The Third Best Thing (Fulton U, #3)

by Maya Hughes

This was my freaking body and I loved the shit out of it. And if I kept telling myself that, maybe one day I’d believe it.

“Can you two cut down on the foreplay for five minutes?” I took another bite of my strawberry-flavored snack and wedged myself between them like a parent separating their two bickering kids. Only these two weren’t siblings or children and they wanted to bang. They hadn’t come to terms with that yet, but it was only a matter of time.

The door to Elle’s apartment opened, keys jingled. “Honey, I’m home.” Nix walked in with a huge smile on his face and his arms loaded with containers. Garlic, butter, and cheese smells combined and my stomach made an attempt to climb out of my mouth to wolf down the contents. Leaping from the couch, Elle clapped her hands together. “You’re a saint. I’m so hungry.” He kissed her, trapping her between him and the counter and setting the food he had in each hand down without even looking. “I told you to come down an hour ago.” His fingers trailed over her cheek.

“If someone’s giving you trouble, tell me and I’ll deal with it.” His face was a mask of seriousness. And he’d kick whoever’s ass he needed to when it came to Elle. After everything that had kept them apart—mainly Elle’s stubbornness—they were living their fairy tale in a two bedroom apartment above Nix’s grandfather’s restaurant,

I left Nix and Elle to do the thing couples do when they’re completely in love—make out. The third not-so-stealthy kiss between those two was my cue to go.

“I’m Berk.” He shoved his hand right in front of Chet’s face. Chet turned to my rescuer and his eyes widened. “Can I help you?” “Sure, you can let go of Jules. My date.” “Jules?! Her name is Julia,” Chet snapped. “My mistake, I just go with what I call her in bed at night.”

but that’s not to say I didn’t appreciate Jules’ quiet beauty. The kind you found yourself sneaking a glance of when she smiled because it was so completely pure and unworried about being anything other than real.

With Jules, I could just be and so could she. It gave me that warm feeling that drew me to her time and time again,

“If there’s anyone who should feel self-conscious, it’s all those other chicks who’ve got absolutely nothing on you in the breast department. KFC is going to burst in here and haul you away.”

“Don’t ever let anyone else make you feel like you’re not awesome.”

In a matter of days, Jules had gone from someone I looked forward to seeing every day, to someone I needed to see. I needed to make her laugh and make sure she was okay. And I wanted her to want that of me too.

My bed felt empty, missing the warmth of someone else in the room. Not just anyone—Jules.

Suddenly, being friends with Jules didn’t feel like enough.

I love the sound of her laugh.

I dragged my finger over the spine of the books on the shelf like I was checking them out, but I wasn’t. I was checking her out.

“He’s my friend.” “Not from the way he’s checking out your ass, he isn’t.” She lifted an eyebrow with a wide smile.

“That’s her husband?” Berk stared at the two of them, slack jawed. “From the way he kissed her and is talking to her baby bump, I’m going with yes. You know him? He looks familiar.” “Hell, yeah. That’s Emmett Cunning. The hockey player. He’s the reason the team won the cup last season.”

Emmett peeled his eyes away from Avery and blinked at me like he was coming out of a trance only she could put him in. “It’s got its ups and downs, but if you’re solid, there’s nothing to worry about. Are you and Jules solid?” I shoved my hands into my pockets. “We’re not together.” “But you’d like to be.” His knowing look told me I wasn’t exactly stealthy about my feelings, which made it even harder that Jules ran every chance she got. I nodded. All the things I’d tried to lock down when it came to Jules rushed forward. Standing on the sidelines watching her and being able to go over and lay a kiss on her in front of everyone. Seeing her looking up at me with a smile that was just for me. Feeling her nestled up against me with my arm around her waist so everyone would know that she was my woman and I was her man.

What else was there to discover about Jules? I wanted to write the encyclopedia.

The electric fire of desire coursed through my veins and the only antidote was her touch.

“Your lips make me forget about everything else. They make me forget about losing, about the hundred people in the hallway beside us, about anything not centered on this mouth. How’d you get so fucking sweet, Jules?”

Berk had kissed me. Berkley Vaughn kissed me, Julia Kelland.

I couldn’t hold back my smile. How had I ever not seen how brave she was? How indescribably beautiful?

This was a perfect moment, the kind they make slow motion in a movie so you get every excruciating detail of the action. Her beauty was heart-stopping. The kind where you know someone inside and out, and everything about them only takes what you already liked to the next level. She was the kind of girl you didn’t come back from. The kind who’d always have a place in your heart to keep you warm on those nights alone long after she’d kicked you to the curb because she deserved better than you. But I was here now, and I’d keep the fires going as long as I could.

She was the most beautiful thing in the world to me and it scared me more than losing the next game or not making the draft. Because I’d never had anything as beautiful as her in my life. And that made it so much harder. It would end; it always did. She’d see something in me that showed her I was a fucked-up kid who didn’t know how to do this adult thing, and she’d find a guy who did and said all the right things all the time and could give her exactly what she needed.

My cooking skills weren’t on par with Jules’s, but I tried my best. “These eggs are phenomenal.” She scooped up another hearty forkful and I wasn’t sure if she was humoring me or not. “And I love the pancake shapes. Is this a mouse?” It was supposed to be a heart. “Yeah, it’s a mouse.”

Not that she ever made me feel like I was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks, which made me want to give her the moon and stars. She deserved them. Every single one.

She was the sexiest woman in the world, and she was all freaking mine.

“Your sister’s here!” She pushed at my chest laughing. I loved that she called Alexis my sister. There was never a question in her voice or one of the strange looks everyone always gave us, and that made me love Jules even more. That slammed into me hard and I tightened my hold around her waist. I loved her. And it would only be a matter of time before I lost her.

She’s everything anyone could ever want in a girlfriend.

This will be my last letter. Remember that girl I told you about before? I’m crazy about her. She’s kind and beautiful and makes me want to tell her things that would scare her away in a heartbeat. Things that I told you that made you stop wanting to talk to me. I don’t know how, but I’m going to show her how much she means to me without sending her running for the hills. And I hope wherever you are, you’re happy.

“Jules, I’m crazy about you.” His Adam’s apple bobbed. “I needed you to know that. And… I know I promised I wasn’t going to say anything to send you screaming from the room, but I want to be completely honest with you. I love you.”

“And I needed to say that. If you’re going to walk away from me, I don’t want there to be any more secrets between us. I’m head over heels in love with you. Hell, I even felt like I was cheating on The Letter Girl with how much I liked you even from the beginning. And I see you, Jules. “I know there’s so much shit out there about women and their bodies and I don’t want you to think I don’t see you. I love your curves. I love your thighs and how strong they are when you wrap them around my waist.” He wrapped an arm around me, tugging me close. “I love your arms. I love how you can use them to swing around that pole upstairs.” Dropping his arm, he threaded his fingers through mine. His gaze lifted. “And how you wrap them around my neck.” He pulled my arms up around his neck, my fingers brushing against his thick hair.

“If you need me to go and you don’t want to be with me, then I’ll respect that. I can’t force you to put up with everything that comes with being with me or force you to love me back.” His voice cracked and tears glittered in his eyes. “But I hoped you might.”

“I do, Berk.” I ran my fingers along the back of his neck. “I love you so much and it scared me that one day, after people kept saying the things they were saying online about me, that maybe one day…” I slammed my lips together. They quivered and I sucked in a deep breath. “That maybe one day you’d start believing them.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, Jules. I’m into you. Whether it’s in letter form, cookie form, pole dancing form, sitting in your sweats on the couch watching TV form, or any other way you want to show me what you’re all about, I’m here for it. I’m here for you.”

“One of these days you’ll see yourself like I do.” She turned to me and held my gaze. Her uncertainty and vulnerability simmered just under the shield of her gaze. The one she dropped for me. She swallowed and covered her hand with mine. “I hope one day I can.”

My worst nightmare had happened. I’d been exposed up on the internet in front of everyone. I’d had intimate details of my inner thoughts flung up online—and I was still here. Breathing, laughing, and living.

“And I want to call you, or even write you letters, because I miss you, Frenchie. I miss you so much that even with all the people I’ve lost in my life, it’s you who keeps me up at night because you’re part of my heart. You’re part of my soul and I swear…” I choked through the words, pushing past the tightness in my throat and the tears in my eyes. “I promised I wouldn’t do this, that I’d give you space and not make showing up here like this, but fuck it. I love you so much that my future that was once so crystal clear is a wasteland stretching on as far as I can see when I try to picture it now without you.”

“People fuck up and who knows what the future holds. And before you say anything, I want you to know, Alexis is family, but you’re my forever. I can’t promise she won’t fuck up, same as I can’t promise I won’t fuck up. But I can promise that I’ll always believe you and love you.

“And you were never the third best thing in my life, Jules. Never. I’d never play a game again, if it meant I could be here with you.”

Her eyes glittered with unshed tears and she was fighting to be strong for me. Had there ever been anyone luckier than me? Had anyone been as loved?

Jules was here, and that made even the worst moment of my life bearable.

“You’re loved Berk. More than you could ever know. Your mom loved you. The guys love you. Alexis loves you. I love you.”

A vision of a little girl in glasses with eyes just like her mother was so vivid I could almost reach out and touch her. She’d run across a huge back yard in fall wearing this. I ran my fingers over the soft yarn. Something her grandmother had made. I had a piece of my mom, and I’d be able to share that with her. The little girl with her mom’s eyes and loving spirit would sit on my lap on the back steps and I’d read her one of her favorite books, The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies.

Every day with her was an adventure in what it felt like to be so loved it was like living in a dream. She was my dream girl, and no matter what, we’d have our dream life filled with all the love we’d been searching for all our lives and could finally share with one another.

Stitched, healed and smoothed, my heart belonged to her.

She was made for me, and I’d spend the rest of my life giving her every beautiful thing she deserved—starting with my love.