Whoa : A Westbrook Elite Standalone, page 35
Director Fields said nothing. He didn’t even look at Ben or Matt. His eyes locked on me like he hated me so much I was literally all he saw.
His lips moved as he tried to speak, and I patted Ben’s arm to put me down. He did so reluctantly but kept both hands on me.
It was loud and chaotic. People were rushing in, and soon, this store would be filled with caution tape and cops.
“Kruger!” Ryan bellowed from somewhere outside.
“Jess!” Max echoed.
“Prism!” Jamie followed up.
Guess there would be trauma lattes too.
“Why wouldn’t you just die?” the director rasped. The effort it took to speak made blood spurt out around the blade impaled at the base of his neck.
I bent lower, strength and determination winning the war over fear. Pushing my face into the man’s, I stared directly into his eyes, matching his malice—no, raising it—and didn’t flinch at all.
“Final girls don’t die.”
EPILOGUE
Kruger
I was kinda nervous.
Okay, not kinda. Hella. I was hella nervous.
The dating life was not for me. Not that I really ever considered myself dating Jess. She was my fiancée. My wife. My final girl.
She was not my girlfriend. That was a pitiful fucking label, and I wasn’t having it. I forbade it.
I was tired of people saying shit like, You know you aren’t really engaged, or, You can’t call her your wife. You aren’t married.
So I was putting a ring on it. Not a fake one either. A real one. With diamonds. One fitting of a final girl.
You know, that was if she said yes.
She was totally gonna say yes, right? Who wouldn’t say yes to all this?
Fuck. She’s gonna say no.
Here’s the thing. I talked a good game. I even backed it up with actions. I was confident in the way I felt, in knowing with one thousand percent clarity that this girl was it for me. But what if she wasn’t as absolute as me?
What if she took one look at the ring I picked out and said she wasn’t ready to get married? What if she said the dreaded D-word?
Dating.
What if she wanted to date before committing to an entire lifetime? I’d never make it, bro. I didn’t half ass shit.
A hard slap on my back had me pitching forward with a strangled sound. Spinning around, I glared at Ryan.
“Stop freaking out. She’s going to say yes.”
“You think so?” I asked, hopeful.
He smiled. “She’d be crazy to say no, and Jess ain’t crazy.”
“I don’t know, bro. Some of that shit she makes us watch is kinda morbid,” Jamie said nearby.
“Oh, please, you love our movie nights,” Madison refuted.
Jamie grinned. “Well, yeah, but don’t tell Jess that. I think she likes when I scream.”
“You scream because you’re actually scared, not because Jess likes it,” Prism said.
“He ate that kid’s eyes, P,” Jamie said emphatically. “Probably didn’t even chew.”
I grinned, thinking of the family movie nights we’d started having at the Sinclair townhouse on a weekly basis. Jess was schooling everyone on all things scary movies. Just as a good final girl should.
We’d watched Jeepers Creepers, and I think it gave Jamie nightmares.
“Hey, you have something in common. You don’t chew your food either,” Ryan mused.
Rory giggled.
Jamie turned to her. “You think that’s funny, sis?”
She held up her hand, pinching together her thumb and forefinger so they barely touched. “Just a little.”
Moving fast, Jamie snatched her up, her loud squeals echoing around the natatorium. Jamie flipped her upside down and stalked to the edge of the pool, dangling her over the water by her legs.
“Jamie!” She gasped, trying to smack him in the legs. “Put me down.”
He jolted like he was going to drop her. “Down in the water, you mean?”
“Ryan!” Rory yelled.
Ryan stalked over to Jamie’s side. “All the blood is rushing to her head, bro. Her face is going to be as red as her hair.”
She gasped. “You admit it! Finally! My hair is red and not orange.”
Jamie swung her around, and Ryan grabbed her, pulling her into his chest. “Nah. You’ll always be my carrot.”
“This place looks great,” Landry said, leaning her head against Rush’s arm. “So romantic.”
“Now look what you did, Kruger. You make the rest of us look bad,” Rush bitched.
“I’m leveling up, bros. You can be boyfriends. I’m husband material.”
“I always thought Max and Wes would be the first engaged,” Win mused. “He beat you to it, bro.”
Max glowered. “I don’t need to put a ring on Wes to know he’s mine.”
“No, you just permanently tattooed him instead.” Lars cracked.
Max turned smug. Asshole was totally proud of himself.
Wes smiled and pulled up his shirt for like the one-millionth time since Max tattooed him. I mean, really, I was shocked he even wore a shirt at all now. He was so proud of that ink.
“Should have just let him tattoo your face,” I told him. “We’re tired of seeing your chest.”
“I like it,” Landry said, looking at the small grouping of stars and half-moon on Wes’s pec just above his heart. “I think it's sweet.”
So sweet that Max literally tattooed his name right there with the stars. But yeah, I’m the over-the-top one for planning a proposal.
“If you want to look at tattoos, you can look at mine,” Rush said, sliding up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the arm full of ink he was working on. Pretty soon, he’d have a full sleeve like Max.
“Yours are my favorite,” Landry told him, and Rush smirked.
I glanced at my watch. “She’s gonna be here soon. Everyone get out.”
“Thank you, bros. I appreciate the last three hours you spent turning this pool into some romantic hideaway,” Win mocked.
I rolled my eyes. “Thank you, bros.”
Everyone moved off toward the doors.
“For real, though, thank you. I really appreciate everything you’ve done and how you’ve made Jess one of ours. That means more to her than she’ll ever say.” I paused. “To me too.”
Rory came forward to wrap her arms around my waist in a hug. I hugged her back but found Ryan over her head. “You aren’t allowed to hug my girl. Her hugs are just for me.”
Prism made a sound.
“You can hug her, P.” But he was the only one.
“Good luck,” Rory said when she pulled back. “But I know you don’t need it.”
I patted her carroty head. “Thanks, shrimp.”
“The pool is yours for the night.” Landry reminded. “I made sure my dad and the rest of the team know not to come by.”
“Thanks,” I told her.
Everyone left except for Prism who lingered in the door.
I hitched my chin at him. “What’s up, bro?”
He came back inside, shaking his head a little. “I just never thought this day would come. You pined after her for so long I was beginning to think that’s all you’d ever do.”
I scoffed. “You know me better than that.”
“I do,” he said, cleared his throat, and looked down. “That’s why I know there’s no one else I’d let marry my sister.” He looked up, meeting my eyes. “You’re one of the good ones. She’s lucky. I’m lucky too.”
“Are you confessing right now, P?” I cracked even though my heart swelled with real emotion. “I told you I don’t lean that way.”
Prism laughed under his breath.
“But if I did, you’d be the only one for me,” I said.
“Fuck you,” he said. “You aren’t my type.”
I laughed. “I know. I’m not dark, pierced, and tatted enough.”
Prism rolled his eyes.
“I’m not a DJ either,” I said, sly.
He made a sound. “I told you. I’m not into Arsen.”
“You can say it all you want. I don’t believe it.”
“He’s a DJ,” Prism complained like that wasn’t something that totally got his dick hard.
“Yeah, and you love it. He’s so cool,” I said, repeating something I’d heard my best friend say more than once as he looked at our campus DJ on stage.
“From a distance,” Prism allowed. “We both know he’s too loud, too hyper, and—”
“He’s good to Jess,” I interjected.
Prism sighed. “He’s probably straight.”
“I told you I’d ask him.”
“I don’t want you to ask him. I’m better off single, and we both know it.”
I knew that was what he thought. I also knew it wasn’t what he really wanted.
“Just propose to my sister, would you? And don’t take no for an answer.”
Nerves assailed me all over again. “You think she’ll say no?”
“Never.”
“Don’t wait up for me tonight.”
He grinned. “I never do.”
“Hey. You cool with this? You know me and Jess being officially official doesn’t change anything between us, right? You’re still my ride-or-die. You’ll always be my brother.”
Things had been so crazy with Jess and everything going on with that tweed-wearing pervert that my time was more divided than it used to be. And I’d never say it out loud, but P required time. And attention. Something I didn’t mind but also something I needed to be conscious of.
“Of course I’m okay with it,” he said. “This just, ah, makes her more officially, officially my sister, right?”
“Of course. Hey, you wanna take my name too, P? Then we’ll all match.”
“No,” he deadpanned.
I laughed. “Offer’s on the table.”
He hesitated, and I lunged forward and caught him in a quick hug, banging my hands against his back. “I love you, bro.”
Yeah, I said it. Why shouldn’t I? It was true. Men needed to hear it sometimes too. Especially P.
“Love you too.” His voice was gruff, a little shier than mine.
On his way out, Jess pulled into the lot. Her shitty old Mazda made me grimace. That thing’s days were numbered. I wasn’t having her driving that shit wagon around much longer.
I watched P jog into the middle of the parking lot and Jess smile at something he said. She glanced in my direction, and butterflies erupted in my gut. After pulling her into a hug, Prism left, and Jess headed my way.
I slipped out the door, putting my back to it and appreciating the view as she closed the distance between us.
“Where are your crutches?” I asked, looking at the walking boot on her lower leg. She was still supposed to be using them even if she now had a boot.
“I needed a break from them.”
I made a face and strode forward to sweep her up into a bridal-style hold. Kinda fitting for the occasion, right?
“I can walk,” she protested.
“Your ankle is still healing,” I refuted. It was healing, but she still needed to be careful.
“What are we meeting here for?” she asked, leaning up to peek over my shoulder.
I made a tsking sound. “Eyes on me.”
“It’s not a bad view,” she replied.
Yeah, I had this in the bag.
“You trust me?” I asked.
“More than anyone.”
“Don’t open your eyes until I say.”
She closed them like the good girl she was, and I carried her inside, stopping just in front of the pool. “All right. You can look.”
I forgot to be nervous for a few when I watched her crack one eye slightly and then the other. She blinked slowly and then turned her face to look at the pool.
Her gasp echoed around the quiet space and amped up the nerves she’d just managed to calm.
“Oh my God.” She exhaled the words, hand slapping into my chest to bunch in my shirt. Her face remained turned away, though, and it kinda made me a little grouchy. I wanted her attention. I also wanted to see the look on her face as she took in everything I did.
Okay, we. I had help.
But this was my idea.
Well, Madison helped with that too.
Whatever. You know what I mean.
“Ben, did you do this?”
This was why I was marrying her. She knew it was all me.
I didn’t answer right away, and she tapped my chest and then lifted her face. God, she was fucking beautiful.
“You like it?”
She made a sound and wiggled to get down. After placing her on her feet, I moved to her back so I could wrap my arms around her from behind.
“This is incredible,” she said, awed. “I never thought this pool could look so romantic.”
Dropping my chin on her shoulder, I stared at the pool that was filled with floating white flowers that lit up in the center. They were of various sizes, all white, and gliding slowly through the rippling water.
Besides the hundreds of glowing flowers (bro, I mean hundreds of them) large clear plastic balls floated around like giant bubbles. White string lights lined the deck and draped overhead. Paper lanterns sat in groupings around the corners, and there was a bridge lined with more lanterns and string lights leading from one side of the pool to the other.
“Where did you get a bridge?” she asked, pointing.
“Madison borrowed it from the theater department.”
“Can we walk over it?”
“We can do whatever you want, baby.”
She started ahead, practically running, her arm stretched behind her because I refused to let go of her hand. “Come on,” she said, giving me a light tug.
Laughing under my breath, I jogged forward and caught her around the waist, lifting her off her feet and running us to the bridge. Before stepping on it, I set her down and gestured for her to go first.
“You sure it can hold us?”
“Jamie and Ryan were running across it. I’m sure.”
“They all saw?” she asked.
“They helped me set it up.”
“They’re good friends.”
“What about me?” I asked.
Her face softened. “You’re my best friend.”
I mean, that was awesome. For so long, I worked real hard to be her best friend. But that wasn’t what tonight was about. I was done being friends with this woman.
“I can do better than that,” I murmured, playing with the ends of her hair.
She glanced back at the bridge. The twinkling lights played off her skin and sparkled in her eyes.
“Go on,” I urged, nudging her gently.
She held out her hand for mine. “Together?”
“Always.”
We walked across the bridge, and it was cute as hell the way she braced herself for it to plunge into the pool but tried to hide the fact she was worrying about it.
Halfway across, we stopped, standing in the center of the giant pool. The waving blue water lit us from below while flowers and bubbles bobbed on the surface.
The entire space glowed, the flickering lights in the water reflecting off the ceiling in a wave pattern, making it seem like we were inside a giant fishbowl.
She gasped again, tugging my hand. “You did that too?”
I glanced to the far end of the pool where a giant teepee was set up, the white fabric creating the walls glowing warmly from the lanterns inside. Round, bulbed string lights draped over the wooden poles holding it together and lined the entrance where the curtains were pulled back on the sides. From here, I could make out the white fur blanket on the inside and a few of the pillows scattered around. A few vases filled with white roses were wrapped with fairy lights and created a little walkway to the makeshift door.
“Mm, thought we might hang out for a while,” I said.
When she turned back, tears glittered in her eyes and her stare bounced between mine. “Benjamin Hayes Kruger, this is the sweetest, most thoughtful thing anyone has ever done for me. This is my favorite.”
“Well, the dick I slipped you this morning was pretty good too, but I guess girls do like them fairy lights.”
Her head fell back with a bright laugh, and her hand curled around the back of my neck. “Maybe you should try and wrap him in fairy lights and see what happens.”
“Christmas is gonna be so fun this year,” I mused.
“You know I don’t expect stuff like this, right? Just having you is everything I always wanted.”
“That’s exactly why I’m gonna do stuff like this. Not because you expect it. Because you deserve it,” I said, dropping a kiss on the tip of her nose.
She turned to the small railing on the bridge and gazed at the glowing flowers.
I blew out a breath, then shook out my trembling hands. The fluttering in my stomach was so powerful I put a hand to it to try and calm it down.
“Ben?” Jess said, turning back to me with a concerned look on her face. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I said, the word sort of blasting out with intensity I didn’t mean.
“No?”
“I need to ask you something.”
“You can ask me anything.”
I nodded, too tongue-tied to make a joke. I exhaled again, heart pounding.
“Just ask,” she implored, hand moving from my stomach to curl around the base of my elbow.
“When I saw you at the bottom of those stairs that night…” I started, the vicious memory flickering into my mind. “It was the most afraid I’ve ever been.”
She made a crooning sound, but I shook my head, asking her to just listen. She nodded once, eyes intent and all her focus on me.
“All I could think was, I never got my chance. I waited and waited, did so much shit to try and be worthy of someone as good as you. But there you were, bleeding and unconscious, and I realized, out of everything I did, I skipped the most important.”
Her lips parted like she wanted to speak, but I forged on. Now that I was talking, I had to get it out.
“I never told you I loved you. I never said how my days basically start and end with you. I never kissed or touched you the way I wanted. I realized as I worried you might die that it didn’t matter what I did to be worthy of you because I never would be, but I love you anyway. I love you so damn much.”
