Page 135 of Honeysuckle
“Offer will always be on the table.” He cocked his head to the side, completely unbothered.
“How come you aren’t dressed?” I asked him, turning to grab my belt from the bed. "We have to leave in twenty.”
“It takes me five minutes to put on clothes.” He rubbed his shaved head with a smile.True, I thought and did up my belt buckle with shaky hands. “You alright?” He asked me, his demeanor softening.
“Nervous.” I inhaled a strangled breath and tried to convince my heart to stop beating so fast in my chest.
“About what?” Cael stepped forward again, swatting my hands away to help me with my belt. I hate being babied, but just for the second he was there, everything seemed a little less daunting. “Tonight or in the grander schemes of falling in love?” He smiled at me, and I found the balance I needed to stand on my own two feet again.
“Both,” I said with a tiny huff. “I’ve never actually released a press statement, and my father will be there tonight, they’re one of Harbor’s biggest donors…”
“So we do what we do… well, you do what we always do, get drunk and have fun,” Cael suggested.
“I can’t. I have to do that speech. I’m captain now, I don’t get to enjoy the gala,” I said. “Do you ever wish we could go back to that first year?” I asked him.
“No.” He shook his head. “That year was hell for both of us. Mostly because of me… I would never want to live through that again, no matter how fun some of it might have been.” His gaze met mine over my shoulder in the mirror as I turned around to double-check my outfit. The sheer shirt left nothing to imagination, every muscle was pulled tightly and radiated with uncomfortable tension and anxiety.
Tonight was going to be a shit show.
“Dad wouldn’t have given you the job unless he knew you could handle it, and Josh wouldn’t have given you his heart for the exact same reason. So maybe you need to stop doubting your ability to step up to the plate.” Cael watched me with a curious look on his face. “Maybe you just need to believe in yourself instead of letting the corrupt words of a family that never appreciated your heart turn you rotten.”
I nodded, his words heavy on my chest.
“I wasted a lot of time, Cael,” I said, chewing on the inside of my cheek. “Fighting against people that didn’t deserve it, not pushing back against the people that did. I'm sorry,” I said to him.
“Time can be created,” he sounded so sure of himself. “Hey,” Cael tapped my shoulder, and I looked over at him again. "Do you remember what Mama used to say to us when we fought?” He asked me, and I could hear the pain in his voice. His throat had the tendency to close over when he thought of her even to that day.
“If we can fight that hard against the people we love, imagine what we could do against the rest of the world,” I repeated it with him, and I could hear her voice in the back of my head like a mantra. “I wish she were here.”
“She is,” Cael's voice was soft and sad, and tapped my chest gently before he started to walk away. He was running out of time to get dressed and if we were late Arlo would beat our asses.
“Cael,” I called to him before he left the room, and he poked his head around the door to look at me. “I love you.”
“I know, big boy.” A goofy grin appeared on his face.
“Hey, I know that reference,” I said to him with a smile, and he winked before disappearing again.
I stood in the quiet for a second, pushing my hair back off my face and really making sure that I was ready for tonight before leaving my room. The Nest was quiet, everyone having either left or been on their way out the door. I could hear Cael shuffling around his room and stared at the open door, my heart no longer hurting at the thought of him.
“You ready?” Josh’s voice travelled up the stairs and I turned to see him with a hand shoved in the pocket of the well-fitted black dress pants.
“Holy shit,” I inhaled, my chest rising slowly at the sight of him. His hair was combed back in slick waves that curled around his ears and nape. He was wearing a few rings, but the star of the show was the black dress shirt and all the gold embellishments that made him shine. They balanced out the darkness in his eyes, making them glow a beautiful shade of amber in the dim lighting.
“I look fucking good,” he said, that smug smile I missed so much returning to his handsome face. It had been a rough few weeks dealing with his Mom’s passing, but I’d never admired him more as he took everything in stride.
Silas and he had delivered a late statement on everything that happened, including the untimely death of his mother. The questions circled madly, but they had done an impeccable job of answering what they could without letting the press run them over.
“You look damn good,” I said with a smile, descending the stairs. I reached the bottom, and his eyes trailed over me with a satisfied look on his handsome face. “We’ll be lucky if I don’t puke on this before the night's finished,” I said nervously.
“I puked before I put mine on, like a responsible adult,” he said, stepping forward and brushing his hand against a rogue curl that slipped out and fell against my forehead. “You clean up pretty good, Tuck,” he whispered—a quiet moment just between us before the chaos started.
“I’m a wallflower next to you.” I breathed him in as he stole a reassuring kiss from my lips. His bravery was inspiring, each kiss and every touch a testament to how hard he was working to feel better. “Can’t believe I get to take ‘the’Joshua Logan tonight,” I laughed."Most hated man in Habor."
Months ago, that sentence would have been more unbelievable than me saying I was straight. Now, having him standing in front of me, neither of us weighed down by the suffocating pressure of our families, everything felt a little lighter.
“Yeah, yeah.” He laughed gently, ready to get the public show over with. "Do you have your speech?” He asked me.
“It’s on my phone,” I said.
