Ley?”
I point at the Rooibos tea lemonade and whisper close to his ear, “You need to calm down.”
He snorts and shakes his head. “Count yourself lucky because you and I both know what I want to do right about now.”
I shiver and step away from him, because I want him to do it.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Pierce
Leyla is driving me crazy.
She’s not even doing it on purpose. Just seeing her makes me want to drag her away and fuck her. Not sweetly making love to her. No. Fucking her to remind her that I belong to her.
Is it the endless weeks without sex? I could blame the lack of sleep. I definitely need to do it because the Marys dropped by and pissed off my woman.
Do I like Mary Beth Tattle? She’s a nice woman. I’m sure there’s somebody out there for her. Not me. I’m taken.
Leyla and I might be broken. She’s leaving me, but I’m hers for life.
To stop loving her would be as if the Earth stopped orbiting around the sun. It’s impossible. It’d be the end of the world.
We should make a new deal, like the one we did when we met. We are fuck buddies. Who the fuck am I kidding? I was hers the moment I kissed her.
I can feel she’s just as worked up as I am and avoiding me the best she can. Wherever she goes, I’m joining her. There won’t be another Jax incident. The dude was cool, but what if the next one is single?
I follow her to the next booth. When we’re out, Henry and Sophia have disappeared. They have an emergency. That’s it. I’m dragging her to the barn with me. We can use the dog’s room.
“Do we need to help them?” Leyla asks, distraught.
I shake my head because I’m almost sure that my brother is about to get lucky, unlike me. Should I just drag Leyla to the barn? That’s our turf. There’s nobody there unless…did Vance finish cleaning?
The answer arrives almost immediately when Beacon appears and says, “I need to stop betting on the cleanup of the barn. I swear Vance wins every time.”
Leyla and I snort.
“What did you do when you lived in Colorado?” he asks. “Doing this daily is fucking exhausting, and both of you worked.”
“We had help,” I respond the obvious. “Just for the cleanup. I fed the kids in the morning, Leyla tended to them during the evening.”
Leyla glares at me because before our separation, that wasn’t the case. She did everything herself, even during the weekends.
I’m ashamed of myself. I neglected Leyla and the kids. It was my fault. I chose my promotion, my pride, and my family over them.
“Okay, another sore subject,” Beacon scoffs. “Everything is touchy for you, isn’t it, Pierce? Surely, there has to be something safe that won’t make you cringe, cry, or be embarrassed.”
I look up at the sky, searching for patience because this kid, I swear, just likes to poke and prod until he finds a way to fuck with us.
“I mean, you’re almost in your mid-thirties,” he continues. “Why would you care what others think about you?”
“Stop,” I order.
“It’s okay to be vulnerable.” He puts one hand on his chest. “I’m an artist. I bleed feelings all the time. There’s nothing wrong with it. My fans appreciate it. You, on the other hand…I bet you didn't tell your wife ‘I love you’ until the third year you were dating her.”
He pats me on the shoulder. “It’s okay, dude. We are all different.”
“I’m not embarrassed by anything. We got married ten months after I met her,” I clarify. Do I recall when I said “I love you?” No. Am I ashamed of it? Yes. I hate regrets, but every time I’m talking to my therapist, I get frustrated with myself because I could fill an entire stadium with all the remorse I carry.
This conversation is just pissing me off. Should I punch him? Probably.
“Don’t lie to yourself, Pierce,” he insists, and Leyla is shaking with laughter.
“Are you bored, Beacon?” Leyla asks with such a soft, almost hypnotizing voice. “Or anxious?”
He gives her a strange look.
“Worried,” she says. “Why are you concerned?”
He checks his phone, takes a deep breath, and lets out a groan. “They were supposed to be here an hour ago.”
“Who?” we ask at the same time.
“My bandmates,” he answers, combing his hair with his fingers and then resting his hand on the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t care if they’re in some fucking ditch, but