Consolation Prize (Forbidden Men 9)

I blinked, confused. “What’s wrong?”

“Honey,” Tyla said slowly. “Do you realize you just told that boy you loved him?”

“No, I didn’t,” I said slowly, running the conversation back through my head until I got to the farewell, and then all warmth drained from my face. “Oh my God, what have I done?” I turned my beseeching gaze to them and flapped my hands restlessly. “What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?”

Before they could answer, my phone vibrated. “Oh, God,” I uttered. “He just texted me, didn’t he?”

Tyla and Sasha dove for my phone while I remained frozen. As they greedily read the screen, I finally found the courage to ask, “What’d he say?”

Neither answered for a moment, and then Sasha read the message aloud. “He said, Ha, I knew you’d say it first.”

I blinked and snagged the phone from their hands. “That’s all?”

That bastard. Was he not going to say it back, or at least tell me he didn’t feel the same? How dare he leave me hanging?

Two seconds later, another message popped up.

I released a breath, and my shoulders sagged, beyond comforted. “That fucking jerk,” I said, grinning and shaking my head as I showed my friends the new message. “He made me sweat through another two seconds on purpose.”

And I kind of loved him even more for it because it was just so him.

JULIANNA’S CHAPTER | 27

The next day was a Saturday, no college classes, so I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to act around Colton in philosophy. I’d never told a guy I loved him over the phone before. Actually, the only other person I’d said it to had been Shaun, and he’d proposed directly after that and we’d spent the rest of the day in bed together.

I shuddered with revulsion, just thinking about him and that day, while a nasty taste filled my tongue. Remembering other guys felt wrong now. I kind of wished everything had started with Colton because he was the only thing that felt right.

And yet I was sitting here stressing about how I was going to behave around him the next time I saw him.

We both knew we loved each other now.

What would I say to him about it? Just blurt it out again first thing? What if he retracted his part of it because he really had gotten a concussion the night before, and he’d been deliriously half out of his mind when he’d texted those three words?

I kind of wanted to puke from stressing myself out so bad.

Sasha was working all day, and Tyla was at Theo’s—I was afraid she wasn’t breaking up with him but making up, ugh—so I couldn’t bother my friends with my worries.

When a text came in from Colton mid-morning, I attacked my phone, eager to read it.

I stared at his words and exhaled a breath, relieved beyond anything I could explain. He hadn’t used the L-word, but what he’d said was just so…us, it settled everything inside me.

I told him:

To which the smart-ass immediately replied:

Yep, everything was as it should be.

When I strolled into work that night, I was actually humming contentedly to myself.

Behind the counter, Brandt was stacking glasses.

“Hey,” I called, smiling in greeting. “Pick still hasn’t found a replacement for you yet, huh?”

“No, the fucker,” he muttered with a scowl toward the back hallway. “I think he’s stalling on purpose.”

I laughed as I stowed my purse away and went to assist him. “That’s what you get for being an awesome employee.”

He sniffed moodily and rolled his eyes, then paused working when his phone rang. As he answered, I finished his task for him and moved on to fill some bowls with pub mix.