Page 101 of Fate Forever and Always

Then it was like a lightbulb went off in her head.

“You don't think he is ch—”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” I cut her off because I didn’t want her to have that thought for one minute. Plus, what if he heard her? He would be devastated.

“You never thought Jake would do it to you,” she stated.

“Aubrey, really? This is Link we are talking about. He worships the ground you fucking walk on.”

She shook off the thought. “Wow, you're right. Sorry, I lost myself for a second. He would never. Damn, I just really thought…Never mind. You told me it was just a photoshoot for us, and you meant it.”

She linked her arm to mine, and I put my head on her shoulder. “I just wanted to do something nice for you as anapology for not looping you in on the Jake drama.” She smiled at me. “It will happen when he’s ready. You guys were fated to be together forever. No one has a more perfect story than you.”

She nudged me with her hip to get me to look at her and raised her eyebrows. “Except for my two best friends, their story is one for books.”

“Me and Nick?” I asked with wide eyes.

“No, Beavis and Butt-head,” she rolled her eyes. “Who else would I be talking about?”

I smiled. “Shut up.”

She laughed, “What? You and Nick are the perfect best friends to lovers.” She paused, “or is it enemies to lovers, since you guys hated each other?”

I scoffed. “I never hated him.”

“I know, I'm just kidding.” She pulled me into a hug. “You guys have the perfect story and it isn’t even done being written yet.”

“Thanks, Aubs.”

The doorbell rang, and we both looked over and saw Brielle through the glass on the door. Then we heard something from my room, and I had to avert Aubrey’s attention back to me.

I smacked her butt and twirled her toward the backyard. “Let's go take some hot ass pictures.”

NICK

Lincoln was pacing back and forth when we heard the doorbell and he jumped. Callie's mom made an excited sound, and I put my finger over my mouth to quiet her.

“Sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s okay, it's exciting. We are almost there,” I whispered back.

Once we heard the back door shut, we waited for a text from Brielle. When they were set, we made our way to the side of the house. Lincoln was waiting inside by the back door. He let them take a few pics, and then I walked out back, acting like I had just gotten home.

“Hey beautiful ladies.” All three of them turned toward me. Callie came over and kissed me.

“Hey, you.”

I pulled her into a deeper kiss and I heard Brielle make a gagging noise. Callie and I laughed against each other's mouths.

“Go take your damn pictures so I can finish this kiss.”

Brielle instructed them to take a photo with Aubrey’s back to the door and Callie beside her. She called it an “I got your back picture”. I thought that was brilliant. It gave Lincoln time to come out and kneel behind her.

A moment later, Brielle asked them to turn around and caught the picture of Aubrey's face, seeing Link down on one knee and everyone else behind him. She looked over at Callie and me in a silent thank you. She looked back at Link with so much love and appreciation.

“Lincoln,” she whispered.

“Hey, Songbird. You look beautiful.”

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