71__I love you

71__I love you
They were still kissing when the front doors opened and gold light spilled out.

Erin and Braden jerked apart, looking up at the main house entrance.
Both Stephanie and Alicia stood there, staring at them.
Erin blinked at the white bandanas they’d tied across their foreheads.

“Are you two done?” Stephanie yelled down at them.

“Is everything okay now?” Alicia added worriedly.

“Yeah,” Braden said cautiously. “Why? What’s going on?”

With a sigh, Stephanie pulled off the white bandana. “We’ve been on a goddamn hunger strike since yesterday and Dad’s on the verge of getting food forced down our throats.”

Erin’s mouth fell open. “A hunger strike?! Mom!”

Over the past two days, Erin had had long, comforting talks with her mother about her and Braden. She’d discussed how their relationship had slowly changed and how serious she’d been about him. She’d apologized for letting her mom know only when it was all over, but her mother had seemed to be certain it would all work out. Not once did Erin suspect she’d been planning to go on strike to make it work out. She sighed in exasperation.

“Oh, please, sweetheart,” her mother said, pulling off the white bandana that symbolized their determination. “One day of hunger won’t kill me.”

“Where is he?” Braden asked. “Grandpa.”

Stephanie nodded weakly into the house. “In his office. His lawyer’s here, so I know he’s plotting something. If he dares to change the will, I’m going back on strike! Let’s see how he feels then.”

Alicia sighed with relief, a tired smile curving her mouth. “We’re doing all sorts of ridiculous things to show our support for you two. Please tell me you’re back together.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” teased Stephanie, snickering.

“We never broke up,” Braden said. “It was a giant lump of misunderstandings.”

Erin’s mum smiled happily. "Thank the good Lord. Come inside, try talk to the Chairman and sort it all out.”

Erin looked at Braden. “Maybe not? What if it just leads to more fighting? He… he did fake a text message. I don’t really want to see him right now.”

He pressed his lips together and nodded. “That’s fine, we don’t have to see him. We’ll do it when you’re ready. That okay?”
She nodded, her eyes glimmering as she gazed up at him.

“Gosh, look at them,” Stephanie muttered.

“Who would’ve thought?” added Alicia. “They hated each other.”

“They stopped hating each other a while back,” Steph said with an amused smirk. “Since they came from Brazil, maybe?” She’d known it the second she’d seen those damn hickeys. Mosquitos, her ass.

“Really?” Alicia was confused, leaning in discreetly. “What do you mean?”

“Uhm…” Braden said, demanding their attention once more. “We’re just gonna go out for tonight. We’ll see Grandpa later.”

“Okay!” Stephanie yelled back. “See y’all later!”

“Please eat!” Erin said. “Eat a lot, both of you! And don’t do this again!”

“Okay!” they said, waving down at them before going back in the house.

The car drove off and, seated happily in the passenger’s seat, Erin was wearing her seatbelt. “Where are we going?”

He looked over at her, finding her pink-cheeked face turned to him. The sight made his heart give a hard pound and Braden swallowed hard, turning away. It was odd how she sometimes stopped him short just by looking at him. It made him sigh. “I think I’m obsessed with you.”

Erin blinked. “…Huh?”

“I’m obsessed with you,” Braden repeated as he drove. “I thought it was just love, but it’s love and obsession. What the fuck am I gonna do?”

Her mouth curved and she turned away with a scoff, hiding her beaming expression. “Good. If this ship sinks, we’re both getting wrecked.”

He reached over and took her hand. “First of all, this ship isn’t sinking. I’ll carry it on my shoulders if I have to. Secondly, even if it did sink… I’d probably be the only one getting wrecked...”

She looked at him. “Are you kidding me? You left me for three days and I became a mess, meanwhile, you were blowing bubbles in Hawaii. I definitely love you more, I'd be the one getting wrecked.”

The car came to a sharp halt.

Erin gasped, clutching her seatbelt as she thanked heaven that they hadn’t reached a main road.
Clearly not caring about the dangers of his braking, Braden turned to look at her.

She raised a brow. “What?”

He seemed mildly hypnotized. “You said you love me… Just now. You said it.”

She pressed her lips together, looking slightly confused. “Yes? Did I… never say it before?”

Silently, he shook his head.

Erin looked at the look of pleasant surprise in his eyes and felt her heart get crushed to smithereens. How could she not have told him?!
“Well, I do,” she said firmly. “I really do, I don’t know why I’ve never told you.”

He was still staring at her like he was doubting his own ears. "You really do what?”

“Love you, Braden. I love you, I really do. I think I have for a while, but I knew I did during the week we did our presentations.” Her cheeks darkened. “When… In your hotel room, when we—”

His seatbelt was instantly snapped off and he grabbed her, taking her lips in a deep kiss.

Her hand curled into his jacket pulling him close. His mind was screaming with joy, he could barely think straight. He hadn’t known that hearing her say those words, hearing her confessing her feelings to him, he hadn’t known it would give him such a high. After everything they’d done to each other growing up, he’d still had the niggling feeling that he owed her and that he was lucky she didn’t hate him.

To have Erin say she loved him…

Braden didn’t know what to do with himself. He wanted to marry her right away, he wanted to become hers in every sense of the word.

“I love you too,” he whispered, resting his forehead against hers. “Don’t forget it, don’t ever doubt it.”

She nodded, still holding him like she didn’t want to let go. “I love you. And I’m sorry about Daiki.”

He inched away, meeting her gaze. “Your date?”

She frowned. “It wasn’t a date. We were going to meet Phoebe and Jackson for dinner.”

His eyes narrowed. “They set you up with him, didn’t they?”

She winced. ‘Phoebe did, to be exact. Jackson was against the whole thing, but Phoebe insisted. I… kinda told them you’d left me and broke up with me over text, so they really hate you right now.”

His expression went flat and she laughed awkwardly. ‘Sorry about that.”

With a sigh, he planted another kiss on her lips and straightened, pulling his seatbelt back on. “Well, now I know where we’re going.”

“Where?”

He smiled. “On your little date.”

Phoebe and Jackson were staring flatly at Erin.

Smiling at them, she held her hands neatly in her lap.

“Care to explain?’ said Phoebe, looking at Braden who was glaring at her like she was Satan. “Where’s Daiki?”

“At home,” Braden muttered. “Where I sent him.”

She scoffed. “Why would you do that? We had plans. Plans that didn’t involve you after what you did to Erin!”

Braden sighed exasperatedly, clenching his teeth. “I didn’t do anything to Erin. And Jackson, stop fucking glaring at me.”

Jackson was silent, arms crossed over his chest.

“He got really mad about it,” Erin offered kindly. “You know he’s my oldest friend and all that, so he’s really protective—”
Braden glared at her. She pressed her lips together, smiling. She was just happy to be here, no amount of tension could ruin her mood.

“Erin,” Jackson said gently, his green eyes flaming with tightly controlled rage. ‘What’s going on?” What he really wanted to do was leap across the table and barrel Braden Stone to the floor for a couple punches, but that would get him on the news and viral on the socials so fast. Coach would kick his ass.

“I’ll tell you what’s going on,” Braden said. “You two jumping to conclusions and trying to hook Erin up with that other bastard.”

“We acted based on what Erin told us,” Phoebe said. “What kind of best friends just sit by after a guy’s ghosted their friend? You’re lucky we’re not taking revenge.”

“I did not ghost her,” Braden said tightly. “I went to Hawaii with my mother for a goddamn emergency!”

Both Jackson and Phoebe blinked, glancing at each other.
“What?” Phoebe scoffed uncertainly. “Yeah, right. We saw the text you sent her—”

“I didn’t send that, I haven’t had my phone with me for four days now. Someone else sent that to make her think I left.”

“Who the hell would do that—” Phoebe gasped. “Chris Michaels?”

“No.” Erin shook her head. “It was someone else this time. But we’ll sort everything out, don’t worry.”

Her friends looked confused. Jackson uncrossed his arms, frowning puzzledly. “So… you didn’t ghost Erin?”

“No,” Braden said. “I didn’t. You can stop glaring at me.”

The table was silent for a moment and Phoebe sighed, raising her hand to signal a waitress. “So, it was a misunderstanding. Thank goodness. I really genuinely hated you.”

“I appreciate that,” Braden told her seriously. “It means you guys care about Erin.”

“We do,” said Jackson. The waitress arrived and he took the bottle of wine from the tray, waving her away. “You guys’ relationship isn’t any of our business, but if we think, for a moment, that Erin’s in danger of being hurt, we’re kicking ass.”

Braden glanced at Erin. “Are we talking about the same person here? Erin’s tougher than you guys think. But she won’t be hurt, I won’t give you a reason to stress about her so, no more plotting against me and no more random dates.”

Phoebe pouted, crossing her arms as Jackson filled her glass. “Fine. In that case, we give our blessing.”

“We?” Jackson muttered.

She gave him a look.

He sighed. “Fine.” He looked at Erin and his gaze softened. “I just want you to be happy.”

She smiled at him, beaming. “I am, Jackson. Don’t worry.” Her eyes darted between them, eyeing the way he dabbed a serviette against the side of Phoebe’s glass, wiping away a drop of wine.
“And you guys?”

They both looked at her.
Phoebe frowned. “What about us?”

The course Phoebe had ordered for the night arrived and Erin watched her with narrowed eyes as the food was set down.
Once the servers were gone, she leaned in, excited to tease them. “Aren’t you guys… progressing?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Phoebe told her. She looked at Braden. “I think you’ll find the meal exquisite. You grew up with a palate shaped by the elite chefs of the Stone Towers hotels, you’ll love this.”

Braden nodded at his meal. “The place is yours?”

“My mother’s. She restaffed it several months ago.”

“You’re changing the topic,” Erin accused.

“Babe, I am trying to practice being nice to your boyfriend,” Phoebe said crisply. “Lemme alone.” She smiled tightly at Braden. “Jackson’s having a game this weekend. Let’s all go—”

“Phoebe.” Erin’s eyes narrowed. She didn’t miss how silent Jackson had gone. “What are you two hiding?”

Sighing, Phoebe reached for her wine glass. “We’re not hiding anything, Erin—”

“We did it again,” Jackson said.

It took a minute, but when Erin understood, she gasped, her mouth dropping open as her hand grabbed Braden’s arm.

Phoebe slowly turned to stare daggers at Jackson, but he wasn’t fazed, quietly moving his food around on his plate.
“The first night we met to discuss you and Braden… before you went to Paris.” He glanced awkwardly at Erin, quickly lowering his gaze. “It happened again.”

Phoebe looked like she would combust. “Nothing would have happened if you didn’t come to my apartment—”

“You took my phone,” he countered. “What else did you expect?”

She blinked, turning away. “It was… I took it by accident…”

Erin stared at them in unhidden shock, but Braden’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

“You know what?” he started, eyeing her friends. “I get that you guys are all besties and whatever, but when me and Erin get married, don’t you dare try to make it a double wedding, I’ll kill you.”

Phoebe choked on her wine. “Are you insane?! Gosh! I’ve always known Braden Stone wasn’t alright in the head. How can me and him get married?!”

Smiling at the blush covering Erin’s face, Braden reached out and stroked her hair. “Good. It’s going to be our day and we’re not going to share it.”

“Oh, please!” Phoebe muttered. “We could never get married, so relax.”

Jackson looked at her. “Why not?”

The table went silent.
Erin and Braden eased back in their chairs, trying to pull out of the sudden heavy atmosphere as silently as they could.

Phoebe looked at Jackson, her face tight with both embarrassment and shock. “W… what?”

Jackson turned to face her, meeting her gaze intensely. “I said, why not?