Page 130 of Always Been Yours

Considering the time Lexi walked in and almost saw me butt naked, I know that they don’t ever lock the doors to their shared garage.

Vivi’s always hid herself away when she was upset so it’s nothing new, but I can’t help the guilt crawling up my throat. I don’t want to be the reason she’s retreating into herself,again.She’s come so far in the last few months, opening herself up to new connections and I don’t mean just me. Knox and Lucas, too. I don’t want her to fall into old, lonely habits because of me.

“Dude,” Knox starts, all the patience in his voice suddenly gone, “what are you going to do?”

Gripping my hair, I squeeze my eyes shut. “What do you mean?”

“What thefuckare you going to do to get my sister back?“ Hudson is a surly fuck all the time, but he isn’t anangryperson. It only makes things worse that his anger is now directed at me.

“I don’t know.” And that’s the truth. I’ve been trying to think of things all week to make this up to Vivi.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Grady? This bullshit again? Are you going to look me in the eye and swear you don’t have a crush on her too? Let me get Asher here, so you can lie to both of us again.”

Next to me, Knox leans forward. “That’s the most words I’veever heard from you at once. Keep going.”

Hudson chuckles but it dies off quickly. “That girl has been in love with you her entire fucking life, G. You know it, we all know it. All it would have taken was one simpleI like youand she would’ve broken up with Brody in a second. But you were too much of a coward. I love you, man, but you were one then and you’re one now. I don’t blame you for what Brody did. That’s on him and Molly, no one else. But I’ll blame you if you break my sister’s heart now.“ He shrugs in a jerky, frustrated way. “And we all knew that you loved her too. I don’t give a fuck if you were married and had two beautiful little girls. You’ve always lovedher.Stop hurting yourself.”

Knox slow claps next to me, “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

“The thought of her heart being broken again makes me want to projectile vomit, okay? Yeah, I love her. It’s Vivi.MyViv. But I don’t know how to make it up to her… You didn’t see her when I tried to talk to her.“ She thinks I’m embarrassed to be with her, and I know at least a little bit of that comes from Arielle’s off-handed comment about her being the little girl next door. It’s a horrible coincidence the insult hit the bullseye.

Hudson glowers at me. “She’smysister. I don’t need to be there to have a pretty good idea of how she reacted. She told Calypso and Lexi that you’re supposed to talk before the fair.“ Likely one of those two would’ve told the twins. Vivi’s the baby, and they’ve all made it their responsibility to protect her. He holds my gaze, a little less anger in his eyes this time. “This whole thing is really important to her, andyouhelped her create that. It’s the perfect opportunity to get your head out of your ass.”

“Yes,” Knox agrees, nodding to himself. “A grand gesture. I’ve never met someone who deserves one more than her, honestly.”I couldn’t agree more with that.

“Not only that, but both of our moms will also murder you if you’re the reason they can’t spend Christmas together for the first time in, what? Twelve years?” At least twelve years. The further into high school we got, the more awkward it got between Vivi and I. Especially when we started to date other people. I might be disowned just so they could spend the day together.

“I don’t plan on doing nothing, but I’ve been trying to think about it. I just keep coming up short.”

Knox nudges my shoulder with his. “It’s a good thing you have a lot of people who love her on your side.”

As I’m walking out of the cafeteria with Daisy in my arms and Stella talking Hudson’s ear off about how excited she is to start ballet, I’m feeling immensely better than when the day started. I know this sinking feeling in my stomach won’t be gone until Vivi’s back in my arms, though. But after spending the last hour and a half talking to Knox and Hudson—and Asher, who FaceTimed into the conversation—I actually feel like I have some sort of direction for the first time in days.

I went over everything that happened leading up to the day on Vivi’s porch, and Asher pointed out something I’d been overlooking. Vivi never said she doesn’t want to be with me, just that she’s worried I don’t want to be with her. Which is insane, but I can understand where I let those insecurities take root in her again.

I can only hope it’s as easy as they seem to think it will be. Yeah, it’s me and Vivi, I get it. Getting her to forgive me foryears of silence was easier than I ever imagined but this is different. I know that this hurt goes so much deeper. She doesn’t have to forgive a stupid teenage boy this time… She has to forgive a grown man who promised her the world, and then made her question all of it. Part of me wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t forgive me again.

“Miller,“ an angry voice calls from down the hall leading to the gym. I take a deep breath, knowing exactly who it is just from the way it grates my nerves. “I need to fucking talk to you.”

“That’s a dollar for the swear jar,” Stella tells Harper. He stops a few feet from us and doesn’t offer my daughter more acknowledgment than a disdainful look in her direction.

His expression causes Stella to cower, but Hudson immediately puts his hand on her shoulder and guides her behind him.

“Don’t swear in front of my daughters or my team,” I tell Harper.

“I’m a grown fucking man. I’ll do whatever I want. And that starts withnotwanting to be a part of a dunk tank for six hours straight.”

I glance over at Hudson, and after a childhood of friendship, he can read my expression. He nods toward me and reaches to grab Daisy from my arms. He quickly kneels in front of Stella and whispers something to her, nodding his head toward the front doors. She gives me a concerned look but agrees to go with him and takes his hand. Handing off my keys to him, I wait until he’s further from earshot.

Turning back to Harper, I glower at him. “If youeverscare either of my daughters again—hell, any child at this school—we’ll have a real problem, Harper.”

He takes another step, closing most of the space between us so we’re almost chest to chest. It’s a lazy power move, and one that doesn’t faze me. “The dunk tank isbullshit, and you know it. If you don’t change our booth, you and I’ll have areal fucking problem.”

With a firm hand, I push him back a few inches. “If you didn’t want me to choose for you, then you should’ve sent in your ideas when Vivi asked for them inSeptember.The committee decided that it was a school-wide mandate for the clubs and athletic teams to participate. If you have a problem with that, you’re talking to the wrong person.”

“Change. The. Fucking. Booth,“ he seethes.

“And what would you like us to change the booth to, in less than a week? The booth you didn’t have to do a goddamn thing for, the last time I checked.”

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