Page 29 of Dear Future Husband


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“Tonight was memorable…unforgettable, in the best way possible.”

Eyebrows raised; Trey let out a hearty chuckle. “Well, that might make you the easiest girl ever to impress.”

Gradually, his features shifted to a serious expression as he moved closer. “I meant it earlier today when I said that I plan to get to know all of you, Maybelle. You’re not a high school finale.” He punctuated that with an irritated scoff. “You’re so much more…you’re—you’re…” He paused, wetting his lips with the flick of his tongue. “You’re endgame for me,” he said this with so much finality and admission that my breath hitched.

What did endgame mean exactly? I didn’t know, but how he said it, how he looked at me, made me quake with excitement to find out.

I smiled at him. Now lacking the ability to properly communicate or function, I left him with my smile. Then trotted through the sand to meet with my brother at the edge of the road where our mom soon parked.

I walked off that beach happy with hope dancing in my heart. I felt a change in my gut, a renewed elation for reality and what life had to offer me. I didn’t like to be alone. I missed being a part of a team, a part of life.

Regret coiled in my chest, but I quickly quelled it. Life had dealt me a hand that made all of that impossible, but that didn’t mean I had to keep to that path now.

I was safe, free to choose what I wanted, and I wantedto go to college, make friends, date, go to a party or two. I wanted my life back. As I sat in the backseat of my mom’s car, listening to Liam’s drunken snores and the dull tone of the radio, I promised myself that I would choose myself.

“Did everything go alright tonight?” Mom whispered.

I smiled, looking at my brother, whose mouth was wide open as he slept. “I took the leap, Mom,” I said softly from my place in the back seat.

She grinned at me through the rear-view mirror. “I’m proud of you, Lovebug.”

As the car took a sharp corner, I felt something small slip against my hand. My journal, my prized possession. I forgot I brought it with me to graduation so I could finish writing about that morning with Trey.

I didn’t hesitate before flipping to the next open page in the book. I scavenged my pen from the floor and then scribed not only the events of tonight but my promises to myself.

Making them tangible and real.

11 The Accident

Trey

I lingered on the dark span of the beach, far enough away from the party but close enough to watch as Maybelle and Liam shuffled into their mom’s car and drive away. Once they were gone and the red of the taillights were far down the road, I exited the beach and climbed into my Jeep, having no desire to take part in the rest of the party.

I didn’t put the keys into the ignition after sliding into my seat. Instead, I leaned my head back on the headrest and dwelled in the calm silence, thinking over the overwhelming events of the night.

After graduation, my mom and I went to dinner, then ran home so she could change into her scrubs for work. I volunteered to drop her off at the hospital for her shift. It made me late for the party to give my hardworking, nurse mother a ride to her night shift, but it was much needed time with her that I was more than happy to give.

I eventually showed up at the party and instantly searched for that beautiful head of curly gold. When my search was drawing up blank, I quickly found my best friend who I then wanted to throat punch. When Liam, the said best friend, told me he didn’t know where the curly-haired, shy girl ran off to, I panicked.

I loved Liam like a brother, but damn it, he was an idiot sometimes. Maybelle wasn’t helpless, but she wasn’t fond of traipsing around large social gatherings all alone. That fact was obvious by all the plans she refused to attend and her very lacking number of friends.

After scouring the chaotic area around the bonfire a while longer, I finally found her, in the absolute last place I’d ever want to find any soft-spoken girl—with Dirtbag Thomas. I wanted to break my knuckles across something, preferably Clayton Thomas’s face, as I remembered finding her alone with him.

I knew Clayton had harassed Maybelle before tonight.

My friends and I were behind the school building one day and witnessed Clayton with his grubby hands all over an unwilling blonde. My buddies hadn’t recognized the girl before she ran off, but I knew those blonde curls anywhere.

After school, I found Clayton and pinned him against a wall in the locker room. I threatened to rip him apart if he ever went near Maybelle again.

As far as I saw, until the rally Monday, Clayton had heeded my threats by keeping his distance from her. At the rally I noticed him getting handsy, but I was stuck in the dense crowd, not able to get to Maybelle when she needed. So, when Clayton made eye contact with me, I made sure he knew that I saw him and that I hadn’t forgotten the promises I made in that locker room.

Honestly, I didn’t feel like Maybelle needed me to save her. She stood her ground and stared Clayton down like he was no more than dirt at both the rally and tonight. I was impressed, even awestruck, by her defiance.

She was stupid pretty.

When she strolled up to the ceremony building in that blue dress and those curls bouncing around her shoulders down to the shelf of that perfect ass… I had to lean against the wall for stability as I crossed my legs tohide the uncontrollable reaction happening in my pants.

I almost didn’t speak as she and Liam passed me so I could stare without consequence. But I would’ve felt like a jerk if I didn’t interfere on Maybelle’s behalf during the awkward encounter with Williams.