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‘Bout time, Oliveira. “Yeah”—I keep nodding—“you’re my frat bro, happy-go-lucky boyfriend.”
A Secret about Charlie Cobalt: He told me that he’s the one who introduced Beckett to cocaine, and he’s regretted it ever since.
“Oh sorry,” Joana says like she’s not sorry at all. “I was looking for the mattress that’s always attached to your back.” Charlie chokes on his champagne. I stop breathing.
I catch the sight of Jack—my Jack—running towards us,
“I understand and respect that, so throw out us talking friend-to-friend. How about just rational person to rational person? You can’t fire Oscar. Because you won’t find someone else who can be Charlie’s bodyguard. Not like him.” Mic drop. My mouth curves upward. Highland is good.
But he’s not here to knock the Cobalt Empire down a few pegs. And we delight in the armored romanticism of our favorite famous family.
fuck, I sound like a twelve-year-old dork with a crush.
More and more every single day, I love the foundation of our relationship. Built on encouragement and love and support. Knowing that he’ll be my biggest fan and I’ll be his is a beautiful fucking thing. Jack smiles a brighter smile. Igniting my lungs.
“You are legitimately the most endearing motherfucker on a first meeting. You could make polar icecaps melt.” He cracks a dim smile. “You could make all the stars in the sky fall for the sun.”
“Tell me a secret that you’ve never told anyone else.” We have a short window of time. Joana is at the door, but I take advantage of every single second. Holding his waist, I lean in and whisper, “Estou apaixonado por voçê.” I translate, “I’m in love with you.”
“Your love is one of the only things keeping me afloat right now. I feel like I’m…”
“Why?” He thinks for a second, then his lips quirk. “Basta ikaw,” he says in Tagalog, and translates again, “Because it’s you, as long as I’m with you.”
I’m still reeling. Going out of my ever-loving mind trying to process this. Donnelly and Luna. Luna and Donnelly. A science experiment?
The Highland family. We might not be famous, but we’re tight.
“Because,” I tell him, “sometimes people grip so hard onto the concept of hate that they can’t let go for two seconds to even try to love.” They want to hate something. Someone. I am that someone right now.
Sorry, I’m not…wearing a shirt, Mrs. Highland. I ran out.” He ran out for me. That fast.
I’m brilliant, and so are my ideas. Historical evidence: I came up with the fake-dating strategy between Thatcher and Jane. Did not mean for them to hook up or get engaged. But a second reward just means I’m inadvertently even smarter than I realize.
“You never told me that.” “Kin,” he says. “You were eight.” “Oh. Right.”
“What does that mean exactly?” I toss another chip in my mouth. “My sunshine.” He laughs into a brighter smile. There it is.
All I know is my love for Oscar carries me like the water. A feeling of invincibility. The patience as the ocean laps underneath my body. The anticipation as the perfect wave rolls near. The cool excitement and power as I stand up. As I ride those impossible swells, and once I’m in the barrel, all the doubts and fears wash away. Leaving a bright burst of indescribable bliss. That is his love to me.
“I have all of you. Charlie gets Work Oscar. Bodyguard Oscar. Which is a very particularly endearing version of you, but it’s not the complete package. You’ve given me all of you.”
“I love you,” he tells me. “I can actually see a future with you, Oscar. It’s this crazy, high-adrenaline future where we’re both running around the world together. I’m filming my docuseries, and you’re protecting your client. And at the end of the day when we’re both exhausted as fuck, we climb into bed together and hold each other and we don’t even have to catch each other up on our day because we just know.” He puts a hand to his chest. “I want that. So what I’m about to say has nothing to do with you or your job. Okay?”
I am so in love with him. And I’m so fucking scared of losing him.
One thing people never get right when they first meet Donnelly: he’s a smart motherfucker. He plays dumb too well. His smirk lands on me.
I distinctly remember Redford calling you a viral mouth sore.” “Yeah, but he said it so fondly. What’s not to love about being a viral mouth sore?”
Jack’s like my short-term husband. Fuck, I hate even the sound of that. Ugh. Need to come up with something better. How about: Limited Edition Hottie Husband.
“Thatcher?” “Right in front of you, honey,”
I found love that lasts even when the screen fades to black.
I realize—timing, Oliveira. But I know now that there’s no such thing as bad or good timing. Just the time we’re given.
Honestly, I love playing chess against Charlie. He’s the only person who’s ever been able to beat me.
I can’t stop visualizing how we ended up here. How I fell in love with Oscar Highland-Oliveira.
“Roxanne Ruiz. She’s eighteen.” Charlie just turns forward, but I catch his smile.
“I was never rewriting my life when I met you. There was no rewrite, Oscar, because this is how it was always supposed to be written. I am supposed to be with you. You are supposed to be with me. Nothing else makes sense.” His eyes glass. I continue on, “I love you. I love run-around-the-world Oscar. I love flirty Oscar, tactical bodyguard Oscar, snack monster Oscar”—everyone laughs, but I hold onto his laughter, his joyful tears that stream like mine—“my number one fan Oscar, sexy Oscar, intelligent as a motherfucker Oscar, a ride-or-die friend Oscar, a good brother Oscar, kiss me when the
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“Oscar Felipe Highland-Oliveira. I love every part of who you are.” I take his hand in mine and pull out a ring from my pocket. “Will you do me the honor of staying married to me?”
“You’re my everything Jack.”
Jack Arizona Highland-Oliveira.
His love carries me through the barrel of every wave. I’m already up on the board. I’m coasting on these feelings. Riding them to shore.
“Our lives, our love. You’re the creator of a documentary mini-series starring you and me, Oscar and Jack—the hottest bodyguard and flirtiest filmmaker. How we came to be suddenly famous.” His hand is on his head, shocked. “You’d want to be on camera? Why?” There is only one phrase that makes sense. Only one that comes to mind. “Basta ikaw,” I use his words now and translate, “as long as it’s with you, because it’s you.”
His eyes widen. “Finally worried that the ceiling fan is going to knock you out? Because I’ve been eyeing that thing since the first time I stepped foot in here.”
