All Chapters of DON'T BEG ME NOW, MR. ARMSTRONG : Chapter 101 - Chapter 110

The afternoon unfolded in a way I hadn’t expected, easy and almost light, like something out of a life I wasn’t quite sure I was allowed to live. If someone had told me a few weeks ago that I would be walking along a beach with Brandon and a man who shared Victor’s face but none of his rigidity, I would have thought they were mistaken. And yet there I was, the sun warm against my skin, the breeze tugging gently at my hair, and the steady rhythm of the waves grounding me in a moment that felt almost… peaceful.Grandpa Madden walked between us with his walking stick pressed firmly into the sand, his steps slower but no less determined, and every now and then he would pause, not because he had to, but because something had caught his interest. A shell, the way the water curled at the edge of the shore, a child laughing somewhere in the distance. He took it all in like it mattered, like every little detail was something to be held onto, and I found myself watching him more than I watched

~~Joan~~We had walked for a few minutes in a comfortable silence, the kind that didn’t feel forced but still made me overly aware of everything around us. The night air was cooler here, carrying the faint smell of salt from the beach nearby, and the sound of distant laughter pulled my attention before I even saw where it was coming from.When we turned the corner, I saw it.A group of people had gathered around a bonfire on the sand, the flames flickering high enough to cast moving shadows across their faces. Music played softly from a speaker somewhere in the circle, mixing with laughter and the occasional shout. It looked… easy. Unstructured. Alive in a way I wasn’t used to stepping into.Brandon stopped beside me, his gaze landing on the fire before shifting to me. “Have you ever been in one before?” he asked.I shook my head immediately. “No.”That seemed to be enough for him.“Come on,” he said, already stepping forward.I followed him on instinct, only realizing a second later

The rehearsal dinner started the way everything in Julia’s world seemed to start, which was with urgency disguised as enthusiasm.I had expected something structured, maybe even slightly formal. Instead, I found myself standing in the middle of a shifting crowd of relatives, event planners, and family friends, all being guided into a ballroom that had already been transformed into something soft and overly intentional. Flowers everywhere. Warm lighting that made everything look slightly unreal. Chairs arranged in a way that suggested more thought had gone into aesthetics than actual comfort.Brandon stayed close to me as we moved inside, not in a way that felt deliberate enough for anyone else to notice, but close enough that I noticed it.I did not say anything about it.Julia was everywhere at once. One moment she was correcting a seating chart, the next she was laughing with someone near the entrance, then suddenly she was beside me again, taking the card from my hand like she had

The reception felt like something out of a movie I would have sworn I’d never care about, not until I found myself standing in the middle of it with a glass in my hand and my attention nowhere near the laughter, the music, or the speeches going on around me. The church ceremony earlier that morning had been… beautiful. There wasn’t another word for it. Everything from the flowers lining the aisle to the way Julia had looked walking down it had felt almost unreal. I had caught myself smiling more times than I could count, and somewhere in the middle of it, my attention had drifted to Joan. I hadn’t meant for it to, but it did anyway. And I could have sworn I saw her discreetly wipe at her eyes at one point, like she didn’t want anyone to notice. The image stuck with me longer than the vows themselves. I made a quiet mental note to tell Victor about it. He would have liked that. Or at least pretended not to, in his usual way.Now, at the reception, the energy had shifted into something

The sunlight filtering through the curtains was what woke me up. For a few seconds, I stayed still, blinking slowly at the unfamiliar ceiling while sleep clung stubbornly to the edges of my mind. Then awareness crept in little by little, and with it came the realization that I wasn't at home, that I wasn't in Chicago, and that there was a warm, solid weight beneath my hand.My eyes widened.My palm was resting against Brandon's chest.Not just resting there casually, either. My fingers were curled slightly into the fabric of his shirt like I'd grabbed onto him in my sleep and refused to let go.Heat rushed into my face so quickly it almost hurt.For one horrifying second, I stopped breathing entirely as I stared at my own hand against him. Brandon was still asleep, lying on his back beside me, one arm bent beneath his head while the other rested loosely over his stomach. His chest rose and fell steadily beneath my palm, slow and calm and completely unaware of the internal crisis curre