Page 82 of Another Christmas from Hell

He wanted to marry her, more than anything, but he couldn’t make himself go through with it. He just couldn’t fucking do it. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, but he knew that eventually, he wouldn’t be enough, and he’d be forced to watch her walk away. When that time came, he wanted to make it as easy as possible for her to leave, knowing that he would never survive the bullshit that his mother put his father through.

It would fucking destroy him.

“Besides the fact that Sean would kill you after her father and Dad beat the shit out of you, what makes you think that she’ll be okay with something like this?” Johnny demanded.

“Because it’s the only thing that I can give her,” Bryce admitted as he once again found himself watching Cayley.

“You don’t think that she’ll want more?” Brian asked as they watched Sean make his way across the ballroom to join them before glancing back at Cayley, who was busy trying to stop her cousin from going after him.

“I’m hoping that it will be enough,” Bryce said, unable to take his eyes off her.

“God, you’re a fucking idiot,” Brian said, shaking his head in disgust as he grabbed a piece of fudge off a passing tray and walked away.

“Believe me, I know,” Bryce said, wishing like hell that he could give her more.

“What’s going on?” Sean asked, happily stuffing a sugar cookie in his mouth as Craig and Johnny simply shook their heads in disgust and walked away.

“Nothing,” Bryce said, leaning back against the wall as he watched Cayley, once again telling himself that this was enough as he ran his fingers over the box. He would do whatever it took to make her-

“I was wondering when that asshole was going to show up,” Sean said, sighing heavily as he gestured to the asshole making his way to Cayley’s side and before Bryce could push away from the wall, Kevin was pulling her onto the dance floor.

“Looks like he’s done waiting,” Bryce said, somehow managing to force himself to stand there when all he wanted to do was to pull Cayley out of the asshole’s arms and-

“I told her that prick would be back as soon as he realized that she’d moved on,” Sean said, shaking his head in disgust as he grabbed a cookie off a passing tray.

Frowning, Bryce asked, “You told her that?” only to feel his stomach drop as he watched the prick lean down and kiss Cayley before he smoothly dropped down to one knee and pulled a black box out of his pocket.

For a moment, Bryce stood there watching her, waiting for the moment that she shook her head, ran away, looked at him, any-fucking thing that would tell him that this wasn’t really happening, only to watch her stand there as Kevin pulled the ring out of the box and slid it on her finger.

“Oh, fuck no…” Sean said hoarsely right around the time that Bryce decided that it was time to walk away.

* * *

“Dance with me,”came the softly murmured words that Cayley barely heard before she found herself pulled onto the dance floor and into the arms of the last man that she wanted to see tonight.

“Kevin, I-”

“God, you look so beautiful,” Kevin said, smiling as he leaned down and took her by surprise, brushing his lips gently against hers in a familiar move that left her feeling...nothing.

Before Cayley could push him away, he was stepping back with a sweet smile that had her stomach turning as he reached into his pocket and dropped to his knee in a move that she remembered all too well, and one that had her praying was just a really bad dream. This couldn’t be happening, Cayley thought, feeling sick to her stomach as she watched him open the small box and presented her with the same ring that he’d demanded back less than a year ago.

“Please, don’t,” Cayley whispered weakly as she watched Kevin take the ring out of the box and reach for her hand just as she was about to step back and quickly slid the ring back on her finger.

“I love you, Cayley,” Kevin said, his smile turning relieved as he stood up and reached for her, but before he could pull her back into his arms, Cayley held her hand out, stopping him.

“What the hell are you doing?” Cayley demanded, wondering why he had to do this tonight of all nights while she moved to pull the ring off as she glanced back at Bryce, only to find him walking away.

“What I should have done in the first place,” Kevin said, sounding more determined than ever as Cayley struggled to pull the ring off her finger, but it wouldn’t budge.

“This isn’t happening,” she muttered, struggling not to panic as she watched Bryce storm out of the ballroom with Sean chasing after him, trying to stop him.

“I love you, Cayley,” Kevin said, once again reaching for her.

“But I don’t love you. I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” Cayley said, struggling to get the ring off, but it was stuck and-

Screw it.

She was going to have to mail it back to him, Cayley decided as she quickly made her way across the ballroom, praying that it wasn’t too late. When she reached the small foyer outside the ballroom and didn’t see Bryce, she told herself that she could fix this and-

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