Page 154 of Say You'll Stay

Allie nods and stays quiet for the next two blocks. The small downtown we have isn’t too busy. Everyone is at the courthouse right now, so we’re basically walking through a ghost town.

“Are you going to miss him, Allie? Like a friend?”

“Yeah,” she says. She scratches her head and stares at the ground in front of us. “Is it wrong to wish that he made better choices? Maybe even get another chance? Because he just threw his life away, Lucas. It’s not even about me, but that he could have been whatever he wanted and he chose wrong.”

“Sometimes people make stupid choices,” I say. Allie releases my hand and hugs my middle from the side, and I hold on to her as tight as I can. “Life is not about money or power, and that was a lesson for those three assholes. And I know you lost a friend, but he was careless with you and our son. Don’t forget that.”

“I’m not, Lucas. I just looked at him today and saw the boy I always looked up to and played games with when I went to their house. He had superhero posters on his walls and liked soccer. He was never a bad guy.”

“I understand, Allie. It’s hard to accept.”

She blows out a breath, and we’re hit with a gentle breeze. “I just need time to adjust. Anyway, you wanted to talk about setting a date.” Allie pinches my side as we walk past the closed shops.

“Tomorrow,” I say.

She giggles while we walk. “After graduation, Lucas. I don’t want to plan a wedding while writing a term paper.”

“Okay, but you also mentioned not having sex, and that’s kind of a long time.”

She looks up at me and I realize we’re both about to make a deal I’m going to hate.

I’m going to lose this fight before it starts. “What about oral, at least?”

“No, Lucas, come on.”

Fuck me, really? “I’ll lose my damn mind, Allie.”

“That’s the point.” She rolls her eyes. “That’s all you think about. Your penis.”

“I think about your pussy more, actually, and what the hell I can do for you.”

She stops and thinks for a moment. Maybe she’s coming to her senses. A small smile and an instant gleam in her eyes and suddenly I’m less confident in myself. The blood is draining from my face. I just know it.

“You know I’ve agreed to marry you, Lucas.” She holds on to the next part of whatever is going on in her brain and I desperately need to know what it is, yet I’m too afraid to find out. “You and I love one another, and I know you wouldn’t do anything stupid to screw this up.”

“Just get it out, Allie. What is it?”

“We have our first event for New Year, so let’s get married after that, okay? Graduation and the start of my new business with my best friend. It seems like a good start.”

“I like that.” We keep walking down the road and there’s a calmness between us. This should have been the start, and we’re finally here.

“What if I just use my hands on you, then?”

Chapter59

Allie

“You’re freaking out again, Allie, and it’s not a good look for you if I’m being honest.”

Charity is “lax” and whatever with her feet up on the fancy table in the dressing room in the historic hotel where we aretryingto have a good working partnership. If the hotel manager were to walk into the motherfreakingbridal suite and see her right now, we could kiss this opportunity goodbye.

As an event planner, I would think she would be a little more… well, stressed or something. Maybe just a touch over the top with the whole “getting things done today” attitude. She practically invented the “bitches get shit done” mantra.

She didn’t go into this for weddings, but it’s going to be in her portfolio for the higher end services she offers. It’s her freaking breakout wedding in this new business and she’s acting like this is her one-hundredth event she has coordinated.

My wedding.

No, while I expected her to be keeping me calm and walking around with a headset on while whisper-yelling at people for my sake, Charity is sipping champagne and eating chocolates that Lucas gotfor me. It’s as if her world is nothing more than a relaxing day at some grand resort.

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