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EMMETT

T he second Juniper reaches for Heidi’s hand in the middle of the room, my heart turns into a puddle of mush and I know, without a doubt, that I’m done for.

Everything clicks into place in that moment. Leo stands next to me talking to Cooper, and I faintly hear my name mentioned. But all I can do is watch as Heidi spins Juniper around and the look of pure joy and adoration on Juniper’s face.

It’s no secret that Juniper has been going through a hard time. Whatever has been happening has surely been hard on her mentally, and I don’t think I’ve seen her truly this happy in a long time.

She loves Elara to bits, but get Elara and Heidi in the same room? She’s over the moon.

I’ve lost so much in this life and all I’ve done is look for someone to piece me back together into the man I was years ago, never once truly acknowledging that my whole life has changed since that day until last week. I’ve never stopped to think that maybe all I’ve needed is someone who can make me feel brand new. And standing here, in the middle of this room, watching as Heidi keeps my daughter company in a room full of her friends, I realize with a clarity that feels like ice in my veins that I like this person I’m becoming with her around. I like this person she’s making me. Which gives me all the more to lose.

But if I lived my whole entire life with the fear that the next person I open up to will be tragically ripped away from me, I don’t think I’d have much of a life at all.

Leo taps me on the shoulder. “Go dance with them,” he encourages, giving me a little shove.

Without even a thought, I make my way over to my girls.

My girls.

Heidi looks up at me, her gorgeous eyes large as she processes that I’m standing in front of her, my hand out for hers. A strip of hair falls over her eye, and she blows it out of the way, her freckled nose wrinkling in the process.

“Dance with me?” I ask finally, my voice low.

The room has cleared out some, with mostly only friends and family still hanging out. The light has dimmed, and the music has slowed a little.

Heidi searches me for something she can’t seem to find, and when she finally takes my hand, I can’t stop the grin from spreading across my face.

My body feels warm, and the whole world seems to stop.

I reach my hand out for Juniper too, who takes it with her own smile.

The three of us dance for what feels like the entire night, but when Elara runs over to drag Juniper away, I’m left with Heidi in our own little bubble.

“I told you I want to try this.” I tuck her hair behind her ear, and I feel her shiver as my breath hits her skin.

“And I think I told you I wasn’t sure you meant it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You said that.”

I spin her once, watching us in the reflection of the glass behind her. Beyond it, the twinkling of the inner harbor feels magical. I’ve always loved Leo’s place.

“I’m an idiot,” I tell her, my lips inching closer to her ear.

“Mmm,” she hums, swaying with the rhythm.

“And I’ll spend a lot of time proving just how much.”

“This feels sudden,” she whispers breathlessly as my lips graze her ear. Her chest arches into mine.

“It’s not.”

“Why did you change your mind so much?”

“Because I’m scared to lose you.”

“You think you’re going to lose me?”

I nod. “I’m always scared I’m going to lose everyone. Juniper, Leo. You.”

She pulls away, her nose practically grazing mine as she looks into my eyes so intensely it feels like she’s looking through me. Like she can read every thought I’ve ever had about her, even the impure ones I’ve had lying in bed at night, my fist around my cock.

The thoughts I’ve pretended with such fervor didn’t exist and never happened, the shame crashing down around me like ice water every time.

“You’ve known I’ve wanted you. You’ve known since that night.”

I nod.

She bites her lip, placing a hand on my upper chest. The second she does, her brows furrow, and her fingers make their way to my neckline where she pulls the chain from under my shirt.

“You wore it.”

“I’ve been wearing it.”

I’ve worn the necklace Heidi gave me almost every day as long as I wasn’t at practice. It sits under my t-shirts to stay safe, and the feeling of it against my skin feels grounding.

“What does Leo put in his god damn food?” She giggles, and although I’m confused, I can’t help but laugh with her. She shakes her head. “I feel like something big happens at every damn Thanksgiving party I’ve been to or heard about.”

I don’t mask my confusion well.

“You know what happened that year with the fantasy league?” Her face twists with shock.

The fantasy league fizzled out the year after Owen and Isla got together, mainly because a couple of people were traded. With the drama that happened that year, most people didn’t want to join and Leo couldn’t get Ian to come back.

Leo tried to make it work for one more year before he decided it wasn’t worth it.

That doesn’t mean that it won’t be back, though. I need to kick his ass again.

“You do know that’s the night Ian dropped Owen,” she trails off, her brows arched through the roof.

“Yeah, we were shocked.”

She blinks at me.

“You do know that Isla was Ian, right?”

I blink back at her, processing the information. “You know, that makes a lot of sense actually.”

Heidi laughs. A giant, intense belly laugh that forces me to join her. “Why are men so dense? I feel like you had to have been told.”

I shrug. Maybe I was, but it wasn’t that important to me. I think we all kind of figured that Leo was up to some stupid shit. It wasn’t really important for me to get to the bottom of.

I swing her around once more, catching the eye of Briar in the back as she sips her wine, a smile on her lips.

“Date me,” I tell her.

“You don’t have any time right now.”

She’s sort of right. “I can make time.”

“I’m at your house all the time.”

“That’s technically not a date.”

“But it’s private, which,” she closes the distance between us, her lips brushing my ear. “I would rather be until you figure out what you really want.”

“I want you.”

She shakes her head. “That may be true right now, Emmett, but I’ve seen how the press treated Leo and Briar. I’m not going on a date with you in public until you know for a fact that you want me. Until this is something official and stable.”

“We could find costumes like the other two.” I gesture over to Isla and Owen in the corner making out.

Heidi smirks. “No. Nice try though, Big Guy.”

“Are you talking to anyone right now?”

She bites her lip, looking down at our feet. “Yes.”

“Then drop him.”

“Emmett—”

“Think about it.”

She doesn’t agree. She doesn’t say no.

And when we leave with the promise of her coming over the next day to talk, I feel like I’m flying.