Page 62 of The Secret
“Made what happen?”
She grinned sympathetically. “Made you panic. Made you messy. Made you human. Made you stop pretending that you know all the secrets to life.”
“Are you kidding? I’veneverthought that. I’m clueless.”
“With this kind of stuff, we’re all clueless,” she said way too happily. “You just don’t know it because you’ve never really let yourself be into someone this way. It’s always been Blooms and the family, the family and the shop.”
“Because those are my priorities.”
“Except, Micah—I say this with love, okay? So please,pleasetake it with love—we don’t need a guardian anymore. You raised us when MoonFlower was…” She shook her head dismissively. “Being MoonFlower. Making daisy chains and giving mom’s money away to every old guy with a sad story. You got us through. Hell, you bought her house as soon as you could, just so we wouldn’t have to worry about being homeless the next time she forgot to make the payments. You were ourrock. You still are. And you aredeterminedto make Micah’s Blooms into this floralempirebecause you’re gonna make sure wenever go hungry again.” She brandished her fist to the sky like Scarlett O’Hara in a messy bun. “But we don’t need you to be our parent anymore, you know? We need you to be our brother. And we need you to be happy.”
“I am happy,” I said, stunned. “I’m perfectly—”
But I thought of Constantine this afternoon saying, “I’m a mess, Micah,” and how fucking brave he’d been to admit that, and I sighed.
“I’m notunhappy,” I said instead. “Honestly, until recently, I never even noticed anything was missing.”
“And now you have. And it’s Constantine Ross.” She widened her eyes gleefully.
I made a little noise and admitted out loud what I’d more or less accepted in my own mind since back in July. “Yeah. Yeah, it looks like it might be Constantine Ross.”
* * *
Half an hour later, I walked into The Hive, wearing my green button-down and still rolling my eyes over Lauren’s pep talk, which had mostly involved a walk down the dark and seedy parts of memory lane.
“You can do this, Micah. Walking into the emergency room after the police called to say Mason was injured, when you didn’t know if he was alive or dead, washard. Taking Leandra to the hospital when Luna came early and Jared was out of town washard. Going on a date with a guy you like who already likes you? Not even in the same realm as hard…Heh. Although a certain thing mightgethard if you work it right, which—”
I’d ended the call before she could choke on her own laughter, but shockingly enough, I actuallydidfeel better. At least I had until I got out of my truck and heard the pounding bass coming from inside the single-story clapboard building.
Of all the stupid places to suggest, why had I picked the scene of Constantine’s thousand-and-one hookups? Why had I picked the one location in a ten-mile radius where there were bound to be dozens upon dozens of guys who were younger, hotter, less type-A, and lessmethan me?
I set my teeth as I walked through a small crowd of men and women smoking cigarettes at the corner of the building. Lauren seemed to think it was fucking adorable that I was suddenly cracked open by this thing with Con.Messy, she called it.Human. I called it needy and insecure and disgusting.
But, you know, buy rational-Micah another bucket of popcorn and settle in for the show, because in spite of all the reasons I should have stayed home, here I was anyway. And I wasn't leaving alone.
I pulled the door open and walked in, letting my eyes adjust, because it was somehow darker in here, with all the colored lights, than it had been in the parking lot.
It looked like every Saturday night since I’d started coming here. Same crush of bodies on the tiny dance floor, same group of lonely hearts hanging in the shadows, same group of older guys playing darts in the corner… same group of guys hanging at the bar around Constantine Ross, who was talking to Jordan and drinking his fruity concoction.
Good God, the man was insanely gorgeous. Dark hair effortlessly messy, pine-green t-shirt molded to shoulders and arms that rippled with lean muscles, dark jeans cupping his ass, blue eyes crinkling as he laughed at something Jordan was saying. All ofthatwas the same as the last time I’d been here, too. But as my stomach clenched and my fingers ached to touch him, I realized exactly why I’d wanted him to meet me here.
Because tonight I knew he was leaving withme.
I was a goddamn genius.
I walked up behind Constantine and caught Jordan’s eye over his shoulder. “Evening,” I said.
I could tell by the change in Constantine’s posture that he’d heard me, and that he knew exactly who was behind him, but he didn’t turn around.
“Hey, cutie,” Jordan said. “Your usual?”
I nodded, thinking a beer was exactly what I needed right now. “Oh and get my friend a refill, too.” I put a proprietary hand on Con’s left shoulder. “In fact, make it adouble.”
Con looked up at me. “Adouble.” He whistled softly. “You sure know how to get a guy’s attention.”
Jordan grinned as she filled a glass halfway with cherries and syrup topped off with a squirt of ginger ale, then slid it in front of Constantine.
“So,” I said, leaning into his side as I grabbed my beer. “You come here often?”
