Page 155 of The Heart Breaker

The only thing I’ve been staring at since I got here is my girlfriend.

Aurora’s across the room with her art teacher and two girls from her class, but every time somebody stops in front of her painting, her eyes flick over there.

It’s cute as hell.

Her blonde hair drapes down her back when she looks back at her teacher, and my gaze drifts down the fitted black dress on her body, down to the heels that make her already long legs look endless. I fucking love that she doesn’t give a shit about beingthe tallest woman in the room anymore. She owns that shit and stands tall and proud.

She turns her head, and even from here I can see the nerves she’s trying to hide. But they’re tangled up with pride too, with excitement, with a little bit of disbelief, like some part of her can’t believe this is real.

It’s like she can feel me staring at her because she turns, and her eyes catch mine, and everything else around me falls away. It’s like there’s a spotlight on her and only her, everything else falling away into the dark.

I don’t even realize how long I’ve been standing there like that until Austin comes up beside me and scoffs. “You know you’re allowed to blink, right?”

I shoot him a glare. “Fuck off, Rhodes.”

He just laughs. “Kidding, man. I love seeing you all happy and in love and shit.” He slides an arm around Maisie, and she immediately blushes and tucks herself into his side. “It’s fucking great, huh?”

I swallow instead of replying.

Yeah. Yeah, it really is.

I glance up when the door opens and Ryan and Isabella walk in, Logan and Nathan right behind them, Nathan’s hand linked with Logan’s as they both look around the room. Nathan will probably actually enjoy this, especially now that he’s got that internship working with a comic book designer. The rest of them, though, are only here to show support for Aurora.

Ryan stops beside me and follows my gaze across the room to where Aurora’s standing. “Is that one hers?”

I nod toward the far wall. “Yeah.”

He looks at the painting for a second. So does Isabella. So do the others when they finally make it over. And for once, none of them say anything right away.

Austin is the first one to speak, because of course he is. “Holy shit,” he says, staring at the canvas. “That’s really good.”

Maisie smiles, her eyes still on the painting. “It’s beautiful.”

Isabella glances from the wall to Aurora and smiles too. “She looks really happy.”

Yeah.

She does.

And that’s all I want, really. To make her happy.

I look back at Aurora just as she glances over, catching all of us standing there staring in her direction. She smiles when she sees us, quick and bright, then turns back to the woman in front of her.

I turn back just in time to see Logan wince and roll his neck.

Austin notices first. “What’s wrong with you?”

Logan rubs at the side of his neck. “Nothing. Slept weird.”

Ryan scoffs. “Maybe if you didn’t use Nathan’s chest as a pillow every night, you wouldn’t wake up with a kink in your neck.”

Logan shoots him a look. “I’d rather die than stop sleeping on his chest.”

Nathan scoffs, but his hand is already lifting to the side of Logan’s neck, fingers pressing into the tight spot. Logan’s mouth shuts immediately, his head tipping back and his eyes falling closed.

Austin lets out a laugh. “Oh, so that’s all it takes? Hayes gets his hands on your neck and suddenly you’re healed?”

Logan cracks one eye open, a smirk pulling at his mouth. “What can I say? Love those big goalie hands.”