25

Connor's voice fades into the background as anger blinds me to everything except my target, and I storm from the bathroom into the main area of the jet, my hands trembling at my sides.

It's funny; in that room, wrapped up in him, I'd almost forgotten we were even in the air. Not out here, where the clouds hover like cotton beyond the windows. The beauty is a stark contrast to the fury that fuels me as I shove through the bathroom door. It crashes violently against the wall, and every eye slams into me.

With my gaze fixed on Eric's, I make my way towards him, and his expression is confused, but also deeply worried. "Tai, what—" The words are cut off as my palm collides with his cheek, the impact echoing with a distinct crack as his head snaps to the side. His hand covers his cheek, eyes huge and mouth sagging.

Several things happen at once.

Dmitri charges from his seat and shoves my shoulders, knocking me back a few steps as he positions himself between me and Eric. Connor coils his arms around my waist and yanks me behind him as he squares up to Dmitri. Fury painted on their faces, chests pushed out, they stand nose to nose, both on the verge of snapping.

"What the fuck?" Dante shouts, running faster than I thought possible to wedge himself between the two of them. He places a hard hand on both their chests, forcing them apart. Eric's wide-eyed stare hasn't left mine, darting back and forth between my eyes in an attempt to read me.

"You had no right !" I bellow, jabbing a finger in his direction as I try to dodge around Connor's bulk. "Meddling son of a bitch, you had no fucking right to make that decision for me!"

"What the fuck?" He rubs his cheek as Dmitri and Connor stand their ground, snorting at each other like a couple of bulls about to charge. "What the hell did I do?"

"You can't just stay out of shit, can you?" I snarl, and his confusion runs deeper. "Answer my fucking phone… take away my fucking choices. That wasn't your call to make. It was mine. "

Uncertainty bleeds into guilt on his face. "You were hurting, Tai, and it was clouding your judgement. You didn't see yourself, how I found you…" He trails off and shakes his head as I seethe, my face and neck flaming.

"How did you even… what does that have to do with..." In an instant, his expression changes as if a lightbulb has been turned on, and my lip rips up in another snarl. "Wait."

He stands and places a hand on Dmitri's shoulder, who takes a reluctant step aside. Eric moves around him, taking a calculated stride forward as he narrows his eyes at Connor. Dante remains in the middle, attention darting between all of us as he tries to make sense of the situation.

"It was you. "

Connor maintains his silence, hand positioned protectively in front of me and chest inflated. Despite Eric's size, Connor dwarfs him in height and bulk. Undeterred, Eric moves even closer and jabs his finger in Connor's direction, while Dante finds it increasingly difficult to stay between the two.

" You're the son of a bitch that broke his heart."

"What?!" Theo, Dante, and Monica shout in unison as Dmitri gawks.

Our gazes lock, Eric's wild. "You were destroyed , man. The way I found you… Tai." The fear he felt that night is unmistakably present in his huge, pleading eyes. "Don't you remember how fucked up you were? I was looking out for you, brother… you know I was doing it for your own good. He was just going to keep calling! He wasn't going to give up, and I'll be damned if I'd sit back and watch you get hurt worse."

"It wasn't your choice!" I shout, and he flinches.

Eric's hands are in a frenzy, flailing through the air. "He left you, and he was fucking married… "

"No, I wasn't," Connor says with a quiet calm.

"What?" Eric finally turns to him.

"You were wrong. It was a misunderstanding."

"One that we could've figured out and talked through as fucking adults," I say, returning Eric's eyes to mine, "if you hadn't gone behind my back and blocked his number on my phone. My phone, Eric— my choice. Not yours. Mine ."

Eric jolts as if I punched him, and Dmitri catches him by the arms to steady him. "But…" His gaze flickers between mine and Connor's. " Fuck! " he screams, sinking into his chair and looking dazed. As Dmitri takes a seat beside him, the tension shifts, and both Dante and Connor visibly relax.

"You still left him," Eric says, eyes back on Connor. "You still fucking hurt him."

"I know," Connor whispers, but Eric shakes his head and interrupts.

"I don't think you do. I don't think you have any fucking idea . In the years Tai and I have been friends, I've never seen him like that…"

"Eric." He stops talking at the rare assertiveness in my voice, but his jaw tenses and his teeth grind with his underlying frustration. The regret on his face causes my anger to recede, and as he slumps forward, head sagging between his knees, I sidestep around Connor. He protectively grabs my hand, releasing it when I shake my head. Dmitri tenses as I get closer but doesn't move.

A heavy sigh leaves me as I kneel in front of Eric, and his eyes shine as he glances up at me. "I know you had good intentions, but fuck, dude…"

"You have every right to be pissed," he whispers, dropping his head again. "I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway."

"And you'd do it again, wouldn't you?" His shoulders bounce in a small, sad laugh.

"I just fucking hated seeing you so upset. I won't apologize for protecting you." He snaps up once more, and he shoots a furious look at Connor. "And you aren't off the hook, either."

" Eric ." I stress his name again, and he pulls the inside of his cheek between his teeth, causing the skin to dimple. "I love you, man, but you have to stay out of this."

After a moment of obvious seething, on the edge of pouting, he sighs, nods, and shifts his attention to Connor. "If he so much as thinks about shedding another single tear because of you, I'll… well, I'll probably not hurt you, but I'll fucking try."

"I won't hurt him," Connor promises.

"Giant ass oversized motherfucker," Eric adds in a mumble, and I blow out a quiet laugh.

Theo steps forward with visible excitement, completely unfazed by the near-brawl at thirty-five-thousand feet in the air. There's such a spring in his step, I'm surprised he's not whistling a jaunty little tune. "Um, now that the testosterone cloud has cleared, can we discuss the gay elephant in the room? When the fuck were Tai and Jugs together?"

He flutters over, like the butterfly he is, and grabs onto Connor's arm, smiling up at him. "I mean, I literally just predicted you were into him, right? But I didn't know that you guys were already like, a thing."

"Since when is Jugs gay?" Aaron whispers to Bruce, and I cringe as I look at Connor, expecting… what?

Regret for everything that happened in the past few minutes?

Shame for everyone finding out?

Instead, a sweet smile spreads across his face as his hand lands on my cheek, his thumb caressing my skin. "Since I met this guy at a college buddy's wedding on the Carolina coast."

"That sounds like a country love song." Theo's sigh is even more dramatic than usual, and that… that is really saying something.

Dante's glare moves between us, studying each person with an assessing eye. "We good here?"

"Yeah, we're good." Heads nod in agreement, and a clank of ice rattles as Monica takes a long drag from her drink.

"It is always something with you boys," she mutters, then pours herself a refill.

Everyone is staring at us as we sit together, and I do my best to ignore the scrutiny, but Connor is not as subtle. "Don't you all have better things to do?" His words rumble out in a sound that is almost a growl, and every set of eyes dodges away, except Theo's. He is utterly unfazed.

"Not really," he says, and Connor and I both glare at him until he mumbles and pulls out his phone, pointedly holding it up in the space separating us and not even pretending he isn't looking straight past it to watch us.

Suddenly exhausted, I slump into my seat. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

I wave in a vague gesture. "That… all that. It wasn't my place to announce it to the group, I just…" A giant hand covers mine and squeezes, silencing me.

"It's okay, Tai."

"You didn't want anyone to know."

"Where the hell did you get that idea from?" he asks, and my eyes fly up to his again. "What have I ever done to make you think that I'd hide you… hide us from the world?" My mind spins as I recall our time at the resort. The open way he held my hand over the bar table… how he hovered over me when we were caught kissing. How he's openly tried to talk to me since fate reunited us.

"Nothing," I answer after a pause, and he nods.

"I'd never be ashamed of you, Tai. Never . If we were together, I'd show you off to anyone who looked our way. God, I would be so proud to call you mine." Internally, I preen as his gaze slides over my face and then up. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Technically, you already did."

"Smartass," he scoffs, but smiles. "Why did you cut your hair?"

"Because it reminded me of you," I answer, and hurt flares in his eyes at my honesty. "It was a whole thing. I kind of had a Britney moment."

"What's a Britney moment?"

"Fuck, I forget you're an old man." We both laugh, and I don't miss how Theo's head whips in our direction.

Nosey fucker.

I raise my middle finger to scratch the side of my face. "Rude," Theo blurts, only to realize he's just confessed to spying.

"The night that I called and spoke with your wife—"

" Ex- wife," he stresses, and I grin.

"Right. Well, that night, I kind of… snapped." His eyes soften, fingers twitching because he wants to reach for me again. I slide my hand into his and he zippers our fingers, and suddenly, all those puzzle pieces fit together. No gaps, no funny edges… just connection.

"Aww…" Theo whispers, and I whip towards him with a glare.

"Theo, I swear to God," I hiss, and Dante heaves an irritated sigh as he stands up and moves a resistant Theo to the vacant seat that faces away from us.

"Want to go back to the bathroom for some privacy?" I tease, and Connor's eyes darken as they drop to my lips. My brow raises in a silent reprimand, and he turns into a scolded child. He ducks his head with flushed cheeks, offering me an apologetic smile.

"You were saying?" He gives my hand a jiggle.

"After my conversation with Beth, the memories were just too overwhelming. The way you'd run your fingers through my hair… how much you loved it. It made me obsess over how much I missed it… missed you. When Eric came to get me at the studio, I'd taken a knife and just hacked it all off."

"Sweetheart," he whispers, his hand tensing in mine.

"It's why he is so emotional about it… not that I'm excusing what he did. But I was pretty messed up when he found me." Suddenly self-conscious, I glance up at him. "Do you hate it short?" An irrational part of me worries it changes his opinion of me, but he reassures me with a smile.

"I hate I did this to you, hate that you hurt because of me, but no… I don't hate it. You're just as gorgeous as you always were." He wraps his arm around my shoulders, and I lean into him, tucking myself against his chest. It's quiet for a long time, conversations fading into a dull murmur as the others talk amongst themselves.

"Where do we go from here?" I finally ask.

"Where do you want to go from here? I am at your mercy, Tai, though I won't pretend I'm not dying to give this another chance. The past two months of my life have been spent missing you, and…" He pauses, considering his words before he squeezes me a little tighter. "And I don't want to miss you anymore."

"We can't pick up right where we were. Things were so intense… they moved so fast… and it nearly broke us both. If we want this to work, I think we need to take it slow. As tempting as it is to jump back in with both feet, we owe it to ourselves to do it properly. It's impossible to start over, but we also can't pretend that we didn't hurt each other." He's silent, his expression unreadable. "Will you say something?"

He smiles then, a serene thing that takes over his face as he leans over and presses a sweet kiss to my forehead. "Sorry… I was distracted thinking about all the ways I can try to win you over… preferably without getting coffee thrown at me." A surprised laugh escapes me, and he beams as his eyes dart around my face.

"Do you remember what I told you in our room the night of our first kiss?" I nod as he holds my eyes. "There are no expectations. None. Anything you're ready to give me, whatever pieces of yourself you're willing to share—I will cherish them. As long as you allow me to be a part of your life, I'm happy. Hell, I'm more than happy—I'm excited."

Tears blur my vision as he hugs me to him, and he pretends not to notice as one falls and splatters onto his shirt. "There are rules, though."

"Oh, yeah?" I say with a sniffle.

He nods, his cheek rubbing against my hair. "Complete honesty. If we tell each other anything, it's the truth."

I smile. "What else?"

"No judgement… whatever we learn about each other—"

"We take it for what it is and move on," I finish, and he hugs me tighter.

"That's right," he says, pressing a soft kiss to my head. "Now that we've gotten the formalities out of the way… My name is Connor Jennings, and my jackass friends call me Jugs because they say I need a bra. I own a boxing gym, I have a sugar addiction, and I'm a little crazy about you."

The first genuine smile that I've had in months spreads over my face as I pull back and peer up at him. "It's really nice to finally meet you, Connor."