder of a line he couldn’t cross.”

“Fuck. Why didn’t he just come talk to me?” He scrubbed a hand down his face. His voice was not slurring anymore, but he sounded exhausted.

“Hmmm…” I said, not making any attempt to hide the sarcasm in my voice. “Maybe because you’ve threatened him about this for years.”

“I didn’t know it was this deep.” His eyes locked with mine, and I saw the understanding there as his hand scrubbed over his peppered jaw.

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