Page 20 of The Billionaire's Bride

"You did?"

"We couldn’t arrive at any decision."

I snort, "Why am I not surprised?"

"So, we agreed to disagree," Baron chimes in.

"That’s a start, I suppose."

"We also agreed on one other thing." Edward’s eyes gleam.

I frown, "What?" I swallow. "What did you agree on?"

"That we’d let you choose."

8

Ava

"Choose?" I swallow. "You’ll let me choose?" My heartbeat ratchets up. I stare between them. They can’t mean what I think they do. "Really?"

Edward smirks. "We mean, we’ll let you choose how to set up a schedule to spend time with us."

"Oh." My muscles relax. What the hell? Guess I am not ready to let either of them go…yet. What does that say about me?

"A schedule?"

Baron nods. "You pick a time to meet each of us, separately."

"This way, you get to know both of us…individually," Edward adds.

"It will give you more information to base your final decision on." Baron’s features close and his gaze intensifies. No doubt, he thinks the final decision will be in his favor. He wants it to be in his favor.

And if it isn’t? What will he do then? How hurt will he be? And it’s inevitable that someone will be, right? At some point, I’ll have to choose one of them. And the other one, whoever it is, will be upset and angry, and likely, never forgive me. Likely, this would end their friendship too. One forged in such difficult circumstances that it should be able to weather anything.

But this…this is so personal, so emotional. Will the two of them be able to get through it? Would they be able to see past whoever is the inevitable winner and understand it’s for the best? And if they can’t? If they stop being friends, if they hate themselves…more than what they do now, will I be able to forgive myself?

"This…" I jump up to my feet, "I can’t do this."

"What do you mean?" Baron snaps.

"It’s because of me that the two of you are pitted against each other. I don’t want to come between the two of you."

"Trust me…the disagreement between us existed prior to your coming into the picture." Edward smirks.

"That’s not how it seems to me." I fold my arms around my waist. "The seven of you are supposed to be friends, right? At least, from what I’ve heard from the girls, you guys stick together. You have each other’s backs."

They both nod.

"So, imagine how it seems to me when I see the two of you hating each other… Thanks to me."

"We don’t hate each other," Baron murmurs.

I chuckle. "Sure could have fooled me."

"We just have too much stuff from the past between us." Edward leans forward. "It means our friendship will always be fraught with…tension."

"But it doesn’t feel right that, ultimately, one of you is going to lose."