Page 52 of Salvation
When I pull back, Ivy‘s eyes are wide, her mouth dropped open. She blinks a couple of times, and I smirk, lifting her hand and tapping the ring on her finger that I’d given her just days before. “Consider that promise, too.” Spying her grandparents walking through the church doors, I place one more kiss on her head. Walking backwards, I make sure her attention is still on me when I say, “Don’t hide from me, sunshine, because you’re mine. Now and forever.”
Chapter 26
Campbell
I’m standing outside a house with white siding and wooden shutters. A picket fence runs along the back side, and there are a few rockers on the porch. It’s a family home, and jealousy burns through my veins when MJ walks out with a smile on her face to greet me.
All I’ve ever wanted is what my best friend now has, and I hate how much I envy him because of that.
“Sorry, sir,” MJ says, stepping off the porch in her bare feet. “We don’t allow strangers here.”
I roll my eyes, and MJ smirks.
“You’re hilarious, MJ. Truly.”
She shrugs. “I like to think so.”
A beat passes in which I stand there awkwardly with my hands shoved into my pockets. I’ve never felt awkward here before. I’ve always treated it like a second home, and MJ and Hayes have done the same with mine. But everything about my life feels awkward—like I don’t fit into the places I used to. If MJ notices my discomfort, she doesn’t seem to care. She isn’t one to go easy on a man. She places her hands on her hips and stares me down while she waits for me to be the first to break.
I scratch at the back of my neck. “Is—uh—is Hayes around?”
A bright smile lights up MJ’s face. “He’s inside.”
I nod, dropping a kiss on her cheek as I pass by her and climbing the porch steps, but I only make it to the door before she calls me to a stop. “And, Campbell—”
I stop, looking back at her. “Yeah?”
“Fix whatever’s going on because my husband has been grumpier than normal, and don’t think I haven’t noticed that you’ve been suspiciously missing. My pregnancy hormones were two seconds away from driving him to your house and dropping him off.”
I chuckle, but it’s not as convincing as it usually is. “You got it.”
I reach for the door handle, but MJ stops me once again.
“Campbell—”
Sighing, I look back over my shoulder, meeting her gaze. “Yeah, MJ?”
“I love you,” she nods toward the inside of the house, “And so does he. Don’t suffer alone because I’ve already lost one person I love, and I don’t think I can live through another.”
Guilt and shame are like shrapnel straight into my chest from the bomb she just dropped in my lap. I give her a sharp nod and sling the door open, stepping inside before she can stop me again.
Inside the house, I kick off my shoes and head toward the kitchen. Hayes is standing at the stove, grumbling about something when I walk in. His back is toward me, so he doesn’t realize it’s me at first.
“MJ, where did you go? Look, I’m sorry about our fight—”
“Heard you’re being a real jerk. You should probably work on that.”
Hayes spins around, and I nearly choke from trying to hold back my laughter. But in the end, I can’t do it. He’s wearing a pink floral apron that ties around his neck, and there’s green goop slathered all over his face.
“What is on your face?” I wheeze, doubling over with laughter. “Better yet, what are you wearing?”
I can hardly breathe as he grabs a rag and wipes at his face, then yanks off the apron. He glares at me as I laugh.
“Laugh it up, but MJ is crazier than normal from the hormones. This is all her doing.”
“I heard that, Hayes Miller, and don’t think I won’t kick your butt just because I’m pregnant.”
I don’t know when she came back inside, but my laughter doubles when Hayes’s face goes white beneath the remnants of green smeared across his cheek. His eyes widen when he looks at me and whispers, “That woman is terrifying.”
