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"I don't hate him."
"You don't?" She lifts wide, hopeful eyes to him.
"I'm not fucking thrilled with him, but I don't hate him." He narrows his eyes on her. "I'm not thrilled with you right now, either. You both lied to me. You were sneaking around behind my back. I don't care whose idea it was; it was fucked up."
"I know," she whispers. "I won't try to make excuses or justify it."
"You can explain it. Do you really think I'm that fucking unreasonable?"
"No, I…" She shakes her head, sniffling. "You've already kicked one friend out of your life over me. I didn't want to be the reason you lost another. You don't let many people into your life."
"I didn't kick a friend out of my life when I kicked Parker out of it, Elodie. I kicked a fucking predator out of my life. You were a teenager. He was twenty-three. He's lucky I didn't fucking kill him."
"Uh, who the fuck is Parker, and what did he do? Because from the sounds of it, I'm thinking I might help you kill him," I growl.
"He cornered her and tried to kiss her when she was sixteen."
"Jesus Christ. You know where he lives?"
I'm going to hunt him down and rip his balls off one by one. This is the piece I was missing. This predatory motherfucker. She's been so afraid to tell Keegan about us because of what this asshole tried to do when she was still just a kid. She's carrying around guilt that doesn't belong to her, thinking it's her fault Keegan lost a friend. But Keegan is right. The prick wasn't a friend. He was a predator. Keegan did exactly what he should have done. He protected his sister. I know him well enough to know he doesn't have a single regret over that.
"Prison last I heard. He got busted with a bunch of coke in his car.'' Keegan smirks. "The cops didn't believe him when he said he'd never seen it before."
"Your doing?" I ask, pleased by the news.
Keegan shrugs instead of answering…which is answer enough for me.
"You put drugs in his car?" Elodie gapes at her brother, shocked. "You don't even know where to get drugs, Keegan!"
"Everyone knows a guy who knows a guy, Elodie. And you collect a lot of favors in this business. I called in a few." Keegan shrugs like it's not a big deal. To her, it probably is, though. She's a lot more innocent than she looks. "I did what I had to do to make sure the motherfucker didn't come near you again."
"Why didn't you ever tell me?"
"You didn't ever need to hear his name again."
"You could have told me," she whispers.
"And you could have told me about Coby," he says, disapproval heavy in his voice. "The situations weren't the same. Like you keep reminding me, you're an adult now. You're capable of taking care of yourself. And this one may be a fucking asshole, but he's not a piece of shit. He isn't Parker."
She grimaces as if she knows he's right. The situations aren't the same. "You're right. But I wasn't thinking about that. All I was thinking about was the fact that you already lost one friend because of me. I didn't want you to lose another one."
"I didn't lose anything back then because of you, Elodie. You didn't do anything wrong." Keegan shakes his head, his expression sad. "When are you going to realize that?"
"I know I didn't."
"Do you? Because it certainly doesn't fucking sound like it."
"I do," she whispers. "I know. But I'm allowed to feel bad about it, Keegan. Coby is the first person you've let into your life since then. I know that's because you were worried the same thing would happen again. You were so worried about protecting me that you didn't leave room for anyone else. I'm allowed to feel guilty about that part."
"It wasn't just about protecting you, Elodie. The fact that I trusted someone who was willing to try some shit like that fucked me up. I didn't trust my own judgment. This idiot changed my mind." He cuts his eyes at me. "I actually trusted him."
"You can trust him."
I don't know what fucks me up more. The fact that they've been through hell, or the fact that they're still standing. I think they may be the strongest people I know. They raised themselves. I don't think they realize just how good of a job they did. I'm glad as hell that they've had each other. They both deserve that kind of support.
"I can't change your mind today, Keegan," I say quietly. "I fucked up. I should have told you the truth from the beginning, and I didn't. I'm sorry for that. That's on me. I can't go back and do it over, but I can promise you that your sister is safe with me. I can promise you that I'll love her the way she deserves to be loved, and that I'll put her first, no matter what. I can promise you that I won't break her heart. And I can promise that I'll wait however long I have to wait to regain your trust. I'm not going anywhere."
