Page 50 of Our Cracked Pieces
I couldn’t fucking do it.
I couldn’t stand there and hear Mystic introduce me to Rowan’s fucking date.
Passing over Rowan to the man sitting next to her, I said, “Darnell Tyson, wide receiver for Los Angeles.” I gave him a tight nod. “Well, we have to get going.” I looked back at Gage. “Just wanted to stop and say hi, man.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” he said quickly, probably knowing I was about to lose my shit.
Kristy took that as our cue, and she started walking away from the table, me close behind. Once we made it outside, I called for James and had him drop Kristy off wherever she needed to go. As for me, I started walking down the street once Kristy has been put safely in the back of my car.
Mystic was eight months pregnant, and that meant I had about a month to get my shit together. I was already so in love with my godchildren, there was no way I was going to fuck this up. I had to find a way to get along with Rowan for the sake of the twins, and I let out a dark laugh at how marital that sounded.
Christ, this was some fucked-up shit.
Chapter 35
Rowan~
Four days, and he was already on a date with someone else.
And it hurt.
It hurt worse than I thought it would, and that made me reevaluate everything I thought I felt about Lorcan Cavanaugh. My feelings for him were more serious than I thought and watching him walk out with his date was a hell of a time to realize it.
Watching him ignore me made me wonder if we were ever going to be able to get past this thing between us to be the godparents the twins deserved. I still had plans on apologizing, but I had an awful feeling it wasn’t going to go well.
After talking with Dr. Willis on Monday, the plan had been to find Lorcan and apologize, but Mandy had called to tell me that she and Darnell were in town, visiting his stepbrother and his family, and knowing I was on vacation, we had met up for dinner, and yesterday had been spent at the spa, catching up and getting pampered. And tonight had been arranged when Darnell had mentioned wanting to see Grayson before they headed back to California. Despite the age difference, Darnell and Grayson had hung out often while we were younger because Mandy had always been over our house.
Dinner and drinks commenced after Lorcan and his date had left, but it was taking everything I had in me not to ruin our good time. My chest felt hollow, and I was paranoid that everyone could see how fake my smiles were.
While I wasn’t sure what Gage knew, Grayson and Mystic knew the basics. Of course, I hadn’t given details, but I had told them that we’d hooked up again, but that it had ended in a huge fight. And as expected, they had automatically jumped to my defense and had taken my side.
The side that had been wrong.
The side that was still wrong.
“So, who wants to go dancing after this?” I asked, thinking dancing and drinks would help.
Rubbing her tummy, Mystic said, “Not me. My feet have a curfew.” Gage put his arm around her, and I knew they were done for the night.
“I’m not on vacation, Row,” Grayson chuckled. “I have to work in the morning.”
I looked over at Mandy and Darnell, my brows raised. “What about you two?”
Mandy shook her head. “We have a big family breakfast in the morning before we head back home,” she said. “Sorry.”
“Okay, from now on, we start planning this shit better,” I teased.
“You better plan it around winter break, spring break, or summer break,” Grayson teased back.
“Well, once these babies come along, I think dinner, drinking, and dancing are all going to happen at our house,” Mystic laughed. “Good thing our place is so big.”
From there, the conversation turned to the twins and all things babies. With Mandy and Darnell having three kids of their own, the pressure was put on me and Grayson to add to the mix. Grayson laughed it off, while all it did was make me think of Lorcan and the beautiful Korean woman he had been with.
And, God, was she beautiful. Beautiful in the way only Korean women could be. Delicate and refined. Porcelain skin, dark hair and eyes, and a graceful figure in a knockout dress. Politely standing by his side, she probably didn’t give him attitude like I did. She was probably going to let him do whatever he wanted to do to her tonight.
She probably didn’t have any cracks marring what a perfect person she was.
Snapping out of my depressing thoughts, I forced myself to be present with my friends and brother. I engaged in the conversation and did all the right things. I laughed when I was supposed to. Answered questions when they were directed at me. And even promised to make it back out to California soon. Besides, Grayson and I were due to visit our parents soon, anyhow.
