Page 115 of Axe-identally Married
I shook my head.
“Tell me.” He kissed my forehead and pulled back, brow furrowed. “You can tell me anything. Radical honesty, remember?”
I took a deep breath, my heart beating a little faster. “I want to tell Lila the truth. About Vegas and how things started. I hate lying, and she’s my best friend. She’s been supportive and happy for us, and I want her to know the truth.”
He dipped his chin, his eyes never leaving mine. “Then tell her.”
“Cole.” He was making it sound so easy. “What about Owen?”
He took a step back and ran his hands through his hair. “Sure, we got wrapped up in going wild in Vegas and things went further than we anticipated.”
I hated the way that sounded. It was the truth, of course, but we’d come so far since that drunken night.
“But it turned into the most incredible thing in my life. Maybe we shouldn’t diminish it by ignoring how it started. I love you. I want you to feel good about what we’re building together.”
That hit me right in the heart.
“But Owen?”
He shrugged. “I can live with Owen’s judgment. We’ve never been close, and with or without telling him the truth, I can’t see that ever changing. I’d rather have him hate me than make you lie to your best friend. You are the most important person in my life.”
My heart panged. God. This man. He was giving me permission to tell a story that was only half mine. To expose him to the judgment of his older brother so we could move forward together.
“For so long, I’ve done all I could to avoid consequences. I’ve dodged and weaved and evaded.” He blew out a breath. “But you’ve taught me that facing things can be liberating.”
I threw my arms around him, burying my face in his chest.
“Go call her,” he said against the top of my head. “Say what you need to say. You don’t need to protect me.”
It tookme an hour to work up the courage to make the call. We chatted casually for a few minutes, but I was a nervous, sweating mess, so I pretty quickly cut to the chase.
“I need to tell you something,” I forced out. “I’m terrified that you’ll hate me, but the thought of lying to you for any longer is scarier.”
“Willa,” she said, her tone concerned. “Nothing you could say would make me hate you. What’s wrong?”
“I love you so much. And I can’t bear the thought of not being truthful.”
“Okay…”
With a deep breath in, I spewed out a brief summary of the Vegas situation.
“What the fuck?” she screeched, the sound bringing tears to my eyes. God, I hated disappointing her. I was a shit friend.
“We decided to pretend. Just for a little while. Mainly because of my stuff. I didn’t want to upset or disappoint my parents.” And now I was fully crying.
“Willa.” She sighed. “They love you so much.”
My heart ached. “I know. But we almost lost Dad, and the thought of admitting to a tequila-fueled wedding to the town bad boy was just too much.”
“So you figured it would be easier to pretend to be in love with him instead?” She snorted.
“I realize it sounds ridiculous. But he was so worried about his brothers’ judgment. And honestly, it made sense. At the time, he needed a place to live, and I was lonely and overwhelmed.”
“And now?”
“It’s amazing,” I said, a smile spreading across my face.
“How long did the faking go on? If you were pretending when you snuck out of our sacred sleepover to be with him a couple of weeks ago, you did a damn good job.”
