Dirty Little Secrets (Hillcrest Prep #1.5) - Trilina Pucci Page 0,27
right. Holt’s voice quietly fills my ear, “I want a girl. I’ve decided.”
My quiet giggles make my shoulders shake. I swear Holt thinks he can will the sex of the baby.
Tilting my head to the side, I respond quietly, “Well, I guess you’ll have to hope God’s heard your decision and agrees.”
“We are in a church, Aves, so my chances are pretty good.”
I roll my eyes because dealing with Holt’s impatience will be the worst for the next seven months. But I won’t give—we are all going to find out the day I deliver this little one.
Jackson’s mismatched eyes turn back to me. “Let’s name her Scarlett, or Clyde if it’s a boy.”
The smile on my face grows, hearing the fake names from when we all first met.
“Scarlett Price. It has a ring to it,” Holt says decisively.
The music changes and everyone stands as the bride makes her way down the aisle. She’s gorgeous, and for the first time, I wonder if I should’ve given in and done a wedding, but then I would only have this memory with one of my boys, and that feels wrong.
The bride’s just passing us when suddenly she hesitates, halting in her place, and looks at her father, then back to the groom.
I reach for Jackson’s hand, my eyes growing wide. Oh shit.
“I can’t,” she says in a hushed voice.
Oh my God.
Her father’s voice isn’t as quiet as he says, “Mila. Honey. Ezra is waiting. All these people are here to witness this occasion.”
Her head shakes. “I don’t care.”
“Don’t do this, Mila. You’ll regret it,” her father says more sternly.
The groom begins walking down the aisle, calling out her name, as she begins gathering her gown.
“Mila.”
She’s walking backward against whispers filtering out around the room and held breath from some.
Holy shit.
“No, Ezra,” she spits, holding out her hand. “Just no. How can you do this? How can we do this?”
Jackson squeezes my hand as Holt’s hand grips my waist. Our eyes volley between the bride and groom, watching him run his hand through his hair, saying nothing but looking devastated.
Mila looks around at the crowd, taking them in, before walking to Ezra and placing a kiss on his cheek. His fingers brush her jaw as she says something only he can hear, then she turns, walking back the way she came, picking up speed and running out of the church.
I let out a breath as chatter fills the room. Blinking up between Holt and Jackson, I’m speechless.
Jackson looks down at me, brows drawing in. “I hope they have the reception, still. I’m starving.”
“Jackson,” I giggle, catching myself, and tug his hand. “Behave.”
Holt pulls me into him, kissing the top of my head and speaking to Jackson over me, “Let’s go back to the room, order up now that we have our get-out-of-jail-free card from this wedding. Aves needs to say uncle over that ‘insanely hot’ comment.”
Oh. I don’t hate the plan.
“I like the way you think, brother.” Jackson’s mismatched eyes level back to mine. “Let’s go, baby.”
I’m ushered out of the pew, hands held by both boys, and on my way to heaven. Right between my boys, exactly where I belong.
More from Trilina
Don’t stop now. There’s more tea to spill!
Read the entire Prep Series HERE.
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Sneak Peek
Read on for a sneak peek of
Vicious Little Snakes,
book two in the Hillcrest world.
Caroline
My face drifts toward where Donovan walked as my fingers gently tuck under the opposite sleeve of my crisp white button-down shirt. The raised scar on the side of my wrist still sits there bumpy and protruding from my skin, the pain lingering in my memory. Close enough that if I close my eyes, I can almost feel the sting, not from the cut but from what happened after. I blink, pulling myself from the moment before I remember too much.
None of them understand. I wasn’t trying to make Grey hate her, not forever, at least. I don’t even care that much that Donovan loves Liam. It’s Liam’s undying loyalty and affection for her that genuinely makes me sick to my stomach.
It’s unbearable—the weight of his affection for someone else because it’s something that used to be mine. For a brief apocalyptic moment, I was the only thing in his existence, and then that life died, and I woke up in a world in which he occasionally visits but never stays.
Laura’s eyes are still on me, but I ignore her, leaving her to wonder why I haven’t moved.