Unbreakable (Haven Falls 6)

Spencer looks back and nods and she instantly turns towards the girl standing behind the counter and gets busy putting the order in, only Spencer is having a hard time looking away.

I can’t help but grin. “See something you like?”

Spencer whips back around, realizing he’s been completely caught out. “Oh, um…nah. It’s not like that.”

“You can lie to her all you like, but you can’t lie to me. I see it all over your face, in your actions, and your need to be near her. It’s the same with me and Noah. You like her, don’t you?”

He shakes his head but the truth is in his eyes. He’s falling for her hard. Hell, he’s probably already fallen. “We’re just friends,” he tells me, using that same line that Tully throws around all the time, only when she says it, she’s mostly telling her truth, whereas right now, he’s lying through his teeth.

I see through him and something tells me he knows that I see it. “Why don’t you just tell her how you feel?”

Spencer looks back, taking her in as she chats away to the girl making his milkshake, distracting her from her work and probably making the process twice as long. “I can’t,” he tells me. “She’s not ready.”

“How do you mean?”

“She’s still in love with Rivers. I see it on her face every time his name is mentioned and it sure as hell didn’t help when he came back here after boot camp. It was like she took a massive step back,” he explains but really, there’s nothing to explain. I already know. “He hurt her in a big way and she’s not even close to wanting to feel something like that for someone else. Fuck, even if we were to happen, I doubt she’d ever feel that way about me. I’ll always be second place to him. He’s her grand prize and I’m just the guy who happens to be clinging on for second place.”

“You’re being a little hard on yourself, don’t you think? Without you here, she’d still be sitting in her room day in and day out wondering what she did wrong to make him go away, but look what you’ve managed to do with her. She just needs a little time to heal so she can move on.”

“I don’t know,” he says. “I think she’s happy to keep me friend zoned, but just know, I’m going to put her back together and the second she’s ready, I’m going to be the one she comes to.”

“How could she not?” I question, sitting back and taking him in. “You’ve helped her more than she could possibly know. Noah and I’ve been so caught up with all this Anton crap and Ari going missing that we haven’t been able to be there for Tully as much as we’d like, but you and Aiden were there and you’ve pieced her back together better than I could ever have done.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” he says. “There’re still some pretty major cracks that I don’t think a day at the beach or a few smiles are going to fix, but I’ll get them eventually and when I do, she’ll be good as new.”

“Yeah,” I scoff, “that is until Rivers shows up and undoes it all.”

“Look, I’m not going to lie. Your brother is a cool dude and I applaud what he’s doing, but I kind of hope he doesn’t come back for a while. You know, just long enough to give Tully the space she needs to move on.”

“I know,” I sigh. “I do miss him though and I don’t doubt she does too.”

He lets out a sigh and I see the struggle within him. It’s killing him that she’s going through this and there’s nothing more he can do for her. It’s probably killing him more than the girl he’s falling for is in love with another man, one who’s not even here. “What’s your take on her fixing up his place?”

Spencer shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know to be honest. I think it could go either way. It could help give her a little closure knowing she’s done everything she could to help him and that he’s not some kid without a proper home to live anymore, or she could just be trying to hang onto something that’s never going to happen.”

“Yeah…I don’t know. I guess we’re going to have to wait and see what happens as I have a feeling she’s going to change her mind about it.”

“I just don’t know if it’s healthy for her, but at the same time, how can I ask her not to do this when she’s trying to help someone to have a brighter future?”

“You don’t. You need to remember that this is Tully Cage we’re talking about and if you try to ask her not to do it, she’s going to start pulling away. You need to let her make her own mistakes and move on from this the best way she knows how. I know it’s going to suck for you, but you just need to stand by her side and support her in every way. All she needs is time.”