Page 73 of Beneath Your Beautiful
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Eden
“You decent?” Sawyer yelled on the other side of my bedroom door as I gave myself a onceover in the full-length mirror on the back of my closet door. My dad always threw a welcome home party for Sawyer and tonight was no exception. Sawyer barreled into my room without waiting for a reply, an open beer in his hand and two more cans stuffed in the pockets of his cargo shorts. His eyes were glossy, and I wondered how much he’d already had to drink.
He tossed me a beer and I caught it in one hand and tapped the top before I popped it open, catching the foam in my mouth. Sawyer collapsed on my bed, in no hurry to join this party. I looked out my bedroom window at the backyard—our two-acre property extended back to the woods where we used to spend a lot of time as kids.
My dad and his friends were huddled around the grill on the deck below my window, and the smoke curled up into the air, the aroma of grilled burgers and hot dogs coming in through my second-floor window. Dad’s music—classic rock—was blasting from the speakers and Springsteen was singing about busting out of school and not surrendering. Kate, pretty and petite in a yellow sundress, her dark hair smooth and glossy, tapped him on the shoulder. When he saw her, the smile on his face matched hers. He wrapped his arm around her waist and kissed her on the mouth. I turned away from the window, with a little smile.
I sank into my oversized beanbag and tugged down the hem of my blue cotton mini dress. “Have you seen Killian?” As predicted, Killian had been instructed to stay in Garrett’s old room. After we’d arrived, we took naps separately and I hadn’t seen him since.
“He’s in the shower,” Sawyer said, guzzling his beer like he was on a mission to see how fast he could get drunk. He downed his beer and tossed the empty can in the wastepaper basket next to my dresser then cracked open another beer. “You love him?”
Love. That was a big word. But I felt like I could love him. Killian would be easy to love. Easy for me to love. “I don’t know. I’m crazy about him, though. I feel like…” Sawyer and I had never discussed our love lives before. As close as we’d always been, that was an area we never ventured into. “On paper, Luke was perfect, you know? But with Killian, I feel like he accepts me for who I am, my faults and weaknesses, and he’s not trying to change me.”
“Well, you are his sunshine.”
I grinned. “Exactly.”
“Glad you’re happy,” he said gruffly.
“Thanks. Are you—”
“Yoo hoo,” I heard on the other side of my door and then Cassidy was in my room, with Brianna and what looked like the rest of my old cheering squad.
“Oh. My. God,” Brianna whispered, her eyes wide. “Who is that?”
I looked over at Killian standing in the doorway. Shirtless. “Where’s your shirt?”
“In the room.”
“Go put it on.” I shooed him out the door with my hands, although I was clear across the room, still ensconced in my beanbag.
He chuckled and pranced down the hallway. Half the cheerleading squad swiveled their heads to watch him. The other half ogled Sawyer lounging on my bed, and Brianna dove on top of him. “Hey, baby,” Bri said, planting a big kiss on his lips. “Missed you.”
“Oh yeah? Wanna show me how much?”
I groaned, and seconds later a bunch of guys from Sawyer’s high school football team crowded into my bedroom. It was too small to accommodate all the sweat and hormones, not to mention the aftershave someone had used too liberally. Cameron, the former linebacker, and Sawyer’s best friend from high school, pulled me out of the beanbag and threw me over his shoulder. “Put me down.” I pounded his back. He was built like a refrigerator, almost too wide to fit through my door.
This was one of his party tricks. He wouldn’t put me down until I was outside in the backyard, after he’d run a victory lap. This used to be my life. Sigh. “Killian,” I called out as Cameron trotted past Garrett’s old room. “Rescue me from this brute.” Since I was laughing, I didn’t think Killian took it seriously.
Cameron spun around in a circle. I lifted my head and looked over my shoulder at Killian standing in the doorway. I was happy to note he’d donned a T-shirt. “Holy shit,” Cameron said. “I’m a big fan, dude.”
I groaned. Killian managed to avoid this in Brooklyn but a few hours in western Pennsylvania and he was being subjected to his worst nightmare. Killian Vincent fever had reached a high pitch. But I saw my exit strategy, and I was an opportunist, so I took it. “Cam, let me down. I’ll introduce you.”
Cameron let me down without a struggle and Killian tucked me close to his side. I felt like he needed the support more than I did.
I made the introductions and Killian got to meet the football team and the cheerleaders. He was ogled at and fangirled over in equal measure.
“I was her first kiss,” Cameron informed Killian when we’d all gotten outside, with beers in our hands.
“Most awkward kiss on the planet,” I said.
“She’s exaggerating.” Cameron winked at me. “But not by much.”
We all drank and made merry, talked, and laughed, and everyone got over the fact that Killian was a former UFC fighter. Nobody mentioned Luke or Lexie or the baby that must have been born by now either.
Killian slung an arm around my shoulder and I looked up at him, a big smile on my face. “It’s so weird to see you here. But in a good way.”
