Page 1 of His Bittersweet Regret

1

Opal

“When are you guys going to grow up and try new people on for size?”

“Excuse me?” I turned to see the smirks on Marsh’s brothers’ faces as Cassy Andros asked the awful question. I pretended not to know what she meant, but it was stupid to do so. Marsh and Opal, together since they were fifteen years old, had always been the running joke amongst most of our friends and family. We had been one another’s firsts. Well, not first kisses, but everything else. It had been me and Marshall Kennedy against the world since we started dating in our sophomore year of high school, and nothing had changed since. We were now both going on twenty-three years old and still together. Even though we were still happy together, everyone around us still tried to tear us apart. I often wondered if it was just jealousy because we had found our other halves so soon without having to go through all the crap everyone else seemed to. Who knew?

“Oh, come on, isn’t it time you two took a break and explored new people?” I didn’t miss the way Cassy’s eyes wandered hungrily over Marsh’s body. He kept himself in good shape, even though he would never be mistaken for a gym rat. Sure, he ran and worked out, just not to excess. His hair was trimmed short, with the top portion of his light brown locks hanging down his forehead while the rest was tapered down from a buzz cut to a close shave by the time you got to his nape. The hair he lacked on top of his head was made up for by the full, well-maintained beard and mustache, a few shades darker than what grew on his head.

I loved his beard. I remembered when he couldn’t grow one at all and just had sparse little sprigs of hair everywhere as he tried. It always brought a grin to my face when I thought of it, and that was one of the things that made us special. We had history together. We grew together as the people we were now, and that meant we had a closer bond than most of the couples we knew.

“Why in the world would he need to do that? Just so you can have a turn on the only Kennedy brother you haven’t managed to sink onto?” Granted, it was a bitchy thing to say, but it was the absolute truth. Cassy had been with Bastion, Brixton, and Jimmy. I doubted she had been with Ryker, since he was still only seventeen, but I honestly wouldn’t put it past her. That meant the only brother who wasn’t disturbingly close to the age of consent was Marshall.

Cassy laughed at me. “Oh honey! If I wanted your little boytoy, I would take him from you. You guys think you have this crazy bond, but…” She pointed her finger to the left, where Marsh was laughing at something a cute little blond was saying. She looked like a pixie, but one that had her law degree and fought crime for a living. Cassy tittered as my eyes lingered on the scene she pointed out.

“Good for him,” I heard Brixton mutter. I turned to face him, more because I didn’t want Cassy to see the moisture building in my eyes, than anything else.

“What have I ever done to you?” I asked. At least the flush on his cheeks showed that he was a little embarrassed, but that didn’t stop him from speaking his mind again.

“Listen, Opal, it’s nothing against you. I just don’t want to see my brother plodding along miserably five years from now, with two toddlers underfoot, wondering why he never bothered to live his life to the fullest while he was able to.”

“I don’t understand why you guys hate me so much,” I whispered. There was no mistaking the fact that the Kennedy boys didn’t want me with their brother. The twins had tried, numerous times, to break us up while we were in college. That started because instead of going to their father’s Alma Mater as the rest of the boys had, Marsh had gone to a local state university with me. The whole family had been disappointed in his decision.

I don’t know why they were. The rest of the boys – except Ryker who was still in high school – all carried six figure student loan debt. Marsh didn’t owe a dime thanks to scholarships, cheaper tuition, and being able to live at home, and then our apartment, rather than dorms.

I watched Marsh, who was still chatting with the pixie girl, until he finally glanced over and remembered that I was there. He immediately left her side and came to mine.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m not feeling well. I’m going to head home, but you should stay.”

“I’m not staying if you’re leaving.”

“Marsh, please, stay. Your brothers already hate me. They think I trapped you into a life with me somehow and that you’re not living it up to the fullest.”

“This again?” Marsh asked with a roll of his eyes. When I said nothing, he glanced back down to see the hot tears that threatened to fall. “Opal.”

My name was a whisper on his lips as he leaned in and kissed the top of my head. I was dainty compared to Marsh. In fact, the blonde pixie was probably an inch taller than me. While other people might have described me in the same light that I had done for her, I never saw it when I looked in the mirror. I was girl-next-door pretty with my black hair, short, tanned legs, and slender body. My boobs were a B-cup on a good day and my eyes were just as dark as my hair. There was nothing spectacular about me.

The crazy thing was, knowing all that, I knew there didn’t have to be anything spectacular because Marsh loved me for the whole package – inside and out. It gave me the confidence to know I never had a thing to worry about. At least, I never had before tonight. I recognized that look in his eyes when he’d been talking to the pixie. It was interest. Cassy – though I’d never admit it to her – had been right.

“You know I don’t mind coming back home with you.”

“I know, but honestly, you should stay and have a good time. I’m feeling a little queasy and don’t want to ruin anything for you.”

“If you’re feeling queasy, I should be there to help you.”

“Yeah?” I asked with a little tease in my tone. “How are you going to help me to not be queasy?”

His brows pulled together as he thought, then he grinned down at me. “I’ll be your snuggle pillow. That always makes you feel better.” I couldn’t hide the smile that his answer elicited from me. He wasn’t wrong about that. I patted his chest with my hand in appreciation.

“Stay, please. It’ll give me a chance to get a little rest before you get home.” I glanced over toward Brix, who was scowling at me. “Besides, Brixton was looking forward to you being here tonight. Please, don’t let your brothers down on my account.”

“Fine, but I won’t stay long, just long enough to appease them.” I sincerely hoped that wasn’t true, because I was beginning to think the only thing that would appease Brixton Kennedy was if I fell off the face of the earth and his brother nailed at least three of the single women at the party before going home.

2

Marsh

---