Page 95 of Broken Pieces
Chapter Thirty-Six
Brooks
The excitement of Rae winning the blue ribbon makes me want to do nothing but take her home, strip her clothes off, and worship every inch of her body to show her how proud I am of her.
But she is overly ecstatic over everything and wants to go out and celebrate. I don’t blame her. This is bringing back everything positive in her life.
Even though we all have a mutual love/hate relationship with the Cellar, Mac, Rae and I decide to head there because it is the closest place to our houses.
Rae is on the phone with Tacoma, brimming with joy and energy, on the ride to the bar. I can’t help but steal glances at her the entire time. How did I get so lucky? How did she agree to fall into this relationship with me?
She is beautiful, stunning, a force to be reckoned with. She’s a hurricane and I am lost in her wind.
I think about our brief conversation about having kids. It came out of left field. But it doesn’t mean I didn’t mean every word. When I look into my future, the only thing I see is the beautiful smile of the woman next to me. She is my future and I need to do everything I can to keep her. But a small alarm is going off in the back of my head, my darkness trying to take over, telling me I am not good enough for her.
She looks over at me and smiles, my heart beating erratically as my love for her pushes the darkness away temporarily.
Laney ends up at the bar, unsurprisingly, and her and Rae are lost in conversation as me and Mac play a game of pool.
“You know I thought you two were in love when I saw you at the fair but now,” Mac says, pausing to take a pull from his beer. “Now you look like you want to marry her.”
I look at Rae and rub the back of my neck. “I would, but I am not good enough for her.”
“You don’t really think that?” Mac asks.
I shrug my shoulders. “I feel like I will hold her back from her potential.”
“Naw, man. No way. She loves you, she won’t let that hold her back from her life.”
I nod as I look for my next shot.
“How does she make you feel?”
I look at Mac. He knows I love her. “You know.”
“I don’t, man. I know you love her. But why? What makes her different?”
I sigh as I answer. “She makes me a better man. I need to spend every second with her.” I pause and take a sip of my beer. “Of all the mistakes I’ve made in my life she puts all the doubt in myself at ease.”
“Have you told her yet?”
I look at Mac questioningly.
“About the party.”
“I can’t. I don’t know how,” I say as I find my hand rubbing the back of my neck again, the darkness pulling at the edges of my mind.
“You can’t be honest with yourself or her until you do.”
“I think Easton knows.”
“Probably,” Mac says. “I see how he is around you. I bet Tacoma found out and told him.”
“I don’t know what to do, man. I love her, but I am afraid I will lose her.” I look over at her, my heart feeling like it’s on the edge of breaking as I think of telling her the truth. “I don’t see this ending well. She'll never look at me again.”
“If she loves you, she'll forgive you.”
“When did you become so profound?” I ask him.