Page 69 of Read With Your Heart

“What do I do about my sister?”

“Leave her here.” AJ chuckles as if it’s that easy.

“She’s only eighteen.”

He cocks his head at me. “Leon, at eighteen, what the hell were you doing?”

“That’s exactly why I want to protect her.” I was living off the street. Doing drugs. Getting drunk. Stealing shit to prove my worth. I don’t want that for my sister. She has plans—college.

“Want her to stay with me?” AJ offers.

I stare at my oldest friend. “I can’t ask that of you. You already have three kids. What would Theresa say?” His wife is a hot piece in her own right, and I don’t know what AJ did to score her, but he’s a lucky man, and she’s dedicated to him.

“Theresa might love it. Lena could help a bit with the kids, and when her time comes, we can help her place the baby.”

Lena’s already told me she plans to give the baby up for adoption. I don’t know how she’ll part with her own kid, but she’s also still a kid herself. It’s such a tough decision.

“Then she’ll go to college like she wants,” AJ interjects.

Yeah. That’s what I want for her, too.

We stand in silence a second while I consider his offer. It’s a lot to ask of my friend.

“I promised her I’d keep her safe,” I mutter, watching the woman walk out of AJ’s shop and feeling nothing while looking at her. I promised all my girls—Lena, Lys, and Tricia. Jesus, how is Lys? I didn’t even get the chance to ask, but I texted her as soon as Tricia walked away from me. I’m a terrible brother. I’m a terrible man. Tricia hates me, but no more than I hate myself.

“How you keeping her safe by being here?” AJ interrupts again.

“I should stay with my sister,” I tell him, sounding more resolved than I feel. If Lena won’t go back, I should stay with her and bring Lys here. I can try to give them some normalcy now that my parents are permanently gone.

“Not Lena. Your girl. How are you keeping her safe?” AJ smirks, shaking his head.

“Staying away from her.” I shrug. Leaning back on his glass countertop, I notice something sparkling inside the case. I’d never buy a woman a secondhand ring. When I get to that place, if I ever get there, my woman will have nothing but the best I can afford.

“Shit, a woman don’t want safety from afar. She wants a man at her back, in her bed. She wants him standing before her, shielding her heart.”

I stare up at my friend, brows pinching together.

“She wants you holding her hand and her heart,” AJ adds.

“When did you become such a fucking romantic?” I chuckle, still wondering who this man is and what he has done with the cavalier AJ, who slept with anything that had two legs and a nice ass.

He shrugs. “Eh. I’m not.” He lowers his head, chewing at his lip a second, fighting off a smile. We stand in silence. My eyes focus back on the ring under the glass.

“She wants a baby someday,” I whisper, recalling the look in Tricia’s eyes when she said she wanted kids but how her husband had never promised her them. Fucking idiot.

“And maybe she’ll have one, one day. Along with another man in her bed, keeping her back warm and her heart held. Yeah, man, that’s what I’d want for the woman I love. Another man to fuck her and give her a family.”

“You’re a dick,” I say, standing taller and bracing my hands on the counter.

“And you’re a fool.”

“The fool doth think he is wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.” AJ has no idea, but my Shakespeare agrees.

“To thine self be true, or some shit like that,” AJ spouts, and I almost fall over. “You do what you gotta do, Leon, but I’d want a warm, willing woman in my bed, not another bunkmate under me. What do you want?” He knocks his knuckles on the counter between us and excuses himself to help a customer near his register.

I stare after him with one thought in my head. I want Tricia.

Which was immediately followed by a second thought. Damn, I hate when Shakespeare is right.