“That’s what Erica says,” he smirks before casting a shady look at Trev that has him grimacing.

  Fucking A. Shots fired. Maybe they aren’t as amicable as I thought.

  The next moment, the front door opens, and Scar walks in, carrying several bags of what smells like Mexican food.

  “Thank god. If we were gonna depend on Sebastian for food we’d all starve,” Mikey says as he stands up and only slightly stumbles over to help Scar with the bags, ever the Southern gentleman.

  I stand too and barely even limp as I make my way towards her. She looks down at my leg before smiling up at me.

  “Look at you! Not even using the crutch?”

  “Nope,” I pop as I sling an arm around her shoulders and take the rest of the bags out of her hand.

  She takes a sharp breath in before looking at me with those big kaleidoscope brown and green mixed eyes.

  “You’re drunk.”

  “That he is,” Trevor agrees from the other side of the room as he pours the rest of his drink down his throat.

  Scar rolls her eyes and laughs as we make our way into the kitchen.

  “Have you guys done anything else besides sitting around getting drunk all day?”

  “They’re helping me forget about…fuck, I think it’s working. What the hell is my wife’s name?” I laugh as my mind begins to fog over.

  Mikey and Seb chuckle as Trevor corrects over a mouthful of food. “Ex-wife.”

  My laugh subsides, and that ache in my chest that was practically consuming me five drinks ago begins to come back and my buzz begins to fade, at least a little. Fuck. I’m getting divorced. Whether I like it or not. How fucking shitty is that? Takes two people to enter a marriage but only one to end it. Where is the logic in that?

  I feel a light hand touch my shoulder and look down to see Scar watching me carefully, like she knows exactly where my head is at. I give her a small nod and cover her hand with mine before facing the bags of food that my friends are quickly annihilating. I dish up a plate for Scar and myself before the vultures attack the rest as we all sit down and eat. About ten minutes later, a soft knock comes from the door as me and the guys all shout to come in.

  Erica steps inside with two little balls of energy bouncing behind her, one with fire engine red hair to match her mom and one with a deep brown almost black hair to match her dad. Seb smiles wide as the girls scramble over to him, jumping into his arms as Erica hugs everyone as she makes her way around the table. I notice out of the corner of my eye that Trevor watches Erica like a hawk until she reaches him before he stands up to hug her. He holds onto her for a little longer than would normally be deemed appropriate before she whispers something to him that has him taking several healthy steps back and running a hand through his hair. Poor bastard.

  “You ready to go, babe?” Erica asks Seb.

  “I’m fine. You didn’t have to come all the way out here to get me,” Seb says as he stands up.

  Erica raises an eyebrow at him as her face lifts into half a smile.

  “How many drinks have you had?”

  Seb thinks about it for a moment as he begins counting on his fingers. When his hands get to eight he shrugs as he pulls her in for a kiss.

  “Like two.”

  She lets out a laugh as she shoves his chest away.

  “Righttt. Thanks for the text, Scar. Lunch this weekend?”

  Scar smiles and nods as the twins run circles around the house, clearly showing no interest in leaving. All it takes is one stern look from their mom to send them racing for the front door, though.

  “I’m gonna go crash if it’s cool, Slate,” Trevor says as he pushes away from the table, a melancholy look on his face for the first time today.

  “Sure, man. Whatever room you want.”

  He nods and claps my back before grabbing his bag and making his way upstairs.

  “What do you say, Mikey? Wanna go get some ink?” I ask.

  He lets out a dry laugh and shakes his head. “I’m way too fucked up for that. No way in hell they’d take us, man. I’m gonna go call Vi before I pass out.”

  “Fuck, for real? You guys are acting like old men. We’re in our twenties, we’re pro-athletes. We need to be living it up!” I say with a shake of my head.

  “Barely. We are on our way out of our twenties, I’m already retired and you’re…” he trails off before looking down at his phone. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he finishes before grabbing the backpack he brought and heading upstairs.

  Pushing his words aside, I smile at Scar as I waggle my eyebrows.

  “Looks like it’s just you and me, Bubbles. Let’s go out. Hit up a club or something?”

  “Tempting,” she smiles with a small laugh, “but I had a long day at work, and I’m pretty sure you need to sleep off whatever the hell you’ve been drinking.”

  I frown at that. Why is everyone being such a fucking buzz kill?

  “Fine, I’ll make you a deal,” she says with a sigh.

  I perk up instantly as I listen to her.

  “If you can walk in a straight line heel to toe, we will go out and do something, if not, it’s bedtime.”

  “Bedtime,” I snicker as I push myself to stand up, noticing that for once my knee doesn’t hurt even a little bit. Fucking sweet. “I’m twenty-eight years old, Scar. I don’t have a bedtime.”

  “Maybe you should,” she smirks. “Alright, Santos, let’s see what you got.”

  I shoot her a wink before lining myself up and begin taking one step at a time. I’m doing great until the whole room tilts. Are we having a fucking earthquake? Thankfully, I’m able to right myself, and Scar is right there as if she was ready to catch me before I fell on my bad knee. How hilarious would that have been?

  “Bedtime it is,” she says as she slips underneath my arm and starts pulling me in the direction of the stairs.

  “I don’t want to,” I protest.

  “Too bad, we made a deal,” she says as we reach the top of the stairs, and she goes to push the door to my bedroom in.

  “No,” I say, causing her to pause. “I don’t want to sleep in there. I don’t even want to be in this fucking house. It’s all her. Her designs, her choices, her style. I’m uncomfortable in my own fucking home, have been for years, but you know the saying: happy wife, happy life.”

  Scar looks at me sympathetically before shaking her head sadly.

  “Should be more like: happy spouse, happy house. Your feelings and thoughts matter too, Slater.”

  I wave her off because I didn’t say that to get into a touchy-feely conversation that I’m not in the right headspace for. She nods, accepting my brush off before steering us down the hall a bit. Scar pushes open a door to reveal a half-naked Trev crawling into bed. The shadowed look on his face downstairs is gone, replaced with a drunken smirk.

  “You come to join me, Scar? I promise it’ll be a night you’ll never forget.”

  Scar’s cheeks flame before she shakes her head. She’s always gotten so easily embarrassed, even as a kid.

  “Fuck off, Trev. She’s too good for you anyways,” I mutter as I nudge Scar to keep walking.

  Trevor’s eyes run down Scar’s body, slower than this morning as he bites his lip and nods.

  “I don’t doubt it.”

  I scoff and roll my eyes as I practically drag Scar out of there. The sounds of Trevor’s chuckling follows us down the hall until we step into an empty spare room. I begin to sway slightly as we make it to the edge of the bed. Scar ducks away from me, and I drop to the bed with a bounce before I roll over and look up at Scar with a smile. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head as she turns to leave when I reach for her.

  Grabbing her hand and tugging softly, she tips over before falling onto the bed beside me. She giggles as she tries to push her hair out of her face. Lifting my hand up, I brush the few pieces that have fallen from her ponytail before tucking them back.

  “Stay?” I ask softly.

  She licks her lips and glances at the door. I’m sure she wants to go home. She already spent the night last night. She probably wants to get home to her own bed, and I should let her. But selfishly, I want her here. Scar grounds me, she gets me, and time and time again, she’s proven to stand by my side when life tries to knock me down. I could use some of those good vibes right now.

  Slowly, she nods as she crawls onto the bed fully. We both slide under the blankets before I lift my arm up for her to come closer. She takes her ponytail down and shakes her hair out before resting her head on my chest. I press a kiss to the top of her head before closing my eyes.

  “Love you, Scar,” I murmur slightly as sleep overtakes me in record time.

  Scarlett

  My eyes flutter open, for the second day in a row, to see that I’m not in my apartment. Instead, I’m in a spare bedroom at Slater’s house. I go to sit up when the mattress shifts underneath me. I pause for a moment before lifting my head to see Slater beneath me, softly snoring. It’s not the first time we’ve shared a bed.

  Growing up next door to each other, sleepovers were practically constant, and neither one of us grew up in lavish houses like this with several spare bedrooms to choose from. But it’s been years. Before he met Nikki, before he went off to college even.

  I’ll never forget that day in particular. Even though Brighton was less than a ten hour drive from Seattle, it was still heartbreaking for me. Though Slater and I have always been just friends, there was a time where I thought things were changing.

  Growing up, Ezra and Slater were always the closest. Aaron quickly became too cool to hang out with everyone, and I was just the annoying little sister that wanted to tag along.

  Over the years, Slater and Ezra stayed close, but me and Slater quickly developed our own kind of friendship. He listened to me, understood me better than anyone else. He was instantly my best friend.

  It didn’t take long for my mom’s cancer to spread. She was here and gone within months of being diagnosed with stage three cancer. When she passed away, Slater snuck over to my house every night for weeks and held me while I cried. When his mom got sick, I did the same.

  Just before Slater went off to college, we had a going away party for him. When everyone had gone home or gone to bed, it was just Slater and I left in front of the dwindling bonfire in his backyard. We were talking about what college was going to be like, what being a Brighton Knight would feel like for him when he turned to face me.

  “I’m gonna miss this, Scar.”

  “What?” I ask.

  “This,” he motions between us. “Just talking with you, hanging out. Everything is just easy with you.”

  I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear as I dip my head in an attempt to hide my smile. It’s getting harder and harder to conceal it around Slater. I’ve loved him for practically ever, and despite the fact I know he doesn’t see me as more than his best friend, I want him to. Desperately. But now he’s going off to college, where he will be surrounded by gorgeous, experienced women for months before I’ll even see him again. The thought alone sours my stomach and has me looking into the fire, my previous smile vanished.

  “Me too.”

  I feel his hand tilt my chin, forcing me to face him as his deep brown eyes scan over me with concern. He doesn’t speak for several seconds, instead just continuing to watch me, as if he were committing me to memory. Suddenly, something passes across his face. Something completely new before his eyes dart down to my lips.

  My stomach dips in anticipation as my pulse begins to thunder. Oh my god. He looked at my lips. Is he thinking about kissing me? Slater wouldn’t, would he? I watch steadily as his tongue wets his bottom lip slowly. I can barely breathe as his hold on my face tightens just slightly.

  “Slater! You out there?” Ezra calls out.

  Just like that, one sentence from my older brother seems to douse him with ice water as he drops my face and scoots back before calling out to Ezra.

  “Yeah, man. Was just about to head in,” he says as he stands to walk over to where Ezra is watching us from our back porch.

  I thought that moment was going to be our chance, but that was the first and last moment where I felt like Slater reciprocated anything more than friendship and looking back on it, it was more than likely all in my head.

  I’ve tried to let go of my feelings for him. I’ve dated, hooked up a bit, even gone short periods without talking to him at all. In the end, unfortunately, nothing has been able to remove the imprint he has left on me. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not a lonely old hag who has spent the last twenty years pining after a man that will never be mine. I’ve had boyfriends that I was genuinely happy to be with and could picture a future together.

  But they weren’t Slater.

  I slip out of bed, knowing that when Slater is hungover he sleeps like the dead, so I couldn’t possibly wake him before I walk downstairs and make my way to my car. Something inside told me that Slater and the boys weren’t going to be in a great way when I came to check on them yesterday so before I picked up food I swung by my apartment and grabbed a change of clothes and some basics.

  When I grab my bag, I slip into one of the guest bathrooms downstairs before taking a shower and getting ready for my day. Once I’m dressed, I step out of the bathroom and find that the house is still completely silent. I know those boys are gonna be feeling like hell this morning, so I pop my head inside the fridge to see what kind of supplies Slater has.

  I grab a little bit of everything, making whatever kind of breakfast items I can out of what is in the house since I know there are about to be three grumpy and hungover men that are definitely not used to abusing their bodies like this. It doesn’t take me long before I have eggs, turkey bacon, whole wheat toast, and some protein pancakes piled high on the counter.

  The first beast to emerge is Declan. He runs a hand down his face as if he can wipe the feeling away before giving me a tired smile. I smirk as I pour a cup of coffee for him and slide the mug in front of him.

  “Fuck, Miss Scarlett. You’re an angel from above,” he says with his accent drawing out above as he takes a sip.

  I let out a laugh as I shake my head and start making a plate for myself.

  “Hardly.”

  “What’s all this?” Trevor yawns as he pads into the room, only wearing a pair of boxers, his blonde hair mussed on one side.

  “Breakfast,” I say as I sit down and eat a piece of bacon.

  Trevor chuckles to himself as he shakes his head.

  “Not sure what Slater is so bummed about. Nikki was a fucking bitch. You treat him better than she ever did.”

  His words strike a nerve. A good or a bad one, I’m not totally sure. So instead I focus on the food in front of me.

  “What’s that smell?” Slater rasps as he slowly makes his way down the stairs.

  He’s definitely not looking as confident walking on that leg as he was last night. My guess is he definitely overdid it when he had a nice buzz going, and his body is making him pay the consequences today.

  “Scar made breakfast,” Trevor says over a mouthful of food.

  Slater smiles tiredly as he hobbles behind me, kissing the top of my head as his hand rests on my hips.

  "Thanks, Bubbles,” he says as he moves to grab a plate and start dishing up.

  The spot on my hip is still tingling from his touch, and though I hate my body for outing me, I can feel that my cheeks are on fire. Apparently, I’m not the only one who notices because Trevor and Declan both give me knowing smirks before they thankfully mind their own business and continue eating.

  Once we are all finished, Trevor rinses off his plate before standing.

  “I’m gonna grab a shower and then I gotta catch a flight back to Texas.”

  Slater nods as he goes to stand, wincing when he puts too much weight on his leg before breathing through it.

  “Alright, man. Thanks for coming out yesterday. It was good to see you.”

  “Anytime, Slate. I’ve been where you are. I get it. You get hurt, and you feel like the world is over, like you’ll never be the same. You got this, though. If you want it.”

  Slater runs a hand through his curls and shrugs. “We’ll see.”

  Trevor claps him on the shoulder before walking upstairs.

  “What about you, Mikey?” Slater asks, facing Declan who is still scarfing down the remnants of food leftover.

  “The plane is set to take off at six tonight. I promised Tuck we would go fishing this weekend.”

  Slater smiles fondly at the mention of Declan’s stepson. Though they aren’t blood related if you saw them together, you’d never know it. I think Tucker was about four or five when Declan met Vi and from everything Slater told me, he fell hard for the sweet single mom almost instantly. It wasn’t an easy road for them, far from it actually, but I’m so glad that they are in the place they are in life. They deserve it.

  “Well, we can’t break a promise made with Big Man,” Slater teases, causing Declan to chuckle. “How about a little therapy session before you leave?”

  “I don’t know, Slate. Pretty sure we still have too much alcohol in our system for a tattoo,” he laughs dryly.

  Slater shrugs. “I know a guy. Grab a shower and meet down here in twenty, yeah?”

  “Fuck it, sure. I’ve been wanting to fill in some pieces on my back,” Declan says as he looks over his shoulder where his under tank shows the beginning of his full sleeve tattoos creeping onto his back. Honestly, I can’t tell which one is more tattooed, him or Slater. They are both covered. They got into it back in Brighton, and within a few short years they looked like new men, I mean, not really but you get my point.

  “Well, I have to meet up with Collin and go over some stuff before I work with a few of the guys today. Call me later. Let me know if you need me, okay?”

  Slater nods as he pulls me in for a hug that lasts longer than I expect before he lowers his mouth to my ear.

  “Thank you…for everything. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  I pull back and pat his shoulder. “Good thing you’ll never have to find out.”

 

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