Hate Sober (Love Me Duet 2)

Now, I have to remember how to slow my heart down when he’s around.

Because it still beats wildly for Gunner Reid.

29

Gunner

She’s already there when I pull up out front, her car’s parked in the driveway. Walking up the stairs to her parents’ house, her father opens the door just before I can knock. I once wanted everything he had. I wanted to destroy him, and take it all away from this family. Now, I want into this family, and I really couldn’t care less about anything to do with his family business. What I want the most is inside his house.

“Gunner.” Her father nods, not stepping away to let me inside, instead he stays where he is. He took my family’s business and made it his own. I should hate him, but I don’t. One day, though, I will own this town just as he does right now. “You planning on taking my daughter again?” he asks me, raising an eyebrow.

“I plan to marry her again,” I tell him the truth and my intentions.

His lip twitches at my words. “Alec is here, so best behavior while in my house.” He steps back and lets me inside, and I see her straight away, her back is to me and she’s sitting at the dining table. Across from her is Alec and his fiancée, Jacinta. Everly turns when she hears us and smiles shyly. When I get near, I lean down to kiss her cheek and take a deep breath.

Fuck! She smells good. I want her so fucking badly. Not having her is almost torture. At least now she lets me be around her. It’s a starting point and something to work from.

“So nice to have you all under the same roof. It’s family time,” Everly’s mother says, and I feel Everly’s eyes on me, so I turn her way to see her smiling. I like her smile. I like it full stop when she looks at me.

Fuck, I love everything about her.

“Thanks for coming,” she says in a soft voice for only me to hear.

“I invited myself. So, I guess I should be thanking you.”

Her cheeks blush as she turns away to her mother who’s pouring her a drink.

“You two seem to be getting along well,” her mother states, at which I turn to look at Everly for words.

“Yes, slowly. It will take time.” Her hand touches my leg and I freeze at the contact. She gives me a gentle squeeze, then pulls away, placing her hands back on the table. “And you two have been speaking?” Everly says looking from me to Alec.

Alec nods as do I.

“That’s very good to hear. You two boys fighting isn’t worth it,” her father chimes in.

“Oh, it was worth it,” I say softly, making Everly’s smile tighten.

The dinner goes easily. Everly smiles my way throughout, and I take each and every fucking one of them as though they are my personal gift.

Life without her wouldn’t be good. It would be liveable, but it wouldn’t be the same. It was agonizing not to have her with me. To be the better person and give her the man she deserved by letting her go. Believe me, I didn’t want to let her go.

“You really trying to win her back, huh?” Alec asks as the girls get up and walk outside. Everly’s father goes to fill our drinks as Alec taps the table, waiting for me to reply.

“Yes, I can’t live without her.”

“This is evident.” He chuckles.

I offer him a nod. We may have lost our friendship all those years ago, but I’m trying to accept him. I can clearly see he puts Everly first, he values her, and now he has his own family to support. And watching him with Jacinta, I know it’s just a matter of time before he falls hard for her. She clearly loves him enough for the two of them.

“She was so broken after…” He doesn’t say Roberto’s name. “She was always a smiler, nice to everyone. Now it seems only you can pull the big smiles from her.”

“She just needs time.”

“Time for what?” Everly asks, walking back into the room by herself. She looks from me to Alec and sits next to me.

“Time to heal,” I tell her.

Everly looks surprised, but doesn’t speak.

“How has your week been, Squirt?” Alec asks, pulling her attention from me.

“Good. Gunner helped May move today.”

Alec looks to me and raises an eyebrow. “Went good?” he asks.

“You could say that, I think.”

I look to Everly who’s still watching me. “He did good. That’s all I can ask for.” She goes to pour herself another glass of wine.

“Are you driving?”

She pauses and looks back to me with raised eyebrows. “Yes, but I was thinking that you could also take me home, ex-husband,” she says before standing and walking back out, leaving Alec and me sitting alone again.