Page 115
I’m still looking at West. I nod briefly. He lets out a soft sigh, like even he wasn’t sure that I wouldn’t run again, then pulls me into his arms, his hand brushing my face, his eyes so full of emotion it hurts.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Asher says. “Are we really letting him do this? The man who’s never been able to keep it in his damn pants?” He looks at Hudson. “For God’s sake, do something. Stop this.”
“Asher!” Francie sounds appalled. “You can’t talk about our friend like that.”
“If he’s sleeping with my sister he’s no friend of mine.”
“Looks like we’re breaking up,” Parker says mildly, reminding us all that he’s also having relations with our sister. Her stomach bears the evidence of that.
“I’m not talking about you,” Asher says, shaking his head. His face is red. “West doesn’t do relationships. He’ll sleep with anybody that offers. We know this. Hell, we laugh about it. Why are we all okay with letting him near Eden?”
My throat tightens. West shakes his head, like he’s telling me it’s not true. None of it. “I don’t care about his past,” I say, narrowing my eyes at my brother. “It’s his future I care about. And that future includes me.”
“Eden’s not a little girl anymore,” Autumn says, her voice slicing through the tension. “She doesn’t need you to play gatekeeper.”
“Gatekeeper?” Asher explodes. “I’m trying to stop her from getting hurt.”
“Except, you’re the one hurting me right now,” I say softly, my voice trembling but clear. His gaze jerks to me, wounded, but I don’t back down. “You think you’re protecting me, but you’re not. You’re making me feel small. Like what I want doesn’t matter. And West… West never makes me feel that way.”
The silence that follows is suffocating, broken only by the creak of Hudson shifting in his chair. His eyes move between us, weighing, judging, deciding.
“Then I guess that’s the difference,” he says finally. “Because whether we like it or not, Eden’s chosen him. And I’d rather stand behind my sister than push her away and lose her.” He stands and steps forward, holding out his hand.
West exhales, almost imperceptibly, but I feel it in the loosening of his shoulders. For a man who’s built his life on control, it’s the smallest slip, and it guts me. When he clasps Hudson’s hand, his grip is steady, but his eyes find mine, and inthem I see it. Relief. Gratitude. Maybe even the faintest shimmer of finally belonging.
“Let’s sit down later this week,” Hudson says, his gaze flicking between West and Asher. “Call it a reverse bachelor party. Clear the air. No excuses.”
“Does that mean we get a bachelorette?” Autumn asks breathlessly.
“You already had one,” Francie points out. “We didn’t recover for days.”
“For Eden, I mean.”
Hudson groans. “Christ. One thing at a time.” He waves us all out, clearly done with the circus.
Asher mutters something under his breath, his expression still full of anger, but he doesn’t stop us when West laces his fingers through mine and leads me toward the door. His thumb strokes the back of my hand, steady, sure.
“Okay?” he mouths. I nod and that’s all it takes for him to smile.
And even with all the tension, all the questions that are still hanging in the air, I smile back. Because everything’s out in the open, and somehow, the world didn’t end.
thirty-three
WEST
“All I’m saying is that a couple of exotic dancers might calm everything down. It’ll be impossible for Asher to kill you with all those witnesses around,” Jesse says, grinning because he knows there’s no way we’re having strippers at this meet up or bachelor party or whatever he wants to call it.
Bennett’s ears perk up like an eager puppy. He’s been listening to the conversation ever since Jesse strode into the office.
“What do you think, Ben?” Jesse asks. “Don’t all the best parties have dancers?”
“Actually, I’ve never been to one.”
It’s been three days since we dropped the grenade on Eden’s brothers, and somehow the world hasn’t ended. No screaming matches, no doors slammed in my face. Just a few blissful nights with my wife in our bed, her laughter filling the house, her curls on my pillow when I wake up.
In between, I’ve been working my ass off to get Bennett an interview at a local college, because if he’s sticking around, he needs more than late nights and bad influences.
And I do want him to stick around. And to keep the hell away from his uncle.
