Twenty-Two

 

 

Linc

 

The early morning sunlight filtered through the gap in the curtains, but we’d been awake for hours, lying in bed enjoying our time together. It was the day of the wedding, so we were making the most of being alone. The moment we stepped out of this room, we had to go back to pretending we were nothing more than friends.

I wasn’t sure I could do that. Looking back, I didn’t think we were ever just friends. And I didn’t want to pretend we were. Not now that I knew what it felt like to touch her and kiss her whenever I wanted. Not now that I knew what it felt like to hold her in my arms all night, knowing she loved me.

I never wanted to let go.

“Can I ask you something?” Indie lifted her head from my chest, her fingers dancing across my collarbone.

“Anything.” I twirled her hair between my fingers and focused on her eyes. Her emotions were on full display, and the seriousness in her tone had me worried.

“Can I lick your collarbone?” She grinned playfully.

“What?” I couldn’t contain my laughter. That was not what I was expecting her to ask.

She shrugged. “You have a really pretty collarbone.”

“Pretty?” I raised an eyebrow. There was nothing pretty about me. I was a man. And men weren’t pretty.

“Manly.” She narrowed her eyes and deepened her voice to imitate a guy. “Rugged.”

I was still laughing.

“Look, it’s just really sexy.” She slapped my chest and tried to pull away.

“You can lick whatever you’d like, Ace.” I smirked and brought my hands up, folding them behind my head. “Have at it.”

Her eyes widened, and she sat up, curling her knees under her. With her bottom lip pulled between her teeth, she dragged her gaze from my face and down my chest.

“What’s wrong, In?”

“You’re making fun of me, aren’t you? You don’t think I’ll do it,” she said, lying back down beside me.

“I’m still waiting.” She was right. I didn’t think she’d do it.

She propped herself up on her elbows and raised a challenging eyebrow.

“Go on, then.” I nodded, giving her my permission to lick my collarbone, and dammit, she did.

Not in a sexy way. Not in the way I hoped she would. No, she stuck her tongue out and dragged it across my skin, just once, like she was licking an ice cream, and hell if it still didn’t make my toes curl.

She smiled at me, one hundred percent proud of herself. “Proved you wrong.” She giggled.

“Yes, you did.” I laughed and hugged her to my chest.

She snuggled against me and sighed.

“What’s up, Princess? Want to lick my funny bone now?”

“That’s not even a real bone.”

“I know. What are you thinking about?”

“Jasmine…”

“Indie, that’s—”

“I know you said it was a story for another time, but I want know. Please tell me.”

I couldn’t say no to her. Me getting engaged to Jasmine culminated in Indie avoiding me, her family, and coming home for over a year. I owed her an explanation.

“Okay.” I groaned and wiggled down in the bed a little more to get comfortable. Indie’s hand rested on my heart, and I was sure she’d feel it beating in its cage. “I met Jasmine a while ago. About six months before Cole’s birthday—the last time you came home. There wasn’t anything particularly special about her. We didn’t connect at all. It was just physical…”

She tensed in my arms.

“Sorry, Ace, but I don’t want to lie to you.” I kissed the top of her head.

“Okay,” she whispered.

“She was just there at the right time. I used her as much as she used me.”

“How?”

“When I met her, I was hurt. In more ways than one. I’d just been released from hospital, and I was heartbroken over…you.”

“Me?”

“Let me finish. Jasmine danced—literally—into my life when I was feeling low. I convinced myself that I needed to get over you, move on, and she was there, willing. She didn’t care that my heart wasn’t in it, that I didn’t love her and never would. She just wanted someone to take care of her. Someone who could support her enough that she could finish her degree and quit stripping for good. So we got engaged. But I couldn’t do it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t erase you from my thoughts, from my heart. I guess you were my bad habit too, and I knew without a doubt I’d never be able to quit you either. I called the whole thing off. And you should have seen my parents. I don’t think they’d ever been so happy about anything in their lives. It seemed no one thought Jasmine and I should get married, but no one wanted to tell me to my face.”

She was silent. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Panic set in. What was she thinking? Did this change her feelings for me? What—

“You said you were in hospital. Why didn’t I know about that?”

“You didn’t?” She didn’t know I was unconscious for three days. She didn’t know she was the first person I asked for when I woke up, and the nurse stared at me blankly, not knowing what I was talking about.

“Of course not. If I had, I would have been there in a second. Sat beside you until you were allowed to go home. It wasn’t serious, was it?”

“I had a car accident. Lost control in the rain because I was driving so fast. Spent a week in hospital, three days of which I was out completely. But I was okay. I thought—” Dammit, everything I’d thought was wrong.

“What?” Indie sniffed.

“I thought you knew and you didn’t care that I was hurt. Every day I was in that hospital, I waited for you to come running through the doors. And every day you didn’t show up, it broke my heart, until I decided enough was enough and it was time to move on.”

Indie lifted her head and looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Linc, I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. I really didn’t know.” She choked back a sob.

“Don’t cry. It’s okay. It’s all worked out now. It took us while, but we finally got our shit together.”

“How did I not know? Did Nate and my parents know?”

“Hospital called your mum first because they couldn’t reach my parents. They were there with me every day.”

“No one thought to tell me? I would have been right there, probably chained myself to your bed or something. Nothing would have made me leave without knowing you were okay.” Tears were streaming down her face.

“Come here,” I said and pulled her up until her nose brushed mine. “None of that matters now. It’s all in the past. What matters is us, here, now, and the future. I love you.” I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and tilted my lips up to meet hers.

“I love you too, you stupid ass. Don’t get in any other car accidents. I couldn’t bear it.”

“Okay, I’ll try.” I chuckled. Her nickname was growing on me.

“No more speeding. Nothing is so important that you have to break the road rules and risk your life to get there, Lincoln,” she scolded.

“You were.”

“Me?”

“I was chasing after you. Remember you’d come home for a week because you had a break from classes, but we had a fight. I can’t even remember what the fight was about now, but you packed your bags and got the next flight out. I decided in that moment I couldn’t let you leave, not without telling you how I felt.”

“Stupid ass,” she said before kissing me again. And again. And again.