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Cole flushed. “Sometimes I can be hard-headed.”
Joel snorted. “Sometimes?”
Cole just shrugged. “I might be able to help them.” Better than some Dom they barely knew.
“No, you won’t. Not at this stage.” Joel’s voice wasn’t unkind as he spoke, but it was firm. “At the moment, there’s so much stuff between the three of you that needs working out that it would muddy the waters. You might make it about you, when it needs to be about them.”
“I wouldn’t—”
“Not saying you’d mean to, Cole. But that’s what might happen. And, right now, they’re my priority. I have to protect them. However . . .” he sighed. “Can’t believe I’m actually doing this. If you were to stick around, if you were to work at it, if you were to be there for them without pushing yourself on them, I wouldn’t object.”
“Talk about damned by faint praise.”
“I can’t give you more than that right now, Cole. Trust lost is hard to gain back. I don’t know if I can trust you. They certainly don’t trust you. But I need to warn you, if you stick around this isn’t going to be easy. I guess you know that, but it’s likely going to be worse than you thought. Right now, Julian is angry. He’s hurting and I think, based on the way he just laid you out, his anger might have found a target. That could be a good thing. He needs to let it out. However, you’re gonna bear the brunt of it. If you can’t handle it then you’d best leave now. Because if you give them hope and then leave, I’ll track you down and make you hurt in ways you never imagined.”
Cole nodded. He heard the warning. He hated that Joel thought he had to give it to him, but he got it. He’d fucked up. He had to work on getting the three of them to trust him.
“Joel, give me some idea of what happened to them.”
“Hell. Hell happened to them.”
Cole sucked in a breath. “Fuck. I messed everything up, didn’t I?”
“I dare say you did.”
“Seems to be a talent of mine. Never fucking getting anything right.”
“Now that sounds like the old man talking,” Joel drawled. “And I learned long time ago never to listen to that bastard.”
“Seems you were smarter than me, then.”
Joel shook his head. “I didn’t live with him all the time. I had a life outside that house. You didn’t have an escape.”
“You’re being awfully fucking understanding considering what an asshole I was.”
“Not saying I forgive you. But life is fucking short and at any moment it can be taken from you.”
Cole knew he was talking about his sister.
“So, you show me you’ve changed, and I’d be willing to try to forgive. But, out of the three of you, they are my priority.”
It maybe should have hurt, his brother putting them first. But all he felt was fucking gratitude that Joel was taking care of them.
“It’s nothing less than I expect or want. I’m glad they have you watching out for them.”
Joel let out a breath. “Christ, I hope this change is for real, Cole. That it’s not an act. That this is really you.”
“It is. And I’ll show you. All of you.”
“All right. Then you’ll promise me when the time is right, that you’ll tell them everything.”
“Yes. It’s what I would have done anyway.”
“Why wait so long to go looking for them?” Joel asked. “Why send them away in the first place?”
“Because there was someone threatening me with exposing what the three of us did. Because I thought by sending them away it would keep them safe. But mainly because I was fucking blind. Because I didn’t realize what was really important. I should have chosen them and I didn’t, and I’ve regretted it ever since. It took me longer than I would have liked to come to my senses. I realize I don’t deserve their forgiveness, certainly I don’t deserve to have a second chance. But if I can help them in anyway, I want to do that.”
“Is the threat eliminated?”
