Page 53 of Weston’s Treasure

“Agreed. Family dynamics are fucked and that’s putting it mildly. Her mother is a total bitch, pure poison.”

“Gotta say, watching that shit yesterday, I get that stubborn streak she has. Bet she learned that attitude early on or she’d get railroaded.”

“She learned a lot of things early on, and none of them good.”

“Alec still coming down today?” Chasin asked, thankfully changing the subject. It was too early to think about Silver’s fucked-up parents, a subject that was sure to piss him off. And that was the last thing he wanted to be when he went back upstairs to wake up his woman.

“Far’s I know. He said his team’s made good progress and they’re close to getting us what we need.”

“Good. I’ll be happy when this shit’s over.”

Chasin’s bagel popped up and he scowled at the toaster.

“Why?”

“Why?” Chasin repeated, pulling the hot bread from the appliance and dropping it on the counter.

“You have a problem with Silver staying here?”

“Fuck, no.” His friend turned his attention to Weston. “The obvious reason I want this shit done is because your woman’s in danger. I’d like that to be over for her, and for you as well. The other reason is someone needs to sort Holden’s shit.”

Hell, not Holden’s issues again.

“Listen, I already talked to Nix about this. I think we need to give Holden space to work this out on his own. The situation is seriously screwed up and he doesn’t need us in his business. He needs time—”

“Fuck that. Would you give me time if I was purposely hurting myself?”

Goddamn it, Chasin had a point. Weston wouldn’t stand around with his thumb up his ass while his friend tortured himself. But still, things were complicated. Very complicated, and there was more than Holden to think about.

“If you get in Holden’s face about this and he retreats, that could fuck Charleigh and Faith. As far as I see it, they just got him back. You say something about that guilt he’s been carrying around, it comes back ten-fold and he may never recover. We hang back and watch. If he needs it, we take his back. But you know Holden, you know the love he has for Charleigh, you know what her choosing Paul over him did to him, and you know he’s never recovered. It’s time for him to move on.”

“And if he moves on with Charleigh? You gotta problem with that?”

Weston didn’t, but by the look on Chasin’s face, not to mention the anger in his voice, he had an issue with it.

“I got no problem with a man loving a woman and finally doing what he should’ve done more than ten years ago.”

“That’s Paul’s wife.”

“No, Chasin, that’s Paul’s widow. Paul’s gone, has been for a long time. He was a good friend, a good teammate, father, but a shit husband. And if you dig deep and take off the rose-colored lens, you’ll see it, too. Paul married a woman because he got her pregnant. He did that knowing she loved someone else. He tried to make her love him, but he failed, mainly because he kept throwing Holden in her face. And you know that to be true, too, because he admitted it to us, and you were the one that told him that shit was jacked.”

“Fuck,” Chasin growled. “He fucks her around, I’m gonna be pissed.”

“He won’t.”

“Yeah? And you know that how?”

“Because he fuckin’ loves her.”

“He loved her before and still let her walk.”

“And he’s lived with the consequences of that. He stopped livin’ the day she left. He stopped taking a full breath the day she married Paul, and he’s been punishing himself since the day Faith was born.”

Chasin was staring at his feet and Weston decided he was done with a conversation he didn’t want to have—but seriously didn’t want to have while his woman was upstairs in his bed.

“I’ll leave you with this, Holden is dying inside. If Charleigh and Faith can heal that, they’d have my gratitude.”

Weston left his half-empty cup on the counter and decided he’d come back down and make a fresh pot after he woke up Silver. He left his friend in the kitchen to ponder alone, hoping Chasin didn’t talk to Holden. Weston walked back into his room. His eyes hit Silver’s long, shiny hair fanning over his pillow, and all thoughts about Holden, Chasin, and Charleigh were gone.