Emery’s eyes are wide. “I thought you gave that to Jasmine? You can’t give that to Ally. That’s so tacky.”
“I didn’t give it to Jasmine,” I say as I open the box to the ring my mom saved for me. With each kid my mom had, my dad bought her a new ring with diamonds representing each of us. Emery’s may have the most diamonds, but I think my ring is better. It’s an open-concept ring, with one emerald-cut diamond and the other cut in a square shape, and it looks nothing like Aiden’s ring. Well, now, it’s Shelli’s, but that’s not the point. It has an opening in the middle that my dad said meant “No matter the distance, we’ll always be together.” “I bought Jasmine a different ring because I just never saw her wearing this one.”
“But you saw her wearing Aiden’s ring?” Emery asks, referring to when I tried to get my mom to give me Aiden’s ring. I honestly never thought he’d use it. He obviously proved me wrong.
I shrug. “I didn’t want to give Jasmine this one.”
“Why?” Stella asks, and I feel her gaze on me.
“I always saw it as Ally’s,” I admit almost in a whisper, and both of them draw in sharp breaths.
“So, you’re asking her to marry you?” Emery squeals, and I quickly shake my head.
“No, not at all. I just want her to know I care about her. That, like this space, nothing can keep us apart. Something will always hold us to each other.”
I’m met with silence, but I thought that was genius. I am proud of it. Was. Now, I feel stupid. Especially when I look from Stella’s face to Emery’s.
Stella gawks at me and then asks, “So, wait. Why are you doing all this?”
I shrug. “Because I want to. I want her to feel special.”
“But shouldn’t you do this when you ask her to marry you? Use this ring?”
I’m getting clammy. “Yeah, what she said,” Emery says, hooking her thumb at our sister. “What’s the point?”
“I don’t know. I just want her to know how important she is to me.”
Stella and Emery look at each other and then back to me. “Or you’re trying to keep her from wanting more, so you’re hoping this satisfies her.”
“Which makes you a complete idiot,” Emery says, shaking her head. “Y’all love each other—”
“You don’t know that,” I quickly say, and again, they’re gawking at me. “She hasn’t said that.”
“Have you?” Emery asks, eyeing me. “Do you love her?”
“I care—”
“Wow, you’re a real dumbass.” Stella shakes her head.
“What? People say ‘I love you’ all the fucking time, and it never means anything. Hell, I know for a fact that it doesn’t. And when I say it, I want it to mean everything and more.”
They don’t care. Hell, I probably should care. With a dark look, Stella proclaims, “You know you’re going to ruin this, right?”
“What are you talking about?” I throw back, even though my heart is pumping like no other.
“This is all going to blow up in your face if you don’t get your head out of your ass and see you are doing all this because you love her. A lot.”
“I’m really tired of people telling me how she feels or how I feel.”
“Well, you sure aren’t listening to your heart. Maybe you’ll listen to us,” Stella tosses out at me.
I go to tell her off, but Emery captures my attention. “What are you scared of?” Emery furrows her brow. “It’s Ally. She loves you.”
I’m well past the uncomfortable state and now into panic. “I don’t want to lose her. And if I say it, it’s real, and boom! We are in this for real. Right now, we feel all this, and no one can get hurt.”
“That’s not true. If you lost her today, what would that feel like?”
I feel my stomach twisting. “I refuse to think that way.”
“Because it would kill you,” Stella supplies, watching me. “Have you thought that maybe you won’t lose her if you make sure she knows she is loved and cared for?” she asks, and I look away.
“Mom didn’t leave Dad, or him, her. Maybe at one point, things were shitty between them, but then they loved each other and things were fine. Is it easy? No. It’s never easy. You’re giving your heart to someone and trusting that they love you like you love them,” Emery tells me, and I can feel her eyes burning holes in my skin. “You know you’re not only wasting your time, but Ally’s too, acting like this. Doing these little things won’t hold her off, Ash. They’ll make her fall deeper in love with you.”
I don’t know where my sister is getting all this, but it’s making me sweat. Stella touches my hand. “Ash, please. If you give her that ring, know you’re basically giving her the three words you have inside you. Don’t say them because you think you have to. Say them because you want to. Because you feel it.”
Emery nods once more. “What she said,” she says, holding my gaze. “Because at the end of the day, who do you want to spend the rest of your life with?”
With the snap of the box lid, I close my eyes.
I really shouldn’t have involved my sisters.
Not only are they annoying, but they may be right. Really right.
I don’t know what’s scarier.
Them, or my feelings for Ally.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ally
I feel like a princess.
I sit beside Asher at the bar, my legs pressed into his as he rubs my thigh. He looks devilishly handsome in a light gray shirt and black sport coat. The first two buttons on his shirt are open, showing a little hair, and thankfully, he’s wearing his new thick black frames. I lean my elbow on his knees, gazing into his eyes. “You’ve outdone yourself, Ash B.”
He grins, his eyes dancing with excitement as he drinks me in. “You look absolutely incredible, Ally T.”
And when he winks, my breath catches.
“Are you sure? I feel like this dress is so Stella Ann and not Allison Mae.”
It’s a tight, formfitting red dress that hangs dangerously low on my breasts. It stops at my knees with a slit up my thigh. Very much something Stella would rock and have men drooling all over her in. I’m pretty sure these are her red-soled heels. I can’t bring myself to ask, though, because if Asher bought these for me, I might hump his face right on this bar.
I’ve never felt more loved in my life.
Asher slides his hand up my slit to my hip, gazing into my eyes. “I feel Allison Mae is owning this dress. You’re hot as all get-out, baby.”
My lips quirk. “You’re so getting laid tonight.”
He nods, all confident-like. “Oh, I know.”
My face breaks into a grin as I bring my glass of wine to my lips. My stomach is swirling with desire, but my nerves are eating me alive. I spent the day working on my resume and finding out where I want to send it. I’ve focused a lot on Nashville and the surrounding cities, but the jobs I really want are in the Midwest. I want to be a part of a team, working with athletes to help maintain their mental health. The only team here I’d want to work with is the Assassins, and that can’t happen. I could transfer to football or even soccer since we have those teams here in Nashville, but my heart says hockey.