Page 66 of Burn It Down
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Cage beat me to it. Dick was proposing to his girl before I even looked at rings for my woman. It didn’t make me jealous. Well, maybe a little because he was a sight to see, so fucking happy.
We were happy too; or at least on the path to being golden again. I would marry Gigi, I had no doubts. Right now, I was fine taking her on our dates and having her waiting for me at the end of my day.
Honestly, putting a ring on her finger changed very little. No name change was necessary, which was a bonus. I had started thinking about moving out of the condo; to some place that hadn’t been fucked up by my past or hers. Other than that, Gigi and I had been playing house almost from the beginning.
After the past few months, rough as they were, we seemed more solid than ever. The only thing threatening that was her stalking fucking professor, Jordan Dexter. Which I planned to put an end to, one way or another.
Cage and I had dug up some info on the prick, thanks to our buddies on the force. Diggs, a detective we had gone to high school with, had done us a solid and gave info that could get him in trouble.
“Looks like he dated a freshman student at his last school. Just this side of legal, actually. Parents didn’t seem to care. The school was another story. Dexter has some important friends; comes from a wealthy background. Some hush money, and he just had to move schools. Red’s not even the first student at Loyola.” I intended to see to it she just might be the last.
“Finn, you can’t go off the rails. We’ll keep an eye on him. Stay away from him for now. I get you want to protect Red. We won’t let anything happen to her, bro.” Cage had reined me in, but just barely.
After Gigi came home to that note and rose, and I found out he had been calling and texting, I had been ready to kill him. Gigi claimed she thought she saw him a few times when she had been out.
To be honest, I thought I had seen him at the theatre once, but considered it a coincidence. After the rose incident, I thought back on the time since their run in at the coffee shop and thought it was a lot more.
I had gotten a note too. I didn’t share this with Gigi or Cage. Not even Diggs, even though it could have helped the case. The day after we almost got busted fucking in the park, I found a note on my windshield.
Nothing threatening; hell, it barely even made sense to me at the time. Not until her note and the rose did it make sense.
“I deserve more.”To be honest, I thought it was Bree; I don’t know why she was my first suspect, but she was.
Since they had been friends, Bree had used and abused Gigi. Why my woman took her shit, when she was one of the strongest people I knew, I couldn’t figure out.
Perhaps they had shared something special once. Not now. I thought the note was a last-ditch effort by Bree to fuck us up. I didn't intend to let anyone do that.
Today, we had met with Diggs before heading to work. Diggs refused to give us too much info, afraid I’d go off the rails like Cage said. I intended to do just that, regardless of what they said.
I didn’t need info; I knew where the fucker worked. Might kill two birds with one stone if I found that bitch Bree at his class. Tell them both to kick rocks before I made it ugly for them both.
Before I could do that, I had somewhere important to be. Cage was antsy as fuck, and if I didn’t love the dude so much, he might be pissing me off.
We had a busy shift until around seven, and the boy watched the clock desperately. Every time after a call, he played with that ring. Lola was holding a book for him that he would tie it up in. Sucker was going soft on me. I couldn’t be happier for him.
“Relax, bro,” I knew it would fall on deaf ears, but I tried, “we know her answer. Charli Doll was a yes from the beginning.” I knew he had to be nervous to propose in front of both families.
When I proposed, which now I wanted to more than ever, it would be just us. Gigi didn’t like attention. I had done it right, asked all the important people. Now, I had to do like Cage and get a ring, then figure out my plan.
“Fuck, I hope so. Charli scares easy, bro. What about you? You mean what you said about marrying Red?” He grinned when I sunk into love struck mode and smirked. I was sure I looked like an idiot.
“Fuck, yes. You just beat me to it, bro. I love her, man. I haven’t, uh…I haven’t told her yet. Think I should give her the words first. I almost have so many times. This shit with her fucking prof is pissing in my proposal cheerios, bro.” Cage sighed and nodded, turning over the ring again and again.
“Take Charli with to pick out a ring. Wait till I get my ring on my girl, though, yeah? Look, this shit with her teacher, don’t let it affect you two. Don’t blame yourself either; what happened between them wasn’t your fault. Not really. Dude is not stable, and he wanted Gigi whether she gave him the chance or not.” Cage might be right, but I felt guilty as shit.
“Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. The whole family is going to be there? The girls and their husbands and everyone?” I had yet to actually meet the two hulking brothers that had tugged Cage outside earlier
“Yeah. Her, uh…her old boyfriend proposed in front of the whole fucking town. Kind of want to wash that away. Do it right.”
“It will be right, bro-seph. No worries.” I said this, but then I started worrying about my own proposal.
I wanted to do it soon, but now I felt even more pressure. Not because Cage was doing it, not really. Anyone who saw Cage and Charli knew he couldn’t wait to make it permanent. In fact, I was kind of surprised they didn’t come back from her hometown married.
No, I felt pressure because of the other shit going on in our lives. I wanted to make it very clear, ring or not, Gigi was mine. For keeps.
We had waited so long to be together. I never thought I might get to keep her; that Gigi might even want that. I knew she wanted me, but I just figured it was fun, forbidden. That was not what we were about, and once I figured that out, I knew I was done.
