Page 22 of Best Man Speaking

“I’m glad to know that even at our worst, you chose not to harm my dick, Hallie.”

Now she deigns to look up at me. “Well, no, of course not. Not even I’m callous enough to have left you with brain damage.”

She smirks at me before moving over to open another box, and I might’ve thought I was hard earlier, but I was wrong.

Fuck. This woman.

I’m going to need her out of my sight or out of my system as soon as humanly possible. Regardless of the consequences.

I’m inside my house for only minutes before my phone rings, Julian’s name flashing on the screen. Tempted to not answer, but knowing if I don’t, he’s likely to show up in person, I reach for the cell and swipe right.

“Hey, Jules. What can I do for ya?” I go for casual as I pour myself a glass of water from the fridge.

It’s a Friday, so for all I know, he’s been caught up in classes all day and busy with an endless amount of prep to do this afternoon.

“Oh, nothing much. I was just wondering if you were home from work yet?” he asks, pulling the same brand of nonsense.

I walk over to stand at my kitchen window, which looks into the backyard and the entrance to the pool house. Blond hair shines in the afternoon sunlight as Hallie moves around, opening boxes and getting herself settled.

“I sure am, and wasn’t I surprised to find a sarcastic blond causing havoc on my property. Your voicemail earlier said you had a friend who needed a place to crash.”

“Well, I had to make the spare key you gave me work to my advantage sooner or later.”

“I gave it to you in case of an emergency, not in case a woman who loathes me needs a place to stay.”

“My best friend not having a place to stay seemed like an emergency.”

“What about your place? Don’t you have a spare room or two?”

I ask the question, already knowing the answer. I’d helped build the damn house.

“Erica said Hallie needs space to go through family belongings and wants privacy. Look, Marcus, I’m sure you won’t even know she’s there half the time, and it’s not like either one of you is looking to hang out with the other,” he says in the most reasonable way. “You’re forever working, hardly ever home, with little time for relationships and even less time for living in the past. Right? I doubt Hallie being there will be an issue.”

I feel a twinge in my stomach at Julian’s cut-and-dry assessment of my life’s choices, even as he trusts me to have Hallie around.

Yes, I’ve had to choose between romantic relationships and success, and no, I’m not normally one for wasting time looking back. Neither of which I like to think is a massive failure. At first, it’d been a necessity, and more recently, it’d been a personal preference.

“Don’t forget, we have your six little rules to keep us in line. Besides, nothing here has changed,” I reassure him. “You’re right, I probably won’t even notice her being here at all.”

“I’m right? Somehow, I find that the most shocking thing of all,” Julian quips.

“Your opinion of me really is glowing,” I say with a chuckle.

“You’re really all right with her being there?” He sounds genuinely curious now.

I wonder, not for the first time, what it would be like to have your brother break the heart of your best friend and somehow manage to salvage both relationships. Because of the role I’d played in that scenario, broken nose aside, I’d been forgiven more easily than I’d probably deserved. It’d taken a year for me to fess up to the way I’d let Hallie’s dad influence me. A year to tell my little brother I’d let the asshole convince me that I was nothing, that I’d nothing to offer. That his daughter could do better. He hadn’t been wrong, but it was still a shitty thing to do. The fact Mr. Cairns had come to make amends a year or two agoand is now one of my charity’s regular funders feels ironic. But not in a funny enough way that I’d told Jules about it.

“No. I figured if she isn’t pushing to leave, it can’t be a big deal. Anyway, we’re going to have to learn to get along on some level. We have your wedding to be a part of.”

Only days ago, I most likely would’ve meant these words.

“Marcus, I know you like to push each other’s buttons, but don’t push too hard…even if she starts it. She’s run from us before.”

I pause, knowing he probably really wanted to say that she had run frommebefore. We both know I’d made her run, but he’s just too nice to throw it in my face outright.

“I promise to help keep her here until she’s ready to leave and not a moment before.” If the little brat were near me, I’d make the Scout’s honor sign again.

Julian blows out a frustrated breath, the sound both comforting and amusing in the way only your sibling’s annoyance can be. “And you’re completely uninterested in having a relationship with her?”

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