Dad nodded. “Of course, son.” He gave me a weak smile. “Take care of him.”
I yanked Parker toward the elevator bank and up to his room, reaching into his jacket pocket for his key card when he seemed to have checked out for the moment.
When I finally got us into the room, he threw his tux jacket onto the bed and then turned and buried his face in my neck, hugging me tighter than he had since the day we’d buried his grandmother.
I held him while he cried, running my hands up and down the crisp cotton of his shirt. His body was big and warm and solid, and it reminded me how rare it was that I was the one comforting him. Usually, it was the other way around. He’d always been braver and stronger than I was. He’d always been the steady one.
“Maybe Rod’s right,” I said. “Maybe she’ll come around.”
He shook his head and pulled back, swiping at his face to brush away the evidence of his momentary lapse. “No. She’s not in love with me, Jules. She doesn’t want to settle down. Or to be held back by repressive social constructs.” He rolled his eyes.
I narrowed mine, because something about that wording seemed extremely familiar. “Wait, did she say that? Literally that?”
Parker shrugged and nodded. “She said she and a friend were talking last night, and she realized she wants passion and adventure. She wants to expand her consciousness or something, and find the right…” He blinked at me in realization. “The right life path.”
Both of us muttered at the same time, “Nolan.”
“I’m going to fucking kill him and bury him where he can’t be found,” I growled, pulling out my phone, though my vision was too hazed with red to even see the screen properly, let alone find his name. “And then I’m going to go have a talk with Erin about what friendship means, and what fucking commitment means, and how to not be an utter—”
“No, you’re not,” Parker said.
“No?” I snorted, jabbing blindly at the screen. “Ha. Watch me. This is the last time she’s gonna fuck you over, Parker. Mark my words. Bad enough that she breaks up with you, then begs you to take her back a thousand times. Now she breaks up with you on your wedding day because she’s taken advice from fucking Nolan, that… that…”
“Charming, fun guy with a unique way of looking at the world?” Parker suggested wryly.
I remembered saying those words the previous night, and an icy wave of guilt and anger swamped me. I’d been such a fool. “You’re right. This is my fault. I brought him here, and he did this, and now I’m going to set it right. I will.”
“You won’t.” Parker grabbed my phone from my hand and shoved it into his back pocket triumphantly, like he didn’t realize that me having to manhandle him to get it out again was only more incentive for me to get it back. “This isn’t your fault. And it’s not Erin’s fault. It’s not even dumbass Nolan’s fault—”
“The hell it’s not!”
“It’s my fault, Jules. No, hear me out,” he insisted. “I was mad, too, at first. Hurt. But the truth is… Erin’s right. And I should have had the balls to call it off before it landed on her. I knew we were rushing into things. I knew I wasn’t what she needed. I should have been strong enough to tell her that.”
“Not what she needed?” I demanded. “You, of all people? If intelligent, sexy, ginger Henry Cavill look-alikes with hearts made of pure gold don’t do it for her, what the fuck does she want?”
I didn’t even realize what I was saying until the words were out.
The edge of Parker’s lip tweaked up. “You’re biased. But whatever I’m paying you, double it.”
I couldn’t hold back the chuckle. “Fuck,” I said, running fingers through my hair before taking off my own jacket and yanking at my bow tie. “This is fucked-up.”
“Did I ever mention that I love the way you lose your lawyerly vocabulary when you’re defending me?” He kicked off his shoes, pulling at pieces of his tux until he stood in the middle of the room in nothing but an undershirt and boxer briefs.
“That escalated quickly,” I muttered under my breath.
He peeled off the undershirt.
Goddamn. My best friend had a six-pack from his job on the slopes, and even in the midst of this situation, I couldn’t stop sneaking a glance at it.
I was a horrible person.
“Why are you naked?” I asked, resisting the urge to kick off my own shoes.
“Can’t stand that fucking thing. I didn’t want to wear one in the first place, and I’m sure as hell not wearing it one minute longer. Besides, I’m going to sleep, and I’m not waking up ’til July.” He slid into the pristinely made bed, rucking the covers up and sprawling his big body out facedown across the crisp sheets.
I stared at him, unsure whether to let him hide in the bed or not. “Are you going to actually sleep, or are you going to fall into a mental spin cycle of self-doubt and guilt?”
His muffled voice spoke into the pillow. “Second one.”
“That’s what I thought. And I will allow you exactly one hour for wallowing. And then you’re coming with me to Aster Valley, and you can wallow there in my wallow hole. I’m going to go downstairs and help sort out the bullshit. When I get back up here, we’re packing and leaving.”
“Mpfh.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I warned.
He shot me the bird. I swiped his room key and headed back out.
Hazel and my parents were waiting for me in the lobby.
Hazel rushed over and wrapped her arms around me. “Is Parks okay?” she demanded. I saw the same helpless guilt on her face that I felt, like we should have foreseen this somehow and prevented it.
I shrugged. “For now. But you know how he is. The more serious the situation, the more he jokes.” When this all finally hit him, though, he was going to be devastated.
It took longer than an hour to help sort everything out with the hotel and all the guests, but the woman in charge was amazing. She’d clearly had to do this exact thing for clients in the past, and it was obvious she knew how to handle it with professionalism and grace. When everything was finally sorted, and I was able to convince the Rokas and my parents not to try and make the drive home this late in the day, I went back upstairs to pack my stuff.
Nolan’s stuff was gone, which was probably for the best since I was still feeling murdery and my knuckles were already bruised.
Once my bag was packed and I’d changed into more comfortable clothes for the drive, I rolled my suitcase to Parker’s room and let myself in. He was dressed in well-worn sweats from one of his old sponsors, and I recognized the hoodie as one of the ones I’d stolen from him years ago.
“Hey. How’d you get that hoodie back? I thought it was in my closet at home.”
He was sitting in a chair facing out the window to the slopes. His light hair was messy, his bare feet were propped on a small table, and his hands were tucked into the hoodie’s kangaroo pocket.
“I had them send me a few more after you stole it. I figured if you liked it that much, you might want a replacement one day. But then I wore one and realized why you liked it so much, so fuck you on getting the spares.”