Page 5 of Should've Been Us
Chapter Two
Connor Shaw wasn’t normallyan asshole. Really, he wasn’t. He just couldn’t seem to help himself when it came toLulu.
The woman got on his nerves. Every damn one of them. She set him on edge and it didn’t matter if he had the best of intentions, nothing he said ever came out right when it came to her. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d had a conversation that hadn’t ended with one of them storming off but this was the first time he’d ever seen her come even close to tears and that tore at hisinsides.
He hadn’t wanted that. Not at all. Just the oppositeactually.
He’d only been trying to help when he approached her. As the best man, the real best man since Lulu’s title was merely honorary, he’d been given the all important mission of keeping an eye on the guests most likely to cause a scene. Okay, so maybe he’d given himself that mission but it was an important task and he felt like he owed it to Derek to make sure his big day, or week as it may be, ran smoothly. And the one person, in his opinion, most likely to ruin things was LuluNichols.
He knewher.
She might not think he did. She might not like that he did. But he knew her and he knew that this was killingher.
He’d seen her face last Thanksgiving when Derek had proposed to Aubrey in front of all of their family and friends. He’d watched as Lulu’s face went ashen and he’d known then that getting her through this was going to be his mission. He’d known all of the wedding prep and festivities were going to be hard on her. He’d known what nobody else seemed to be paying enough attention tounderstand.
Because Derek, God love him, was oblivious to the fact his best gal pal was in love withhim.
Connor didn’t know how that was possible. Didn’t know how Derek had missed all of the clues over the years. At times he’d honestly thought Derek was purposefully ignoring it in the hopes he wouldn’t have to address the issue but as time went on he’d come to the only conclusion he could. His friend was just an obliviousidiot.
Lulu had been madly in love with Derek since they were little kids but Derek had made it clear he only saw Lulu as a friend. Over the years, Lulu had gotten better at hiding her feelings for him. She didn’t bat her lashes every time Derek walked into a room anymore and she didn’t spend all her time writing his last name on her notebooks. But she was still in love with him and he was marrying anotherwoman.
Of course Derek marrying Aubrey was going to be hard on Lulu so Connor had decided right then and there, at the engagement dinner, that it would be his job to look after her. Make sure she didn’t completely lose her shit. Distract her when possible, which had seemed like the easiest way to handle her since they usually ended up sparring whenever they so much as exchanged more than fivewords.
When he’d seen her sitting at the bar all alone, drinking, he’d gone over to check on her. To make sure she was okay. But clearly she wasn’t okay so he’d gone with the only thing he’d had on the tip of his tongue. Teasing. Taunting. Verbal jabs. And it had beenworking.
Getting her to play along was never difficult. She always had a comeback for anything he threw at her. It was one of the things he liked about her so much. He hadn’t been lying at all when he said she was his favorite person to play with. Shewas.
But then she’d smiled at him, an actual smile, not one of those fake ones she’d been using since the engagement and not one of the sneering ones she usually shot at him when she thought she had the upper hand in an argument. It had been a real smile, broad and open and happy. That smile, pointed at him, had thrown him off balance, thrown him off hisgame.
Because as crazy as she might be, as obsessive and delusional and ridiculous as she was, she was so goddamn gorgeous it made himache.
When they’d been younger, Derek had called her dollface because she’d looked like a little doll. One of those perfectly proportioned little beauties with the chiseled cheekbones and the slightly too big for their face eyes. The rosy red lips that were always full and lush. Her hair was dark and silky and curled around and over her shoulders when she didn’t have it twisted up in a bun. She’d always looked like one of those perfect little dancing dolls spinning magical circles in a jewelry box. Connor had called her that tonight because all done up for the event with her pretty red lips and big dark eyes and sleek black dress, she’d looked like a beautifuldoll.
A beautiful, fragile, breakabledoll.
It had kicked him right in the gut how beautiful she was. For just a second there he’d wanted to tell her instead of ignoring the urge like he usually did. He’d forgotten to keep up the facade of sparring partners, and for just a minute, he’d let himself forget how fragile she was when it came to Derek. He’d forgotten to keep it light and he’d told her the truth, his truth, the one that she would have already figured out if she could see herself the way he sawher.
She deserved better than someone that didn’t realize how lucky they were to be the man she wanted. She deserved someone that could keep up with her fire and her spirit instead of putting it out. She deserved more than a man that had never looked past his own wants and needs to put her feelingsfirst.
Connor had told her the truth and then he’d had to watch as the beautiful, breakable dollshattered.
Dammit. He cursed his own stupidity under his breath and contemplated going after her. He never should have said those things. Even if they were true, she was right. She didn’t need his pity or his judgment. She didn’t need him telling her what to do. She didn’t need him at all and she’d made it more than clear that she didn’t want anything fromhim.
Hell, who was he to give relationship adviceanyway?
The woman he wanted was in love with someone else. Had always been in love with someone else and might always be in love with him even though he was marrying another woman. Connor was as bad as she was, wanting someone that didn’t wanthim.
But what made his situation even worse was that he was fairly certain she hated hisguts.
Why wouldn’t she? He teased and taunted her like a little boy pulling the pigtails of the girl he liked on the playground. He couldn’t remember the last time they’d had a conversation that didn’t end with one of them cursing or yelling at the other. And as much as Derek getting married was going to change things, for all of them, it clearly hadn’t changedthat.
Lulu’s retreat from him, from the room, from the truth, more than proved that she still wasn’t ready to truly hear what he had tosay.
“I take it you are the reason the lady requested a never ending supply of drinks this evening?” A voice with an accent had Connor turning to face a glaringbartender.
“Excuseme?”
“The pretty lady? She requested her cup never go empty tonight. She said I would know why soon enough.” Dark eyes narrowed on him, as if sizing him up, “And here you are, driving her from the bar in a fit of tears. You make the pretty ladycry.”
