35. Greer

CHAPTER 35

GREER

When Austin got home later that afternoon, I was on the phone with my GM catching up on last week.

"Listen, Charlie, I've got to go. I have somewhere to be." He didn't need to know where I needed to be was with my new husband. I ended the call and headed out to find him shoving boxes out of the elevator into the foyer.

"Why didn't you call me? I would have helped."

He stood up, sweat beaded on his forehead, his cheeks tinted pink, and had never looked better to me. And the smile that made me smile was on full alert. "There aren't but five. I unloaded them from the Tahoe into the elevator, then drove Dreamboat back to the condo."

Instinct led me to him as I plastered my mouth over his. He held me in his arms as we kissed, both of us sighing that we were finally back where we wanted to be. When I ended the kiss, he chased my mouth, as hungry for me as I was for him, making me laugh. "We need to talk before we get lost again."

Austin peppered kisses down my neck a few more times before he looked at me. "You know, we could talk in bed."

I laughed. "That sounds wonderful, but I need to know how your meeting went."

His grin was back. "It was so good that we ended up being invited to dinner tomorrow night to celebrate our wedding. Evidently, some players will be there too."

My eyes widened. "My players?"

He nodded. "Marcus arranged it. So you can probably figure it out."

My heart gave a little throb of happiness as I smiled, a little wistful at that moment. I never expected anyone to actually care about our marriage, and it made me a bit emotional.

But he noticed. "What's wrong, babe? If you don't want to go, we don't have to."

"No," I said, chuckling. "It's not that at all." How would I explain this to him? "I've always been on the outside of social things with my team. I'm the owner, and with that comes some isolation. Other than charity events and draft parties, I'm usually alone. My one close friend is Carter. And Eliana Sanchez."

I'd never shared those feelings with anyone, and I hadn't realized how painful that was until I heard myself say it. And evidently, Austin felt it too.

His eyes were full of empathy and understanding. They were the eyes of that twenty-two-year-old I fell in love with so long ago. "Greer, I never realized."

"There was no reason you would have, love." I cupped the side of his face as he leaned into my touch. "It just comes with the territory. It would be like inviting your boss to hang out. But when I moved out here twelve years ago, I hit the ground running. Building this team from the ground up became my life. Finding the right coach and supporting my players helped me cope with all the ways I'd failed you. And when Alex Hayes told me he was in love with a man, I was so proud of him for standing up for who he was. It broke my heart that I'd been such a fool for letting things stand in our way. But I'm so damn proud of them for being who they are."

Austin squeezed me to make his point. "You should tell them."

I raised my brows. "Tell them I was lonely until a week ago?"

"No," he smiled. "Tell them how proud you are of them."

That was something to think about.

"You're never going to be lonely again. Nothing will ever come between us. I promise."

My heart ached as he pulled me in for a kiss that I felt all the way to my toes. I believed every word he said as he patched up the broken heart I'd hidden from everyone, always wearing a smile, no matter how much it hurt.

"I wanna take you to bed and stay there the rest of the day," he said, kissing my lips, then my forehead.

I nodded, needing to feel his touch and his body all over me. But as we turned to go, a knock sounded on the front door. We both looked at it, then back at each other.

"Did you order takeout?" he asked, heading for the door.

My gut churned, because there was exactly one person who had clearance to come up without the doorman calling. "No. It's Carter."

Austin looked at me over his shoulder with a confused expression on his face, then opened the door.

I stood frozen as my best friend's usually happy expression slipped a bit as he looked at his brother, then at me. Both of us had kiss-swollen lips and a bit of beard burn to accompany the hard-ons now deflating in our pants.

"What are you doing here?" Austin asked him, looking from him to me.

"I could ask you the same thing, little brother."

Carter walked in, took in the boxes in the foyer, and looked at me. "What's going on?"

I watched Austin close the door and make his way to my side. Snapping out of the temporary shock, I smiled at Carter. "Good to see you. Come in. Want a beer?"

Heading for the kitchen, I needed a moment to figure out how to tell him our news. But Carter ended my moment. Austin was quiet since we'd decided I was going to tell Carter, since he'd told Katherine. He was letting me have my moment.

"What's going on Greer?"

I stopped and turned to look at him. Carter's expression was one of concern, not anger. At least not yet. "Nothing. As you can see," I motioned toward the boxes. "We were just moving Austin's things in here. With me."

He frowned. "Are you okay? Why do you need a live-in bodyguard?"

I sighed out a breath and looked at Austin. His tense expression had softened some, expecting this to go better than I had. "Let's have a beer, and I'll explain."

"No. Tell me now. What kind of danger are you in? Austin has half a SEAL team that can protect you."

The stress became too much, and I couldn't allow him to go off on another tangent. So, I turned and took out three beers, then walked to the living room. Placing two on one side, and the lone beer on the other, I waited. I needed to see if he could put it together.

"Have a seat, Carter."

He looked at the bottle arrangement, then watched as Austin took the seat beside me. His face contorted as he sat down and stared at me. Was he putting it together?

"Carter," I said. "Austin and I got married in Costa Rica. He's my husband."

Sensing I needed his support, Austin reached over and took my hand.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

I kept my voice calm as my heart tried to pound out of my chest. His reaction wasn't much different from Katherine's, so I should have been prepared. But I wasn't. I truly thought I was getting the better end of the telling the family deal.

"We got married last week. In Costa Rica."

Carter's eyes went directly to my left hand, then to Austin's.

"Married? What kind of bullshit is this?"

I shook my head. "We're in love. Have been for a long damn time."

His brow furrowed, as if he couldn't quite hear me. He looked at Austin. "Why the fuck aren't you saying anything? Is this a joke?"

"No," Austin replied calmly. "It's not a joke. I asked Greer to marry me last week, and he said yes."

Carter's eyes went wide as saucers. "But you're not gay!" he exploded.

Flashbacks from last week resurfaced as I opened my beer and took a swallow. The cool liquid eased the dryness in my throat. "You're right. But I'm demisexual. And I've been in love with your brother since he left Chicago to join the Navy."

"And I've loved him even longer." Austin squeezed my hand, trying to tell me it would be okay.

Carter started laughing. Not the type of laughter when something was funny, but the kind full of disbelief and shock. We waited for him to settle back down. When he sat back and all emotion had left his face, his words cut me deeper than any knife ever could.

"You have fucking ruined everything, Greer. I'm losing him again because of you."

Austin stood and loomed over his brother. Heat and anger radiated off him, making me fearful of what he might do. Balling his fist, he relaxed it and pointed in his face. "Don't you fucking dare speak to him that way, do you hear me? He is my husband. I've waited fourteen fucking years for him. You're being the piece of shit here, thinking about you and only you."

I watched the color drain from my best friend's face at Austin's words. They had cut him too, but he wasn't done like I'd hoped.

"You promised to move to Chicago and run this team with me. All the paperwork was submitted, we've been approved, and you couldn't fucking wait to get out of Portland. You said you wanted to leave."

Austin shook his head. "The only reason I wanted to leave was to get away from Greer!"

The air left my lungs as I looked at him. He wanted to get away from me, and I couldn't say I blamed him.

"Then why did you marry him? What kind of fucking sense does that make?"

Austin kept his eyes on me as he spoke. "I needed to get out of here because it hurt too much..." His voice cracked with emotion, causing my eyes to pool. "To see him when I was so fucking in love with him. It hurt to see all my friends blissfully happy, only to be the one on the sideline having my heart ripped out over and over. Don't you get that, Carter?"

His expression changed after he released that painful statement. Then he gazed at me with so much love I could almost feel it wrapped around me.

"I've loved him all my adult life, brother. From the first time we met when I was seventeen. And I've waited over half my life for him, and nothing, and no one, will ever separate us again. I love you, big brother, but if you can't accept that, then you know where the door is."

Austin picked up a box and headed toward the bedroom. I wanted to follow him, but I was stuck between the two people I loved the most. Then it suddenly occurred to me: there was no choice. It would always be Austin for me. I loved my best friend, but I loved his brother more.

"I'm sorry for hurting you. But I love him. And I'll never let him go again. So if you can't find it in your heart to want our happiness, then I guess this is it."

Carter stood and looked at me. Anger and fury grew within him like I'd never seen before. And when he reared back and punched me in the face, I wasn't prepared for it. But I took it; the pain of losing my friend was worse than the sting on my cheek.

I looked at him for a moment, then picked up a box. I turned back as he stood there shaking, the adrenaline visibly coursing through him. "Get the fuck out."

Then I turned and walked to our bedroom.