Page 316 of Rogue Riders Duet

Dane clears his throat. “You say you love her.” My gaze shifts to him, and he holds it for a second before he’s drawn back to Piper. “But how do you know it’s love?”

I sit with that for a second, then a little longer, because it deserves more than a quick answer.

“My ex-fiancée once got really sick,” I say finally. “It was a bad flu, and I had to take care of her for days. Which I did, obviously, but I remember sitting on the edge of the bed one night, watching her suffer, and thinking, Thank God it’s not me.”

Dane lifts his eyebrows at me.

“But with Alaina…” I shake my head. “Every time I see her in pain, I just wish it were me instead. I’d do anything to take that hurt from her. I’d carry it all if I could.”

Dane turns his eyes to Piper again.

“If you’re asking because you don’t know what you’re feeling…” I say softly, angling my head toward Piper. “It’s obvious you’re in love with her. I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“It’s hard to keep my head in the game,” he murmurs. “I feel guilty because I can’t focus on Alaina the way I should. She’s always needed me, and I’m still here, but I’m… split.”

I nod slowly. “You’ve had her back her whole life. I know, I was there. But you need to know she wants you happy. I can promise you that.”

His jaw works as he thinks through it, and I nudge his sneaker with mine.

“Relax a little. Rest. I’ve got her back. The same way you feel about Piper, that’s how I feel about Alaina.”

“I won’t ever not have her back.”

“I know that, but the fact that there are three other guys in her life now, guys who want her whole and happy, who make it their mission every damn day, should help with the guilt.”

“You’re not bothered? About both of them being with her?” He makes a face. “Because I sure as fuck am.”

“A few weeks ago, our biggest concern was whether she was going to survive this, and now we’re worried she’s got too many guys who care about her?” I laugh, low and a little bitter under my breath. “I think I’m fine with that.”

It’s not that simple, and it eats at me that I had weeks to say what I should have. I let her walk away from me because I was too scared of what it meant to want her, too loyal to Dane. I told myself I was protecting her, that it wasn’t my place, and now I watch her lean into someone else’s touch, hear her laugh because of someone else’s words, and it feels like a punch and a blessing all at once.

Dane snorts just as another bright laugh bursts from Alaina’s chest, and I can’t help it, my lips pull into a grin because God, that sound.

“Whatever makes her laugh like that,” I murmur, more to myself than to him, “I’m on board.”

Even if it’s not just me, and even if she chooses all of us.

The fact that she might still choose me at all?

That she hasn’t shut that door after everything I did and didn’t say.

And that’s more than I deserve.

Dane looks at me a little longer this time. “You do love her.”

“You know I do, and I love you, too, like a brother.”

He arches a brow. “Didn’t you once say you loved her like a sister?”

“Things change.”

“But a punch to the face didn’t change you loving me like a brother?”

There’s something raw in the way he asks it. Not anger, but honesty, and maybe a little shame, as if he wants things to be okay between us again, but maybe isn’t quite ready for that yet.

“I deserved it, and like you said, we’ve been through hell, but we’re still here.”

Silence stretches, and I think that the conversation is done, but then Dane whispers, “What you said in the hospital.” I look up at him, but he doesn’t meet my eyes. “I’m sorry I left you all those years ago. I was hurting and didn’t know what to do, but you were right, I should’ve picked up the damn phone. I needed you. I just didn’t know how to say it.”