“I just don’t understand why they don’t like me,” Leah went on… and on, and on. “I mean, we’ve been together for three months now and they still treat me like I don’t belong. What have I ever done to any of them?”

Fuck me, this was a mistake.

The entire car ride to Caleb and Daphne’s place had been one long bitchfest about my friends and how they still hadn’t accepted my girlfriend. If I was being completely honest, I was getting pretty fucking tired of listening to it.

“Christ, Leah, if my friends make you so damn miserable, then why’d you insist on coming today, huh?”

She crossed her arms and pouted at my windshield. We were still too early in our relationship for me to have decided if this was something that was going to last, or if it was just a way for me to get my feet wet in an attempt to move on from Fiona.

I’d spent way too fucking long pining for a woman who’d never be mine, and it was time get on with my life. Sure, there had been plenty of other women over the years, but not for any other reason than getting off when the need arose. It was long past time to let Fee go completely and try to build something with someone else.

I couldn’t say for sure that Leah was going to be the one, but after my older brother Grayson got married and knocked up his wife, Lola, I started to feel like something serious was missing from my life. I wasn’t necessarily ready to settle down and have my woman pop out a handful of kids, but if I had any hopes of that being in my future, I needed to get my head out of my ass and stop clinging to something that was never going to happen.

It was what it was. Fiona was a friend. That was all she was ever going to see me as, just a guy she grew up with. She’d said as much herself that terrible fucking night that was still burned into my brain after all this time.

I let out a slow, calming breath as I took the last step onto the porch. I wasn’t sure what came over me but when I left my bar, The Black Sheep, I drove straight to Fiona’s house, determined that tonight was the night.

Maybe it was because my brother had his shit together and was settling down with Lola. Maybe it was because I was watching Dominic and Caleb jump through hoops, trying to get their women’s attention. I felt like everyone was attempting to move on with their lives but me. I was being left in the dust.

“Deacon?” Christ, she was beautiful, even with the confusion marring her face when she opened the front door. “Is everything okay? It’s really late.”

I raked a hand through my hair in agitation. I hadn’t thought about the time or the fact that she’d worry with me showing up at her door in the middle of the night. I was an asshole. “Yeah, shit. Yes. Sorry. Everything’s fine. I didn’t realize how late it was.”

Her head tilted to the side as her forehead wrinkled. “But didn’t you just come from closing the bar?”

Son of a bitch. I was fucking this all to hell. “Yeah. Right. Shit. I’m screwing this up.”

“Hey.” Fiona stepped across the threshold onto the porch, reaching out to place a calming hand on my forearm. The feel of her palm against my skin sent electric shock waves through my system. That was all it ever took with her, just a simple touch or look and I was completely undone. “It’s okay,” she continued in a soothing tone. “Just tell me what’s going on. I want to help.”

Christ, she was killing me. “I should’ve acted sooner,” I stated, lost in her eyes. “Fuck, I should’ve told Grayson the truth. He wouldn’t have betrayed me like that if I’d just told him the fucking truth. Then all these years wouldn’t have been wasted.”

I wasn’t making any sense. I knew that, but I couldn’t seem to bring myself to elaborate. My brain was locked on one singular task, making it impossible to concentrate on anything but my desperate need for her.

“Deac, honey. You’re starting to worry me. You aren’t making any sense. What should you have told Grayson?”

I knew I should answer, that it was the logical thing to do considering I wasn’t making a damn bit of sense. But I wasn’t thinking, so I let instinct take over and did the one thing I’d been wanting to do most of my life.

Grabbing the back of her neck, I yanked her body into mine, winding my other arm around her waist as I crashed my lips to hers. She froze stiff for several seconds, like she was unsure what was happening. However, the instant my tongue snaked out and ran across her full bottom lip, she groaned, falling deeper into me as her mouth opened in an invitation.

She tasted sweet, like cherries and that red wine she was such a fan of. I’d kept it stocked in my bar just for her, even though we’d spent the past several years distant from each other. I’d only gotten her back recently, but even with all the hurt and suffering those years apart caused, I hadn’t been able to let her go. Not completely.

She groaned as I tilted her head to the side for better access. My teeth closed on her bottom lip in a sharp nip that made her whimper. Fiona’s hands came up, her fingers digging into the fabric of my shirt at my chest as her tongue met mine, stroke for stroke. It was the most intense, erotic kiss of my life. I never wanted it to end. Unfortunately a lack of oxygen forced us to eventually break apart.

I kept her in my arms, pressing my forehead against hers as I squeezed my eyes closed and struggled to fill my lungs with air.

“Baby, you have no fucking clue how long I’ve wanted to do that,” I panted against her mouth. She jerked back just as I went in for another, breaking from my hold and taking several steps away. Her arms stretched out in front of her to keep me at a distance.

“Wh-what the hell was that?” she asked, breathing erratically. Her eyes flashed with something akin to panic, causing my blood to go cold in my veins.

“Fee—”

“I can’t… I don’t… I’m—Deacon, I’m not sure what’s happening right now but that, that shouldn’t have—”

“Don’t,” I growled, feeling like a knife had just been plunged into my stomach.

Her beautiful face fell, and her eyes flashed with gut-wrenching pity. I couldn’t stand it. “Deacon,” she whispered, her tone ragged. “You’re my best friend.”

And the hits just kept on coming. I shook my head to stop her. “No. Don’t say that.”

Fiona’s hands came up in a placating gesture as she stepped in my direction. “It’s true. Deacon, I feel like I only just got my friend back. I don’t want to lose what we have again.”

Moving backward, I lifted my arms to grasp the back of my neck as a humorless laugh escaped my throat. “Are you kidding me with this shit? You didn’t seem to have a problem taking Grayson out of the friend zone,” I spit out bitterly.

I stood motionless as her expression became awash with frustration and sorrow. “That’s not fair,” she said in a pained whisper.

“No, I get it. It’s not you, it’s me, right?” I snapped sarcastically. “It’ll always be the other Lockhart brother, am I right?”

“Deacon, stop. It’s not like—”

“I’m such a fucking idiot,” I muttered it more to myself than to her. Spinning around, I started down the steps, vaguely noticing the sound of her footsteps trailing after me.

“Deacon, will you please wait. Just listen.”

“I’m done with this bullshit, Fiona,” I called over my shoulder. “Have a nice life.”

With that, I climbed into my car, started it up, and laid on the gas, determined to put her and this goddamned night in my rearview permanently.

The calls and texts from her started the very next day, messages and voice mails begging me to talk. She even started showing up at my bar, sitting alone on a barstool, just waiting for me to give her a second of my time.

I never did.

It went on like that for months. Each call went unanswered, each text unreturned. Avoiding her at The Black Sheep was easy enough with all the people constantly around. But when I got home from closing down late one night and found her sitting in her car, waiting for me, that had been harder. Instead of acknowledging her presence, I pulled into the garage and went inside my house without so much as a backward glance.

That had done it. I got the text the next day informing me that she was giving up. I still had that goddamned message saved in my phone.

Fiona: I get it. If I could go back to that night and do it all over again I would. I’m so sorry. I’ll leave you alone.

I would’ve been relieved if reading that hadn’t hurt so goddamn much. But what was done was done. And I was through letting her crush my heart over and over again.

“Hello. Earth to Deacon.”

Leah’s voice yanked me from the past and brought me back to the present.

“Sorry, what?”

I chanced a glance from the road in her direction to find her watching me closely. “You okay? You zoned out for a second.”

“Yeah.” I mentally shook off the filth of the memory and tried my best to concentrate on Leah, and only Leah. “Yeah, sorry. Everything’s fine.”

“Okay.” The one word sounded skeptical, but fortunately she let it drop. “Look, I know you’re probably tired of listening to me complain. I didn’t ask to come today to start anything. I just… well, I like you, Deacon. And I know how important your friends are to you. I just worry that I don’t stand a chance if they don’t like me.”

Grabbing her hand, I pulled it across the console and rested it on my thigh, using my thumb to rub gentle circles along her wrist. “I like you too,” I spoke honestly. The shit with my friends aside, I had fun with Leah. She was sexy and smart. She made me laugh and was dynamite in bed. Three months wasn’t enough time to really get to know a person, and I owed it to myself to see if there was someone out there I could picture spending my life with. “And I’ll have a word with one of the guys. I’ll get it taken care of.”

Leah lifted my hand and placed a kiss on my knuckles. “Thanks, babe. Today will be great. You’ll see. I’ll win them over.”