Page 23 of Walkoff Wedding

“Can I hug you?” he says as he pushes to his feet. “I feel like I’ve waited so fucking long to hug you, ArtGirl. Would that be okay?”

“Yes.”

He offers me his hand, and I hesitantly slide my hand in his. When his fingers close around mine, my heart begins to race erratically as he pulls me up from the bench.

And then, he’s gently tugging me into his arms.

They wrap tightly around my body, strong and secure, as my cheek rests on the hard plane of his chest.

For a second, I just… breathe, melting into his arms, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart beating beneath his rib cage. I memorize the feeling since it’ll probably be the only time that I get to experience it.

I imagined this moment in a thousand different ways. What it would feel like to touch him, to feel safe in his arms.

Yet, nothing could come close to the sense of comfort I feel sinking into his embrace.

Suddenly, thunder cracks in the sky, and I feel the first raindrop hitting my hair, the only warning we get before the sky opens up. Fat, heavy drops of rain begin to fall, and in a matter of seconds, I feel it soaking through my shirt and into my skin.

“Oh shit,” Grant mutters, dropping his arms only to hold out his hand for me. I quickly take it, and then he’s pulling me toward the covered awning on the other side of the park.

Before we even make it there, we’re both completely drenched and laughing so hard that I can’t tell if it’s the rain or him that’s making it hard to see.

“God, I feel like that came out of nowhere,” I say once we’re safely under the pavilion.

He laughs as he shakes his head side to side playfully, sending a spray of water my way. “Seems like a lot of things have come out of nowhere for us lately, huh?”

“That’s the thing about fate. You never see it coming,” I say, averting my gaze when his burns through me. It feels like he’s not just staring at me but into me.

“Who’s that?”

Glancing up, I see a hooded figure aggressively walking through the onslaught of rain toward the covered awning where we’re standing. At first, I have no clue who it is. It’s raining too hard, and it’s too dark to see almost anything.

But once they get closer, I realize exactly who it is, squashing the flurry of butterflies that were fluttering inside my chest and replacing them with unease. “Oh god,” I whisper with wide eyes. “This cannot be happening.”

Grant’s brow furrows in confusion. “What? What’s happening?”

I don’t answer immediately, mostly because I’m trying to figure out how Dixon even knew where I was, so Grant reaches out and grasps the tips of my fingers gently. “Addie?”

My eyes dart to his, and I sigh, knowing that as much as I don’t want to say goodbye, I have to. “Just… I have to go, okay? Thank you for meeting me tonight. I appreciate it, and Grant, I’m really, really glad that it happened this way.”

I hate that he looks… disappointed, the crease between his brow deepening as his jaw works. I’m already messing this up again, but Dixon showing up here tonight proves what I knew nine months ago, that it has to be this way. I don’t want Grant to see this turbulent part of my life, so there is no other way that this can go.

Softly, I pull my hand free and start to walk away, one step back at a time, until I hear Dixon growl my name.

The sound sends chills down my spine, and I wince, tearing my gaze from Grant’s to face my disgruntled, forced fiancé.

“What are you doing here, Dixon?”

When he steps under the awning, he throws his hood off his head and sneers at me. “That’s a question I should be asking you, isn’t it, Addie?” He says my name with such force that I jolt back slightly.

Dixon sways on his feet before reaching out to steady himself against the metal beam of the awning.

Even from a foot away, I can smell the overwhelming stench of alcohol permeating off him. It’s enough to make me gag.

He’s drunk. Not only is he drunk, but I’m guessing he drove here like this in a thunderstorm, putting everyone’s life at risk.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Grant stepping closer to me, his shoulders tense as he glares at Dixon, his eyes hard.

“How did you even know I was here, Dixon? Do you realize how creepy this is?” I say quietly.

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