as I grasped her hips and pulled her against me. “I want you. I want us. Forever.”
“My job is part of who I am.” She leaned into me and cupped my face. “You’ve never acted like this about it before. What’s different now?”
“I’ve always felt this way about your job.” I groaned and shook my head. “No, I’ll be completely honest. I’ve felt like this since that stupid commercial where you had to kiss two guys. I just never had a right to tell you how I felt, so I kept my mouth shut.”
She dropped her hands and stepped back. “I think we both have a lot of thinking to do.”
“I don’t need to think about it. I love you. I want us to be together.”
“No. You’re lying to yourself right now.” She kissed my cheek. “We’ll talk again the next time we see each other.”
“Shaw.” Not for the first time, she was making me feel helpless, and I didn’t know what the fuck to do. “Tell me you love me.”
She smiled, but it was sad. “I love you, Jags. More than anything. But I’m not going to give up something that is important to me for you or anyone else.”
Chapter 35
Shaw
Three Weeks Later
I closed the door to the car, locking Violet and Remington in moments before the driver pulled out onto the road. I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful my best friend had decided to go back to the airport with her boyfriend so they could take Nevaeh and Braxton home instead of staying for Lyric’s wedding reception.
I’d seen the look on Luca’s face as he’d watched Violet kiss Remington. The agony mixed with rage had been enough for me to know that if Luca got within ten feet of the other guy, someone would end up in the morgue before the end of the night. While I liked Remington, and suspected he could hold his own in most fights, I’d grown up watching what Luca could do on and off the football field. There was no way he wouldn’t have won that fight.
Thankfully, however, no one would have to watch Luca Thornton ruin his life yet again, this time by committing murder in front of so many witnesses.
Although, given the family his twin had just married into, I wondered if they would have just buried Remington’s body in the woods somewhere and gone about the rest of the night like nothing had happened.
The thought made me giggle as I walked into Hannigans’ where the reception was being held. It was a huge bar and, according to Lyric, the only one in the small town. It was owned by relatives of his new wife, and I was impressed by the layout and size of the place. It wasn’t in the least little bit what I would expect a biker hangout to look like.
Of course, it was decorated for a wedding reception, so maybe they had moved a lot of things out of the place to make room. But either way, it was still a really nice establishment that I would have probably talked Violet into sneaking into if it were closer to home.
The first person I saw was Arella, who pulled me in for a hug since I hadn’t had time to speak to her at the wedding earlier. “This has been the most bizarre wedding I’ve ever been to,” she whispered. “It’s so much fun. I don’t think I ever want to leave this place.”
I snorted out a laugh. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you would get bored five minutes after setting down roots here. And as much as we all love Lyric, I think you would want to be closer to your dad.” Plus, it was missing one key element I doubted she could live without.
Jordan Moreitti.
But I didn’t say that to Arella. I didn’t want to embarrass her or make her mad. She didn’t argue with me, though, as she grinned and spent a few minutes chatting with me until she got pulled into a conversation with someone else.
I spent the next half hour working my way around the room from one member of my “family” to another as they arrived. While I was congratulating Lyric and his beautiful new wife, he passed me a drink, and after one sip, I realized it was loaded with alcohol. I sipped it carefully, knowing I wasn’t likely to get another one if my parents found out what was in my glass.
“Well, hello there, beautiful,” a deep voice I