Page 105 of I Could Be Yours

She reaches out, but I step back. I can’t handle affection in the form of comfort.

“I can’t love anyone, Essie.” Not the way she deserves. “Especially not you.”

CHAPTER 33

ESSIE

“Okay! All my single ladies line up! It’s time for the bouquet toss since I totally forgot last night!” Rix hops out of her chair.

“That’s you, honey.” Mom nudges me with her arm.

I have not said a word about last night, but she knows something is going on. She’s been super attentive and gentle with me. So has Dad. All it does is make me want to cry.

I slept like trash for obvious reasons. I cried myself to sleep after Nate took back everything he’d said. Erased his words and turned them into acid-dipped knives. He slid into brunch at the last minute this morning. He’s been quiet ever since and looks about as well rested as me. I want to pull him aside, but there hasn’t been an opportunity.

Dred gives my arm a squeeze as she joins me and all the other singles. “How you doing?”

“I’ve been better.” I spent twenty minutes trying to tame my swollen eyelids. I gave up and put on sunglasses, and I refuse to take them off. Thankfully, brunch is an outdoor event.

“You two stop colluding!” Cammie pokes me in the side.

Rix counts down to one and tosses the bouquet over hershoulder, but instead of coming toward us, it boomerangs in Nate’s direction. He’s not expecting it and gets beaned in the face.

“Yes!” Isaac jumps to his feet. “Fuck yeah! You and Essie next year, man! I better get an invite!” According to Hammer and Dred, Isaac spent the entire wedding fending off advances from hotel guests.

Nate’s face turns a remarkable shade of red. I’m frozen to the spot as everyone bursts into surprised chatter.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dallas snorts a laugh.

Hemi rolls her eyes. “Are you still drunk?”

Isaac glances around, expression expectant. Except for Dred and Flip, everyone else looks confused. “What do you mean what am I talking about?” He motions to us with both arms. “It’s so freaking obvious these two have a huge heart-on for each other.”

As more eyebrows rise, Isaac steps forward. “After everyone goes to bed, Nate sneaks into Essie’s room and doesn’t leave until five or six in the morning.”

“You’re high,” Hemi snaps. “You need to stop.”

“I watched it happen from my balcony!” He points to the second floor opposite my room. It would give him a perfect view. “Essie has been carrying around Benadryl all week for him. Also, Nate’s shirts have matched Essie’s clothes—maybe subconsciously, maybe not.”

Even now they do.

Cammie grabs my arm. “Can I just say how much I love you with the hot nerd? It’s like we’re twins but opposite. My hot sister with the smart hot nerd, and I’m the nerd with the hot jock hockey player. Except you’re also smart, and so is Chase, but you’re both exceptionally hot and everyone wants to date you.”

I’m pretty sure she’s been going hard on the mimosas.

“How did I miss this?” Hammer muses.

Sam, also an observant guy, it seems, steps in to take overwhere his brother left off. “And didn’t anyone notice the way they shared Essie’s glass of water during the speeches?”

I can’t even look at Nate. I’m horrified and embarrassed.

Not to be upstaged by Sam, Isaac adds, “They also disappeared right after the first dance and didn’t come back for the rest of the night. Maybe because they were celebrating with a horizontal tango of their own!”

“There are grandparents here!” Hemi smacks her brothers’ arms. “I’m going to murder both of you. Why are you ruining my friends’ lives?”

I glance at Nate, whose expression is frighteningly blank.

Rix and Tristan are wearing matching expressions of disbelief, eyes bouncing between us. I’m sure my guilt is written all over my horrified face.

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