Page 59 of The Boyfriend Effect (Frisky Business 1)
The air between us is fragile, like it could catch fire or shatter like glass at any second.
I gently press my hands against his chest until we can look each other in the eye. With my heart in my throat, I ask the question that’s been hanging in the air between us since that night at the lake house.
“Do you have feelings for me, Hayes?”
His eyes are stormy in the glow of the streetlight, their normal lightness darkened with inner turmoil. He doesn’t look away, though, or clench his jaw, or fall back on any of his other avoidance techniques. He just looks at me. For a long time.
“Hayes?”
“I’m afraid if I say it, your brother is going to kill me.”
“Scarlett knows, and she doesn’t care. Wolfie won’t either.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do,” I say, grasping his shoulder tightly. His hands fall from the wall, his arms hanging limply at his sides, instead of around me where they’re supposed to be. “Just say it.”
Hayes drops his gaze to the cement, and I know all at once that I’ve pushed him too far. Now he’s going to shut me out again, close the door for good to this beautiful thing we’ve discovered. But even if it crushes me, I need to hear the truth.
With a numb heart, I release him, taking one staggering step away. Before I can move another step, though, I’m tugged back, spun around, and captured between two strong arms.
Hayes buries his face in my neck and whispers, “I love you.”
My heart lights up like a firecracker. I kiss him hard, gripping his hair between my fingers like it’s my only tether to the ground, or else I’d rocket into the sky. When I look into his eyes this time, I don’t see a storm. I only see the future.
“I love you too, Hayes Ellison.”21* * *HAYESMy phone rings, cutting off the song I was blasting mid-chorus. Wolfie’s name flashes across the screen. He probably wants to talk about the shop schedule or the new product line. I press ACCEPT and wedge the phone between my ear and my shoulder.
“Wolf, what’s up, man?”
“Hey,” he grunts, and then there’s silence on the line. Leave it to Wolfie to call me and not tell me right away what he’s calling about.
I release a slow breath and search for patience. “You still there?”
I put down the dishes I’ve been drying and listen for sounds of life. The line crackles, and I hear Wolfie clear his throat.
“So, you and Maren, huh?”
Fuck. Fuck, fuck. A heavy weight sinks to the pit of my stomach. This is not how I wanted this conversation to go.
“She talked to you?”
He grunts. I guess that means yes.
“Listen, Wolfie, I asked her not to. This isn’t how I wanted you to find out. I wanted to be the one to tell you.”
“What the fuck, Hayes? I thought I could trust you.”
Another punch in the gut. This is going worse than I thought.
“I know. I’m sorry, man. I should have talked to you about this sooner.”
“No shit. What the actual fuck? You need to start talking, and you need to start talking now. What the hell has been going on right under my nose?”
I sigh and run my hands roughly over my face. Fine. If Wolfie wants the truth, then it’s the truth he’ll get.
“All right, fine. Honestly? I’m a fucking kamikaze, man.”
“You’re a what?”
“A kamikaze. A suicide bomber. All those relationships I’ve jumped into and destroyed in the past? I sabotaged every single one of them.”
He pauses. “Okay . . .”
“Because they weren’t Maren. I’ve been in love with her for years. I was just too scared and too blind to do anything about it. I love your sister, man. And she loves me too. I hope you can accept that.”
Silence again. I can practically hear my heart pounding through my chest.
Finally, Wolfie chuckles. “Then you should be with her. Treat her like a queen.”
Relief floods my body. Every fear, every worry, every stress I’ve been holding on to for the past few weeks is gone in the blink of an eye. We have Wolfie’s blessing. We can be together, for real, all the way now.
“I promise I will. Thanks, Wolfie.”
He hangs up with a click, and I let the phone drop to the counter.
There’s only one thing left on my mind. I have to go tell Maren.Later that afternoon, I’m sitting in a coffee shop, one hand interlaced with Maren’s, the other resting on her knee. We’re across the table from Rosie and Don, who’s starting to grow on me—even if it still makes my skin crawl to see his arm around my grandma’s shoulders.
Rosie hasn’t stopped smiling since we told her the news. Honestly, neither have we.
Having Wolfie’s blessing means we can stop sneaking around and be a couple out in the open, something I don’t think I realized my grandma was rooting so hard for. Hell, I think she was about ready to just go tell Wolfie herself if one of us didn’t do it soon.
