Page 60 of Forever to Fall
“C’mon, man,” Beckett said, his brow creased in frustration. “Lay off, Mal.”
Ever the diplomat, CeCe covered Evan’s hand with hers and added, “I’m with Beckett. Let’s be reasonable. If they want to go together, why not? The party’s next week.”
Evan shrugged and moved on, although Mallory wasn’t going to recover so quickly. They needed to find a way to resolve this, because she could not handle many more digs from Evan. She understood that from where he was sitting, these two had just been fallback options for each other.Oh, how wrong he was...
But the question remained, how would they convince him that they were a good idea? How could Evan see them in a new light if they didn’t shine in public? Mallory tried to catch Beckett’s eye, to see what he was thinking, but it was no use. Since Evan’s dismissal of their date, he’d been quiet. CeCe, for her part, tried to steer the conversation to other topics, but the mood had shifted.
By the time Evan and CeCe left, Mallory felt wrung out. Beckett snatched her hand as soon as the door closed, pulling her close and cradling her against his chest. “I’m sorry about that,” he muttered, his hold on her only tightening. “What did CeCe say?”
Mallory fought the urge to lie, knowing it would stress him out. “She knows about us.” Beckett tensed around her, but he didn’t pull back. “She’s not going to tell Evan, at least not yet.”
“I hate that she has to lie,” Beckett said, and she agreed. This was no way for CeCe to start her engagement, but Mallory wasn’t sure what the answer was.
Well, that was another lie. Mallory knew exactly what the answer was, she just needed Beckett to get on board with the truth. If they were going to do this, they might as well get started. There was no better time than the present, because this secret threatened to hurt them all.
CHAPTER 19
The engagement partywas mere days away, and Beckett had never expected to be this stressed. Over the course of a few days, he and Evan basically turned into chicks. One minute they were watching baseball and talking about video games, the next they’re comparing color swatches for bowties, looking at floral arrangements, and deciding on the best playlist to set a mood. And per Evan, it couldn’t be just any mood. It needed to be the balance between sappy love songs and upbeat pop music—yet it had to be palatable to everyone attending the party.Sure thing, man, no problem...
When he wasn’t wearing his best man hat, Beckett spent all his free time with Mallory. They had spent the night at each other’s apartments a couple of times that week, and every time surpassed his wildest expectations.
During his first sleepover at Mallory’s place, she had warned him about her little body guard, also known as Fernando. The relationship between feline and human was not, in fact, the disaster Mallory anticipated. Within five minutes of arriving and kicking off his shoes, Fernando had jumped onto the couch and curled up on Beckett’s lap. After five more minutes of belly rubs, he was snoring so loudly they had to turn the TV up.
“I still can’t believe it,” Mallory said, her mouth hanging open in wonder. “It usually takes Fernando at least a month to warm up to someone. Even me!”
Beckett shrugged, a smile tugging his lips. “I guess I’m just a likeable guy.”
“Pfft, I don’t know about that.” She winked and curled into his side. By the time the opening credits scrolled on the documentary they were watching, both cat and girlfriend were comfortably surrounding him. It was hard to be lonely when he was cocooned like this. Beckett was in heaven.
A knock at the door jolted everyone to the moment, but it was just a delivery driver with food from the diner. “I’ll get it,” Beckett said, padding over to the door. Throwing the door open, he was greeted to the sight of Evan, bag in hand, eyebrow raised in question. “Lawless?”
Behind him, Beckett heard Mallory rolling off the couch and running to join him. Thankfully they weren’t caught in a compromising position, but he cursed himself for being careless. Why did they order from the diner?
“Foxy,” Evan said, pushing past him and into the living room. Mallory waved awkwardly at her brother.
“What are you doing here, Ev?”
