Page 82 of A Wreck, You Make Me (Bad Boys of Bardstown #3)

Chapter Thirty

I’ve always thought Isadora is the most beautiful girl in the world.

Her hair’s the kind of shiny every girl wants, and her eyes are so big and luminous.

Plus her dressing sense is killer. It’s a mix of chic and hobo with tons of frills and loose-fitting dresses that also somehow compliment her slim figure.

Like the one she’s wearing at tonight’s party.

She has a red-colored dress with thin straps and that sits snugly across her chest but flows down like a river around her hips.

She has it paired with hunter green high heeled suede boots.

Super classy and fun. I love it. I think I should ask her where she got the dress and maybe she can also tell me about those boots.

Mostly, I think I should congratulate her on her engagement.

Because I don’t think a girl engaged to the love of her life should look sad.

I understand why and it makes my chest ache.

I don’t know her story or majority of what went down between Stellan and her while she was with Shepard.

But I know for a long time there, people were wary of her.

Callie, who is friendly to everyone, was wary of her too.

Not that she let it show but it was hard not to feel the awkward vibes.

Everyone thought she was coming between two brothers and the fact that Stellan doesn’t show at family events anymore either has got to make her feel like an outsider.

If I’m being honest here, on some level I thought that too.

That she was driving a wedge between Stellan and him.

Regardless of it being true or not, she’s with the twin she’s supposed to be with.

Holding what happened against her is like holding my lying and hiding things against me.

I wouldn’t want that for myself so how can I, in all good conscience, not try to make her feel welcome.

I’m a new addition to this family too, right? Just like her.

Besides, how can I expect him to make peace with these things when I don’t try to make mine? And this could be my opportunity.

We’re at a mansion turned into a club kind of thing, complete with open floors, French doors and a back garden.

The lighting is dim, and the floor is crowded with not only the team members of both teams, ours and the Chicago FC but also their better halves.

Kids aren’t allowed for obvious reasons, but the team had sitters available for tonight.

All the girls are sitting together in a corner with drinks in their hand, chatting, laughing and getting excited for the game tomorrow.

I’m excited too. I’ve never been to an actual sports game but more than that I can’t wait to watch him play live.

Of course, I can’t wear his jersey like I know Tempest is planning to wear Ledger’s.

Callie wants to wear one too, that features both her brothers’ numbers, but I don’t think Reed is onboard.

He doesn’t want ‘his wife’ to wear anyone else’s number than his.

Not that he plays soccer anymore; he used to in high school but ‘that’s not important.

’ Quotation marks because that’s how Callie is telling the story, meaning his words and not hers.

As entertaining as all of this is, I’m looking for an opening with Isadora to make my approach.

She’s thrust in a corner with a pink drink in her hand as she listens to the conversation around her, contributing here and there and smiling.

While everyone is making her feel included, I still think she isn’t all that comfortable.

I wonder if I can help with that. As soon as Callie and Tempest leave to go to the restroom and Wyn gets busy with some of the other wives, I make a beeline for her.

As I sit beside her and smile, I really hope it doesn’t look like an ambush. “Hey.”

She sits up straight and I notice her hand tremble a little bit. But she schools her features and throws me a smile back. “Hey.”

My heart clenches at her nervousness and I rush to put her at ease. “I’m sorry if this was abrupt.”

Surprise is clear on her face but then she shakes her head. “No, it’s okay. I just…” She chuckles nervously. “Well, yeah. It was abrupt.”

I immediately feel bad. “I’m so sorry. I’m really not good at these things. Callie’s an expert.”

Her face blooms into a sweet smile. “She is. I really like her.”

“Yeah.”

“I like all the girls, actually.” Then, she confesses, “I’ve never really had a lot of friends.”

My heart squeezes again. “Me neither. I’ve always been a loner. Well, until I met Callie. Then I was swimming in friends.”

She chuckles again. “I guess, she has a way about her, huh. I guess, they all have a way about them. The famous Thornes.”

Warmth fills my chest. “They do, yes.” Then, looking her in the eye, “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry I haven’t said hi before.

It’s just that I’m not really good at these things, like I said, and…

” I trail off thinking maybe I should have prepared more for this.

It’s not like I can tell her the truth. That I was wary of her and also jealous.

That she got to be with the guy I wanted to be with.

“It’s okay,” she says, both her tone and her pretty features genuine.

“I didn’t expect you to. I actually didn’t expect any of them to make me feel welcome.

After everything, you know. I actually didn’t want to come tonight either.

But then, Stellan wouldn’t go without me and it… became a whole thing so here I am.”

My eyes sting then. At how difficult this must be for her. For everyone. “I’m glad you came.”

She swallows. “Thanks.”

Then I remember one of the things I wanted to say to her. “Congratulations, by the way.”

But instead of accepting it, her face shows her distress. “I’m genuinely so sorry about that. How the news broke. I didn’t think they’d s-snap my picture and?—”

I reach out and grab her hand in her lap. She has her fingers fisted so tightly and I give it a squeeze as I say, “Hey, you don’t have to apologize for getting engaged. It’s not a bad thing. And I’m so genuinely sorry that it feels like it.”

It does, doesn’t it?

What should be the celebration of two people’s love has somehow morphed into something twisted and hurtful.

And I feel it too. Not because I don’t want them to be happy or anything but because I know he’s affected.

And I wish he wasn’t. I wish things could be simpler, smoother, easier for him.

I wish there wasn’t a distance between him and Stellan and that I could do something about that.

I know I’m supposed to be a cure—or at least, according to him—but you can’t cure a broken heart.

You have to go through the pain to get to the other side of it.

And I absolutely hate that for him. I absolutely hate that all I can do is watch and be there for him and nothing else.

“I am glad he has you,” she says, breaking into my morose thoughts.

“What?”

Her eyes flicker with emotions as she says, “I’ve felt so guilty, you know.

For everything I did. For everything that happened.

I betrayed my best friend, and he’s the best friend I have ever had.

That anyone could ever have. And hurting him was the last thing I wanted to do.

But he still went out of his way to help me, help us and I just…

” She takes a deep breath and gives me a trembling smile. “He deserves the best.”

“I’m not… We’re not?—"

It's her turn to grab my hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. “It’s okay. I’m not going to say anything to anyone.

I know you’ve been…watching him for a while.

I’ve seen you look at him. When we were together and it always…

It broke my heart because I was in the way.

Because I couldn’t get my head straight and be with the man I really wanted to be.

But I always knew he deserved that. He deserved someone like you.

Someone who could love him so completely and irrevocably.

Like I couldn’t and… Actually, you’re better than the best. You’re perfect for him. ”

My heart is slamming in my chest and my belly is churning. I’m trying to think if she knows then maybe others know too.

“You think I’m perfect for him?” I whisper, ignoring my thoughts and my fears, genuine ones, because I can’t help but latch onto that one word she said.

And that’s because I’ve always thought she was perfect for him.

I’ve always thought she suited him the best, with her gorgeous hair and a beautiful face.

Dreams have always been hard for me. I didn’t have them because I didn’t think I could.

But then he burst into my life and changed that.

I started dreaming again. About all sorts of things, about a life beyond Snow and responsibilities.

But not even in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be perfect for him.

“Because you have done what I always wanted for him,” she says.

“What?”

“Help him fall in love again.”

My heart stops. It does. It also falls to the bottom of my stomach.

Love again. Love. Again.

Again .

Why would she say that? How would she even know? How would she… Is she being cruel? Because he told me himself he can’t. He told me in exact words he can’t love again. He’s too broken for it. And after what just happened in the bathroom…

I look up then.

I’ve been sitting with my back to the room at large until I moved to sit beside his ex-girlfriend.

And now I can see the space beyond. It’s crowded like I said.

There are a ton of people here, standing, sitting on couches like us, mingling, laughing.

You’d think I’d have to hunt him down in this chaos. I’d have to look for him, but I don’t.

I find him the moment I decide I want to.