Page 45 of Pretty Thing

At the mention of her so-called friend’s name, my blood boils. I can picture his smug face as he complains about me. He probably went so far as to tell her to stay away from me. Fucker.

“I meant to tell you.” Despite the rage filling me, I keep my voice calm and gentle.

“The point is you shouldn’t have done it.”

I sigh and nod, then turn my hand over, giving her the option to take it. Eden finally relaxes and does just that.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry the funeral home blindsided you. I really was going to tell you when I got in the car, but you were still so upset, and then yesterday your friends were here—no, there is no excuse. I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to overstep. I just wanted to make this a little easier. Here, let me get the paperwork for you.”

I go to stand, but Eden holds my hand.

“No…not yet. Give me a minute.”

I sit back down as close as I can, loving that she leans into me.

“You told me so much about your parents. I promise that I chose everything with them in mind. I just couldn’t see them wanting their only daughter to plan their funeral. All of this is so stressful and when I went in that day, Eloise, said they were very busy because of the crash. If decisions weren’t made right away that it could be weeks before they could fit your parents in. I knew you wouldn’t want that.”

Eden chews her bottom lip, and I can’t help but stare. My heart pounds faster with every slight movement.

“Kyle says it’s weird,” she blurts out.

“What is?”

“That you’re here. That you’re helping me. That you’re the one who made the arrangements instead of someone who knew my family better.”

The anger glows brighter and pools in my stomach, but I don’t let it show on my face. Kyle needs to stay out of my way and away from what’s mine. She says they are friends, but I’m a guy, and the looks he gives her…that’s not fucking platonic. I really don’t like it when people stick their noses where they don’t belong.

“Do you think it’s weird? Yours is the only opinion I care about.”

Eden lifts her shoulder slowly. “A little, I guess.”

I drop my head to gaze down at our joined hands.

“Eden…maybe it is, and I’m sure that Kyle means well, but he wasn’t there. He didn’t see what we saw. He didn’t experience the fear and the carnage and the loss.” My thumb runs over the back of her hand.

I look into her amber eyes that warm me from the inside out.

“I do. We do. We are the only ones who know what it’s like. We have a connection that can’t be broken. Do you think I mean you harm?”

“No, I think you want to help me.”

Trauma is a brutal kind of glue. It binds people together with blood and memory.

“I do,” I say, squeezing her hands. “That’s all I want. But I’ll stop if you really want me to. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable.”

Eden swallows and slowly shakes her head. The constrictive weight sitting on my chest eases.

“Good, neither do I.”

Leaning forward, I cup her cheek and love how her skin pinks under my touch. She tilts her head into my hand like it’s second nature, and my lip twitches.

“Let me show you what I got at the store, and then I’ll tell you all about what I chose for the ceremony Saturday. I promise we can change anything you feel isn’t perfect. Okay?”

Eden nods, and my heart soars, but darkness clouds my mind. Kyle is putting doubts in my Pretty Thing’s head.

That is a problem.

I can’t have that.