Savior Complex: A Small Town Love Triangle Romance

“The wedding, silly,” she says.

Fuck.

“I just kept looking at the invitation to Ethan and Claire’s wedding on the fridge, and how it’s coming up so fast. The more I looked at it, the more I wanted to start planning our own wedding. I mean, we’ve been engaged for five years! And I know I told you we’d start planning when you got back, but I just thought I’d get the ball rolling by booking a place. Oh Brayden, it’s just so perfect.”

She keeps gushing, going on about the country club it will be at, the banquet room full of plants, and the variety on their menu. But I feel like I’ve been punched in the gut. Because of course she’s planning our wedding, we’re engaged to be married. And while she’s planning our life together, I’m off fucking her cousin.

What the fuck am I doing?

“I booked us a tasting for the day after tomorrow,” she continues. “I know you’ll still be tired from the trip, but I just thought since the wedding is in three months, we have to—”

“Three months?”

“I said that, Brayden. Aren’t you listening?”

No, I’m drowning.

“Jordy, I can’t—”

“It will be fine, Bray. I promise. I’ll take care of everything. Even the tasting. I’ll just call you if I’m not sure about anything, but I know you’ll like anything I choose. You always do.”

I close my eyes. She would think that. I haven’t given her any reason to believe otherwise, always being so fucking agreeable without an opinion of my own.

Maybe that’s been my problem the whole time. It’s been easy with Nina because the decisions we’ve made truly felt like ours. But with Jordy, I always bowed to her whims, and it’s not even fair to refer to it this way because she’s never required it. But it’s been this way since she lost our child. I just felt so horrible for her, it became my life’s mission to make her happy. But in the process, I lost myself.

Maybe I never gave us a fair chance.

“No, I’ll go with you,” I say. Something deflates inside me, but I brush the feeling aside.

“Oh that’s so great!” she cries, and I smile in spite of myself.

“But when I get home, we need to talk, okay?”

She doesn’t answer right away, then, “You’re making me nervous. Is everything okay?”

I’m not going to tell her about Nina. I can’t. It would absolutely kill her. But it’s time I addressed the ranch situation. She thinks we’re moving away after the wedding, but I’m not leaving.

“Everything’s fine,” I say, because it will be. “But we’re planning a future together, and I want us to be on the same page from this point on.”

“Absolutely,” she agrees. Then she laughs. “I am so damn excited, I can’t stand it. Can you please hurry up and get home?”

I note the trail of red brake lights on the freeway in front of us. “Sure thing,” I say.

“I love you, Bray.”

I close my eyes, then nod my head. “You too.”

When she hangs up, I start to move my phone back to my pocket, but the text I was about to send Nina faces me once again.

The only regret I have about this weekend is that it had to end.

I look ahead where she’s sitting. Her head is resting against the window, and I think she might be sleeping. My whole body aches because I’m not the one she’s leaning against.

It has to end.

I delete the text completely, one letter at a time, then I stash my phone in my pocket before resting my own head against the window. The guys are all already napping, no doubt making up for lost time after a wild weekend. It’s not like I got much sleep either. But right now, sleep is the last thing my body wants. It wants Nina, to hold her against me, to find a way for us to be together.

But if I do that, too many people will be hurt. Too many lives ruined.