Page 26 of Adoring Ink

Chapter Eight

Brody was a fool. He knew this more than anyone, and yet, every time he did something as monumentally stupid as he’d done the night before, he surprised himself with the level of his foolishness.

He’d fucking left her after she’d told him all about her past. She’d needed him, and he’d run away like a coward. Not only did he want to find her parents and knock some sense into them for daring to hurt her, but he also needed to do it to himself.

“What’s up with you?” Derek asked as he walked into Taboo. Brody had been sitting in the café, looking at his coffee as it cooled, and trying to think of what to say when he saw Holly next.

“I’m an idiot.”

Derek slid into the booth across from Brody and nodded. “Well, yeah. You’re a man in a relationship with a woman far better than you. So, yeah, you’re an idiot.”

Brody looked around the café for children, didn’t spot any, and flipped off his friend. “She is better than me, but thanks for saying it.”

Derek shrugged and picked the uneaten cheese Danish off Brody’s plate. He gestured with it, and Brody waved him off. The other man grinned and bit in, his eyes going unfocused. Yeah, the food here was that good, but Brody hadn’t been able to stomach anything with his mind going in a thousand different directions.

“I’d marry Hailey for her baked goods alone,” Derek crooned.

Brody raised a brow. “And Sloane would kill you with one hand tied behind his back. Dude’s a freaking tank.”

“That he is. I’m surprised he didn’t maim you when you asked Hailey out.”

Brody narrowed his eyes. “Hey, they weren’t dating at the time. In fact, I prompted Sloane to go to her and ask her out. In essence, I brought those two together.”

Derek sighed. “Yeah, and we all actually believe that. So, tell me this, oh wise one, if you can believe in them enough and their relationship to push them together, why are you sitting here alone pouting into cold coffee and not with your woman right now?”

Because Sloane and Hailey aren’t me.

He didn’t say that, of course. How could he? Derek wouldn’t understand, and Brody was having a hard time understanding himself these days. That’s the problem with relationships. They fucked things up for everyone involved, and in the end, people got hurt. People died.

“You going to answer me? Or is your coffee telling you sweet nothings or the secrets of the universe?”

Brody snorted. “Hailey’s coffee isn’t that good.”

Derek winced and looked around quickly. “Are you crazy? You can’t say that so loudly here. She might look sweet, but she has a mean right hook.”

Brody looked up at the other man and frowned. “I’m fucking things up.”

Derek’s eyes filled with sympathy. “If you’re here and not with Holly on your time off, then yeah, you’re fucking things up. But, dude? You know how the entire Montgomery and Gallagher clans threatened to kill you if you hurt her? I’m not exactly one of them.”

At that reminder, Brody winced. “So you’re not going to kill me if I hurt her?” Or maybe he should have said when.

“Oh, I will kill you, but after I make sure you’re okay. I’m your friend, Brody. I know you’re the guy that knows everyone, but you push us all a safe distance away. That’s fine if that’s how you want to live, but maybe you should try something different. Maybe you should learn to rely on someone. And while I’m here for you, I think Holly should be the first person you rely on. Not me.”

Brody shook his head. “I don’t want to hurt her, man.”

“Then don’t.”

“It’s easy for you to say; you’re single.” Brody cursed as he caught the hurt in Derek’s eyes before the other man blinked it away. “Shit. I’m sorry, man.”

Derek waved it off. “It is easy for me to tell you not to hurt her because I have nothing to do with it. But that doesn’t make what I’m saying any less true. If you want to pursue things with her, do it, but know you might have to open up to her more than you have. You might have to tell her those secrets you hide from everyone. The ones we all know are there.”

Brody straightened. “What do you mean?”

Derek just shook his head. “We know you, buddy, but we don’t know you. You won’t let us. And no, we don’t have conversations about you behind your back, but it’s a feeling I get anyway. Okay? So if you want to be with Holly, then you need to be more than the smiling and happy Brody. Show her you mean it. Romance her. Be hers. Don’t fuck it up because you’re scared. Because being scared is okay, man. We all are. Just don’t let that fear be all you are. Holly deserves more than that and so do you.”

And with that, Derek knocked his knuckles on the table as he stood up to leave. Brody watched the other man go, wondering once again how Derek seemed to know so much yet reveal so little.

With a sigh, Brody got up and left a tip on the table. He’d already tipped Hailey at the register, but he’d taken up the space for so long it was needed. As he drove to Holly’s house, he did his best to keep his thoughts in check. The two of them weren’t serious, though they’d talked about serious things. They hadn’t planned on things past the list, and yet he had a feeling if he weren’t careful, he’d end up in a situation he couldn’t handle. He’d been fine on his own all this time, and that couldn’t change. He wouldn’t let it. He’d help Holly with her list because he wanted to, and then he’d walk away before anyone got hurt.