“I would pick him over anyone. He gave me everything you never could and never will because you are a pathetic excuse for a man. He gave me understanding and he gave me confidence and you know what else he gave me? ORGASMS!” I shout.
“Oh, Jesus,” Ariel mutters from next to me.
“You couldn’t find my clit with a flashlight and Google Maps!”
My amazing speech suddenly goes downhill fast, but I don’t even care. I’m so tired. Tired of Brian and all of his bullshit, tired of missing PJ, and just tired of all of this.
“You love me?”
My body turns in a flash when I hear the voice that has the power to bring me to my knees.
Chapter 32: Prince Charming
PJ is standing behind me wearing a black tuxedo that looks like it was made for him, with a regular tie, like a normal man.
“What are you doing here?” I whisper in shock, my heart practically beating out of my chest at the sight of him.
“The club donates a lot of money to the APL. They asked me to be a keynote speaker,” he tells me with a shrug, moving closer until I can smell his cologne and feel the heat from his body.
“Excuse me, Cynthia and I are in the middle of something,” Brian complains.
“SHUT UP, BRIAN!” PJ and I yell at the same time, looking away from my ex and back to staring at each other.
“You look absolutely stunning. That dress was made for you,” he says softly, moving even closer, until we’re toe to toe and his chest brushes up against mine.
“How much of that did you hear?” I ask, wondering if I should even bother being mortified by all the things that came flying out of my mouth in the last few minutes.
“I showed up right around ‘Pull the fucking stick out of your ass, Brian.’ You’ve got a scary right hook,” he tells me with a smile, the dimple in his cheek making me want to lean in and kiss it, but I’m still a little bit mad at him.
His hand comes up between us and he presses his palm to the side of my face, rubbing my cheek with his thumb.
“Are you really in love with me?” he whispers.
I nuzzle his hand before looking back up into his eyes.
“Of course I am, you idiot. I’m so in love with you it scares the hell out of me. But you left,” I remind him.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he apologizes. “I thought I was doing the right thing. Vincent came into the club spouting off all of this shit about family and togetherness, and all I could think about was you in my car that day you met my mom and how all you wanted was a family. I couldn’t be the one to get in the way of that. I couldn’t be the one to take something away from you that you’d always wanted, even if it pissed me off and I knew that motherfucker didn’t deserve to even breathe the same air as you. I knew you’d never go back to him in a million years, but he’s Anastasia’s father. I didn’t want to get in the middle of that and confuse her. I don’t have any rights to her, and I don’t want her ever thinking she needs to choose between me and him. I adore her, and I adore her mother, and I just didn’t want to make things harder on either one of you and make her feel guilty for choosing that piece of absolute shit she has for a father.”
“Hey!” Brian complains from somewhere behind me.
“Seriously, shut the fuck up, Brian!”
All of us turn and stare in astonishment at Belle.
“Sorry! This is all just so romantic, I don’t want anything ruining it,” she explains, giving us a wave to carry on.
PJ turns back to face me.
“When Vincent told me that asshole wanted to spend as much time with Anastasia as possible and didn’t want any distractions getting in the way of them repairing their relationship, I knew I needed to give you both some space and stepped back.”
I reach between us and grab the lapels of his tux jacket, pulling him closer to me.
“Fine, so you had to take a step back from my daughter, but what about me? Why did you take a step back from me?” I ask, my voice cracking with emotion.
PJ leans his head down and presses his forehead against mine.
“Because I’m so in love with you it scares the hell out of me,” he replies, repeating the words I just said to him. “And I didn’t want to get in the middle of this and make things more confusing for you.”
“I’m sorry, but do you just expect me to stand here and watch the two of you profess your love for each other? What about me?!” Brian exclaims, interrupting our moment.