Chapter 29: Chapter 28

THE PARTY HAD BEEN GREAT. The food, the booze, the poker games, and the music had all been a hit. It was dwindling down, and Nash and River were collecting beer bottles that were littered all over the yard as I walked Coach, Bobby, and Slade to the door.

“Thanks for a great night,” Slade said, dabbing me up and clapping his hand in mine.

“Yeah, thanks for coming. Being sober at these is never easy,” I said, surprised that he’d stayed as long as he had.

“Romeo’s been really good to me. I can handle a night of nonalcoholic beers for that dude any time. And he’s marrying my sister, so he’s family now.”

Slade Crawford had impressed the hell out of me. He’d been speaking at the high school about his struggles with addiction, and he was doing one hell of a job working at the gym. I knew it wasn’t easy, and he took things one day at a time, but from where I was sitting, he was off to a damn good start.

Bobby clapped me on the back and thanked me after I pulled the door open.

And then there was Coach.

He held out a hand, and I did the same. “Thanks for having me. This was a lot of fun. And I’m glad that my mere presence doesn’t seem to annoy you anymore.”

He was a little drunk, but he was also pretty spot on, and I felt like an asshole, seeing as he’d clearly noticed that I didn’t care for him.

“I’m sorry about getting off on the wrong foot.”

“Don’t give it a thought, mate. I think we both know why you had a problem with me. But I think it all turned out as it was supposed to. I’m happy for you. For both of you.” He winked before walking out the door, and I realized everyone in town seemed to know what was going on.

Tomorrow morning couldn’t come soon enough.

I’d made a conscious effort not to drink much tonight, because I feared I’d slip or say something before I got the chance to talk to Hayes.

I closed the door and made my way back to the family room, where Romeo, River, and Nash were sitting, staring up at Hayes, and I didn’t miss the look of discomfort on their faces.

I cleared my throat. “What’s going on?”

Hayes looked at me, and I knew in that moment that he knew.

He fucking knew.

It was the look in his eyes—pure rage and anger.

The disappointment.

“I went to use your bathroom because the other two were full at the time. And I wanted a magazine to read while I was in there, so I went to your nightstand. And I’m just asking the guys why the fuck my sister’s evil eye necklace is on your nightstand. I know she’s stayed here before, but she stayed in the guest room. And she’s been back at home for a while now. So, I’m going to ask you once, King. Why the fuck is Saylor’s necklace on your nightstand? In your fucking bedroom.”

“Listen, I told you I wanted to talk to you tomorrow. I’ve got some stuff I need to say to you.”

“You’ve got some stuff that you need to say to me? Because you don’t talk to me every fucking day? You need a formal appointment for this?”

“Hayes, take a seat. You need to hear him out,” Nash said, and that was not the right thing to say, because Hayes flew off the handle with that request.

“I need to take a seat? I need to hear him out? My best friends all seem to know something is going on, and no one has had the decency to tell me? So, I’m looking you in the fucking eyes, King.” He moved closer to me, and I knew I was fucked. This hadn’t gone down the way I’d hoped. “You tell me right now… did you fuck my sister?”

I gripped his shoulders and shoved him back. “Don’t fucking talk about my woman like that.”

Everything was a blur after that. He dove on top of me, and I didn’t fight him. I had it coming. I’d fucked up, and I’d take the hits that came.

He punched me in the side of my face first and then gripped my shirt and shook me as I lay on the floor beneath him. “Your fucking woman? For how long, King? Until you get bored with her and throw her away? How the fuck could you do this to her?”

Romeo, River, and Nash were on their feet, pulling him off of me.

“It’s not what you think,” I said, pushing to sit up and wiping the blood from my lip. “Let me explain it to you.”

He was clearly intoxicated because he stumbled back, shaking them off, as he turned to look at each of them. “You all knew? And no one told me?”

“Dude, we didn’t know shit. We were suspicious,” Romeo said.

“This isn’t on them. This is on me. Let me walk you home, and we can talk about it.”

A sarcastic laugh left his lips. “We can talk about it? You’ve had months to talk to me about it. And you didn’t give a fuck about anyone but yourself.”

I pushed to my feet. “That’s not how it is, Hayes. You’re my brother. I love you, man.”

“Nah. You know she’s all I have. She’s been through so much, and you cared that little. You just wanted to get your dick wet.”

Now it was my turn to throw a punch and hit him square in the jaw. “I warned you not to talk about her like that.”

He stumbled back and then spit on my wood floor. His hands were up as he backed away and walked toward the door while still facing me.

He just stared with disbelief, like I’d betrayed him in the worst way.

And I had, hadn’t I?

The look in his eyes nearly broke me.

Betrayed and angry and hurt.

“Ride or die. Right, King? Ride or fucking die.” His voice cracked on the last word, and a deep pain settled in my chest.

And he turned and walked out the door.

“I’ve got this,” Romeo said, as he held up a hand and jogged out the door.

“I’ll go with you. I think he’s going to be raging for a while.” Nash hurried out behind Romeo.

They both gave me a look that said it all.

I’d fucked up really badly this time.

I dropped onto the couch, and I ran a hand down my face. That had gone about as badly as it possibly could have.

I’d hurt someone that was a fucking brother to me.

River came to sit beside me after he’d stepped into the kitchen. He handed me a frozen bag of peas to hold on my face. “This is bad, King. And you’re going to need to fix this.”

“I know. I planned to talk to him tomorrow morning so we wouldn’t have a fucking audience.”

“Well, how’d that plan work out for you?” He raised a brow. “How about you own it with me right now? Is this thing between you two serious?”

“Do you think I would have punched him if it wasn’t?”

“Yeah, that was a surprising move, but I need to hear you say it, brother. Because if this isn’t the real deal, you might have just fucked up a lifelong friendship forever.”

“I love her, River. I think I have for a very long time. Long before anything ever happened. We have a history from way back when she lived with us,” I said, holding up my hands when he looked like he was going to explode on me. “Nothing ever happened. I swear on everything I know. Never. But the feelings, they’ve been there for a long time. I can’t stay away from her. I’ve tried. I’ve tried so fucking hard.” I buried my face in my hands and tried to keep it together.

“Why didn’t you fucking talk to me? Talk to Hayes?”

“And say what? That I was attracted to her? Because that’s what I thought it was at first. But then we started spending so much time together, and it’s so much more than that. These feelings… they aren’t going away, River. They just get stronger every day. I love her in a way that I know I can’t exist in a world that she isn’t in. So, I’ll take my fucking lumps from Hayes until he’ll talk to me, because this isn’t some fucking fling. This girl—she makes me want to be the kind of man that deserves her.”

“Wow. You really are fucked.” River barked out a laugh. “You’ve got it bad, little brother. Does she feel the same?”

“She does. We’ve been keeping it a secret until we could talk to Hayes.” I shrugged, knowing it was a lame defense now.

“Well, that sure blew up in your face. But you’ve got a few days to fix this before Romeo’s wedding. We can’t have you two brawling on his wedding day, so you better find a way to make this right, King.”

“And how do you suggest I do that? He probably won’t even fucking talk to me now.” I fell back against the couch.

“You just keep trying until he does. And you tell him exactly what you told me.” He leaned back beside me and turned to look at me. “You tell him you love his sister, and you should have come to him, but you fucked up. Because you’re ridiculously in love. And you just keep saying it until you get through to him.”

“All right. That’s what I’ll do.” I let out a long breath. I couldn’t believe we’d come to blows. He was my best friend, and I’d hurt him in a way that I didn’t know if he’d ever forgive me. “I just hope he’ll listen to me.”

“Yeah, me too, brother. This might be the worst fight any of us have ever had.”

“I broke the pact. Ride or die. I fucked it all up.”

River clapped me on the shoulder. “You fell in love. That’s not breaking the pact. The way you went about it wasn’t great, but you’ll explain that to him when he’s sober and has calmed down.”

My phone beeped at the same time River’s did.

My phone rang, and I looked down to see Saylor was calling.

“Hey,” I said, as I pushed to my feet and walked out of the room, leaving River, who was sitting on the couch with his eyes closed now.

“You sound upset. Are you okay?” she asked, and she didn’t hide her concern.

“He knows.” I dropped onto my bed and ran a hand down my face.

“Hayes knows? You told him?”

“He found your necklace on my nightstand, and he lost his shit. It got physical, and there was just no explaining anything to him at that point. I fucked up, Saylor. I should have gone to him.”

“No, King. This is on me. I asked you not to talk to him. I’m sorry. I can’t believe I left my necklace there. I messed it all up, and I’m so sorry.” Her voice broke on the last word.

“This is on me. I should have handled it like a man. If I could have seen into the future, to know with confidence that this was the real deal, I would have done that. But I really fucked up by not talking to him. He feels betrayed, and I’d feel the same fucking way if this were reversed.”

“No one can see into the future. It wasn’t about him, but I do think I should have realized how bad this would look if he found out the way that he did. Do you want me to come over?”

“Fuck, Dandelion, the last thing we need is him showing back up here and finding you here. I’ve got to fix this first, all right? It might take a few days, but I need to get this right before I do anything else.”

She sniffled a few times. “Okay. I’m so sorry, King. I know I put you in a bad position, and I feel sick about it. I wasn’t trying to be deceitful; I was just trying to give us a fighting chance. And at the end of the day, we were able to figure out that we loved each other, so I’d do it all again if I had to. But I don’t want this to come between your friendship with Hayes. I promise you we will fix this.”

“None of this is your fault. My relationship with Hayes is based on trust, and I broke that. It’s between me and him. I could have insisted on telling him at any time, and I went right along with the plan to keep it a secret. I was a selfish asshole, and now I need to own up to it.”

“Just promise me that this won’t come between us.” Her voice shook.

“Dandelion, there is not anything in the world that can come between us. I love you, and that will never change. But you’ve got to give me some time to fix this and make it right. Because I’m not okay with where things stand with your brother right now.”

“Okay,” she whispered. “Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it.”

“All right. Let’s just stay away from one another until I talk to Hayes. I love you.”

“Love you. Goodnight, King.”

I ended the call and fell back onto the bed.

I had my work cut out for me. But I wouldn’t stop until I made this right.