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My brother looks at me with narrowed eyes and I grab Spade’s hand for strength. “I… I have to tell you something Roman. I want you to know I love you and I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“Is this about Spade?”
I shake my head no.
“Is this about mom and dad?”
Oh shit. I nod yes very slowly.
“I think I know what you are about to say and I can assure you…you have nothing to worry about…”
“No, you don’t. You don’t understand…”
“Dad came and saw me while I was in Spain, Pearl.”
All the color washes from my face. “He did.”
He nods this time.
“He was trying to start shit. Told me the whole thing about mom and how she wasn’t faithful to him.”
“Oh God.” I thought I could do it but now that it’s all out in the open and he was the one who said it I'm not sure if I’m going to be alright after all. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t care about me and Spade -because he doesn’t care about me anymore.
Chapter Eighteen
Spade
I see the look on Pearl’s face and immediately go on the defense. “If you know then you know what he did to her? What her mom did to her?”
“Spade.”
Instead of saying anything, Roman holds his hand up to show us his scuffed and bruised knuckles. “We disagreed about how he was handling things with my sister. I, however, am not aware of what Mom did.”
“Spade!”
“You should tell him. He loves you and doesn’t care what your mom and dad have to say. You should let him know everything.” She turns to look at him, so I whisper in her ear. “Take him to the living room and I’ll get us something to snack on.”
I can tell the two of them need a moment to be together and I don’t want to take that away from Pearl. Or hell, Roman either. I start pulling stuff out of the fridge and making us all sandwiches when I feel eyes on me. I turn to see Roman standing at the island looking at me.
“Do you love her?”
“I already told you I do.”
“And you’ll never hurt her?”
“If I hurt her…you won't have to worry because I would take care of myself way before you ever came after me. I would die before I hurt her.”
“Mom and Dad… they fucked us up pretty bad with their bullshit.”
“I have a way worse background, buddy. But me and Pearl - and you - we aren’t going backwards. We’re going forward and that is what we make it, not what they want it to be.”
“You know… you’re very good at this whole people thing.”
“Yeah? I’ve been told that before.” I recall the conversation from the locker room when he first told me about his sister. “I still like numbers better than almost anything in this world. Anything…except my Pearl.”
He gives me a tired-looking smile, “You’ll be good for her. You’ll take care of her. She needs that.”
I push a plate over to him, “You know… given the way our teammates are dropping left and right, you might want to think about finding someone yourself.”
