“Unbelievable.”
“It worked, didn’t it?”
She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. “You had no right.”
“What was I supposed to do, Em? Sit back and watch you get hurt over and over again?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what you were supposed to do.”
His eyebrows shot up.
“I don’t like the idea of getting hurt any more than you do, but you’re not the keeper of my heart, Finn. You’re my brother, the one man I thought I could trust.”
How many relationships did she miss out on because Finn had scared guys away? And how many had she pushed away because she’d been so easily manipulated by her brother into thinking that a no-athlete rule was a good idea?
Guys like Grant.
She’d enjoyed talking to him from that first day at City Bar and had pushed him away until he finally left for good. Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Finn reached out and rubbed her arm. “I’m sorry.”
Em turned in her seat. “You can’t keep secrets from me anymore.”
“I know.”
“I’m serious, Finn. You are the only family I have, and I need to know that I can trust you. Let me make my own mistakes instead of trying to protect me.”
“I only want what’s best for you.” Finn wrapped his arm around Em and pulled her close. “From now on, I promise. No more secrets.”
“You’ll let me make my own mistakes,” she said. “But you can give me advice on how to handle jerks on my own without beating them up.”
He considered it for a moment. Eventually, he nodded. “Deal.”
Em rested her head on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
They sat in uncomfortable silence for several minutes, both looking down at the empty arena below them.
Finn was the first to speak. “So, does this mean you like Grant?”
Em sat up. Her first reaction was to brush off Finn’s question. They didn’t talk about relationships other than when boys had hurt her. Maybe that was part of the problem. If they had talked about the good things in addition to the bad—if they had had uncomfortable conversations like this—then maybe Finn wouldn’t have decided to scare away guys.
Maybe Em would have never made her stupid rule in the first place.
She took a deep breath. “Yeah. I really like him.” She paused. “Or,likedhim, I guess. Things are most definitely over at this point.”
“Are you sure?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Pretty sure.”
“Because of me.”
She snorted. “I’m sure you punching him had something to do with it. But that wasn’t all of it.”
“Have you tried talking to him? I hear you’re getting really good at heart-to-hearts.”
Em laughed. She’d made up with her best friend and her brother in the past week even though it had meant having conversations that put her way out of her comfort zone. But she was still far from being good at heart-to-hearts. Besides, there were too many other variables to consider. Grant was the one to walk away. Not only that, he’d be going back to Kansas City when the season was over.
She shook her head. “I think this one might be beyond repair.
