Page 30 of The Broken Vows

“Made you laugh though.”

She begins to reply, only for us both to freeze at the sound of her front door slamming. “Celeste!” a man calls, followed by a few more voices I don’t recognize.

Her eyes widen and she pushes against my chest in a panic. “It’s my parents!” she whisper-shouts as she slips off the kitchen counter, desperately scrambling for her shorts.

“Here,” I murmur, throwing her my shirt. She puts it on in a rush, trying her best to do the buttons up.

I’ve only just about got my boxer shorts on when the kitchen door opens, followed by three pairs of shocked eyes roaming over our disheveled states.

ChapterTwenty-Three

Zane

It’s Celeste’s brother I recognize first, in the moments before his fist connects with my jaw. I saw it coming and let him have it, butfuck, that man packs a punch.

“Don’t!” Celeste shouts, trying her best to get between us. In one swift move, I pull her behind me and out of harm’s way. He might be her brother, but I don’t like the anger I see in his eyes. I don’t want him anywhere near her until I’m certain he won’t touch her.

Archer looks me in the eye, his anger making way for confusion once he realizes I have no intention of hitting him back or even defending myself at all. “What the fuck is going on here?”

“Indeed,” Celeste’s father says, his eyes running down my half-naked body. Thank fuck I managed to get my boxers on, at least. It’s obvious what went down, but this situation would be so much more embarrassing if I’d had my cock out when they walked in. “Zane Windsor?”

“Mr. Harrison,” I murmur, forcing a polite smile as I rub my jaw. That’s going to bruise, no doubt. This is not how I wanted to be formally introduced to my future in-laws.

Celeste’s mother stares at me and snickers before suppressing a smile. “I’ve been wondering why my sweet, attentive daughter suddenly seemed to be glued to her phone. It made no sense that she wanted to spend every evening all alone in her house. I suspected there might be a boy, but I didn’t think it’d be you, Zane.”

Celeste places her palm against my back and moves just slightly so she can face her family, her head peeking out behind my arm. “I can explain and Iwill,” she says, “but first I need you guys to give us some space.”

Her father and brother look like they’ll protest, but just as they open their mouths to object, Celeste’s mother straightens her spine, her expression hardening. “Out,” she snaps.

I tense, surprised, as both men share a look before instantly obeying her. Something about it makes my heart feel heavy — it makes me wonder if my own mother would’ve been like that if she’d still been here, gentle but imposing.

She follows them out, and Celeste turns toward me the second the door falls closed behind her. “I’m so sorry,” she says, gently reaching for my jaw. “My parents were supposed to come over for dinner, but not for another few hours. I suppose they thought they’d surprise me since Archer seems to have flown in. I never should’ve told them where to find the spare key.”

I wrap my hand around her waist and pull her closer. “It’s okay, baby,” I murmur. “But what are we going to do?”

Celeste rises to her tiptoes and presses the softest kiss to my cheek before pulling back to look at me, her gaze searching. “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my family. They aren’t like my grandfather, Zane. I can’t promise you they’d be okay with this, but that’d be because of the years I spent complaining about you. I don’t… I don’t think they care about our grandparents’ longstanding rivalry.”

I grin at her and gently brush her hair out of her face. “You’ll introduce me as your boyfriend?” I ask, my heart pounding wildly.

She blushes and nods. “If that’s okay?”

“It’s more than okay, Celestial.”

She smiles up at me. “Then we’d better get dressed. Somehow, I think they might like you a bit better when you’re wearing clothes.”

I chuckle and grab the collar of my shirt to pull her closer. “Then you’ll have to take off my shirt first, Goddess.”

Her arms wrap around my neck again, and she kisses me softly, slowly, almost like she’s trying to reassure me. She’s so fucking precious. “It’ll be okay,” she promises me, and my heart skips a beat.

Celeste keeps shooting me worried looks as we get dressed, and it’s so fucking surreal to have her worry about me like that. This isn’t what I expected — I thought she’d be ashamed of me, but that isn’t the case at all.

“Come on,” she says, her hand wrapping around mine.

She leads me into the living room, where her brother and father are seated on some boxes filled with my stuff, all random little things that Celeste liked in my house and that I’ve brought over for her in the last couple of weeks. It’s almost like they were put in a time-out, sitting in the corner instead of next to Celeste’s mother on the sofa. Both men tense when we walk in, their eyes dropping to our joined hands.

Celeste tightens her grip on me and straightens her spine, just like her mother did earlier. “Archer, before I say anything further, you’ll apologize to my boyfriend for hitting him for no reason. You’re the one who barged in on us uninvited and unannounced. He did absolutely nothing wrong and didn’t deserve to be treated with such brutality.”

I stare at her in awe, my chest expanding with pride. She’s standing up for me? I don’t think anyone other than my siblings has ever done that for me.

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