Page 29 of The Stunt
She continues. “Yeah, well, I hope you sleep well at night knowing that your clients could end up losing their homes so you can make an extra buck.” She hangs up, tossing the phone onto her desk. “Asswads,” she mumbles before remembering we’re here and hitting us with a saccharine smile. “Hey, guys!”
“Uhh, everything okay?” Mav asks.
“Oh,” she snorts. “Yeah. That was Netflix. Did you know they raised their pricing again? Nineteen dollars a month. And for what? I’ve barely even watched it since they cancelled Orange is the New Black.”
I furrow my brows in confusion, opting to keep my mouth shut. It’s for my own good.
“Anyway,” she says, sitting down in her luxurious leather chair. “Let’s talk about that breakup.”
Maverick stiffens, reaching over to grab my hand. “Twyla, I already told you. I love Bella. We are in love. We’re not breaking up.”
Confusion clouds her expression for a moment, and I feel sweat start to bead on the back of my neck. I knew she’d be mad at us for throwing her plan out the window. I hope she doesn’t yell at us like she did poor Sharon.
We sit, staring at each other for another thirty seconds before she busts out laughing. “You guys,” she heaves between snorts. “I’m fucking with you. I knew you’d end up together for real.”
I scrunch my nose as she uses her fingers to carefully tap away the tears of laughter making their way down her face. “You what?” I ask, not absorbing her words quick enough.
She takes a breath, composing herself. “Bella, for ten years, I’ve watched you do everything you were told. You never ask for anything, and nobody gives your wants or needs a second thought. And Maverick,” she says, moving her eyes to him. “You were letting life pass you by, only focusing on football and being the best. I knew you were too stubborn to go find love on your own. So, I gave you both a little nudge. I knew you’d be the perfect partners for one another.”
I choke out a laugh, not even sure what the right reaction should be. On one hand, I feel like I should be pissed that shemeddled in my personal life. But, then again, that meddling brought me to Maverick, so can I really be mad?
Mav exhales beside me, his eyebrows nearly kissing his hairline. “Wow.”
Yeah, that’s a good enough reaction. “Wow is right,” I echo him.
She just gives us a smug smile as she wipes imaginary dust from her desk. “You know, youcouldsay thank you.”
Maverick stands up, offering his hand for her to shake. She obliges. “Thank you, Twyla, for putting your nose where it didn’t belong. If you hadn’t, I’d have never met the future mother of my children. But going forward, please, for the love of God, stay out of our business.” A vision of me, holding a little version of him pulls me away from reality for just a moment before I stand up, grabbing his hand again.
She puts her hands up in surrender. “You have my word. Now, get out of my office.”
We do just that, heading toward the elevator and into whatever adventure life brings our way next.
EPILOGUE
MAVERICK
“Do you have the gift?”I ask Bella as we step out of the car and head down the walkway to Dalton’s new home.
“Yep,” she answers, holding up the bottle of wine and gift card we brought as a housewarming present. When Dalton told us he bought this house on a whim a couple weeks ago, we were all shocked that he was moving out of his bachelor pad in the city. But the guy is pretty much a loose cannon one hundred percent of the time, so we all just went with it.
Bella rings the doorbell, and I take the opportunity to grab her and drop my lips to hers. Our kiss turns frenzied in an instant, and by the time the door opens, I have her pushed against one of the pillars on the porch with my hand running up the back of her thigh as she moans into my mouth.
“Good fucking God,” Dalton groans from the doorway. “Could you two please not fuck on my front lawn? I have neighbors.” He peeks around to see if anyone is looking as we walk past him into the house like two teenagers getting scolded by their dad.
Mads chimes in. “Oh, they can’t kiss outside ofyour house, but you can bang the Playmate of the Year on the patio tableoutside ours?” Blaze chuckles as he pulls her into his lap at the kitchen table.
Dalton scoffs. “First of all, she was Miss December. Secondly, nobody asked you to check the security footage like you’re heading the goddamn FBI, Shorty.”
“If you must know, you walking herpes medication ad, I was trying to spy on Blaze. Sometimes he skinny dips out there and I wanted to see his dick,” she says with a shrug.
Blaze looks at his girlfriend, feigning offense. “Baby Doll, if you wanted to see the big, bad monster, all you had to do was ask.” She goes to argue, but he grabs her cheeks roughly between his thumb and fingers and smacks a kiss on her smooshed lips, silencing her.
Tanner throws his head back in a laugh from his chair in the corner. He was being so quiet; I didn’t even know he was here. That’s very on-brand for him. He’s still the most mysterious motherfucker I know.
“Anyway,” Dalton says, standing in front of us. “Thank you all for coming. I wanted to make sure all the most important people in our lives were here today.”
Our?What is he talking about?
He looks over at Dia, who puts her chin up, walks over to stand beside him, and links her hand with his. The entire group collectively gasps as they smile at one another before looking back at us.
“We have something to tell you.”