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“Or what will keep her ass out of trouble.”
Liam sent him a reluctant grin. “She’s good at that, as well.”
“That has to stop,” Hammer insisted.
“It does. One of her biggest problems has been that she can’t purge her hurt, share her fears, or tell me what she bloody wants. I’ve been trying to drag it out of her and guess along the way. Raine is afraid I’m going to tell her that she’s too much trouble or something.”
“She’s also afraid to be too vulnerable with anyone, and it didn’t help that I turned her away the one time she worked up the courage to be honest about her feelings.”
No, it hadn’t fucking helped at all, but taking out his irritation on Hammer now, while satisfying, would be pointless.
“So we’re agreed?” Liam asked. “Communication and honesty. But I think there’s more.”
“No question. Raine has other issues.”
“The biggest must be trust.” Liam hated to say it, worried that Hammer would see it as an indication of the weakness in his relationship with her. “You may not agree.” The other man probably didn’t have half the problem with earning Raine’s trust since she’d been there for six years. But after barely a handful of weeks with her, Liam was struggling to catch up. “But I know it’s true.”
Hammer didn’t hesitate. He simply nodded. “I think she probably trusts me more than about anyone, but there are chunks of her past and her feelings that she still won’t share. I’ve asked, pressed, insisted, demanded, threatened. Nothing.”
That made sense. All the way until her last moment as his submissive, Raine had never trusted that he meant to stay. To hear that she lacked trust in everyone, even Hammer, set him back on his heels.
“Do you think she’s really ready for this?” Liam asked.
“Yeah. I could hear it in her voice.”
Liam shrugged. “I’ve heard that before. Her resolve doesn’t always last. The minute she gets scared…”
“We won’t let her falter or hide.”
“We can’t, I know. But what if she quits on us?” Liam hated to voice the question, but that possibility was too real to ignore.
“That’s another chance we take. We’ll have to monitor her constantly.”
“True.” He looked Hammer’s way to find the man staring back at him.
“So we’re on the same page. Communication, honesty, and trust?” Macen asked.
“If I had to pick three, yes. I think they feed into most other issues she’s struggling with.”
“Absolutely.”
And hadn’t that agreement come easily? They’d never quarreled as fiercely as they had since Liam had taken Raine for his own. But now? It felt like old times…but better.
Liam stood and paced from one end of the room to the other. Why was that?
“Would you sit down?” Hammer complained.
“I’m thinking.” He traveled the length of the bar a few more times. “You know, we never talked about what Juliet needed this way.”
“You hadn’t been with Juliet as long as I had.”
“I haven’t been with Raine as long as you, either.”
Hammer shrugged. “You were young, still in your early twenties and having fun.”
“Give me a break, Hammer. I’m only five years younger. And I wasn’t immature or stupid.”
“No, you weren’t. I guess…I didn’t want to burden you.”
“I didn’t want to step on your toes.”
“I thought I had it all under control,” Hammer admitted. “I probably would have resented your suggestions at the time. Besides, I knew you didn’t love her.”
He’d enjoyed her, sure. And he would never have told Juliet that truth. Her spirit had been too breakable to hear it. He’d wondered now and again if she’d known and that was part of the reason she’d committed suicide.
“I still wanted to give her something she needed,” Liam said. “I just didn’t know what that was.”
“In retrospect…” Hammer sighed heavily. “Neither did I. If I had, she would never have chosen the silent way out.”
“But Raine isn’t Juliet. Granted, she may have one or two issues, but surely, if we put our shit aside for a bit and do what we should, they’re nothing too difficult to handle.”
“The question is, can we put our shit aside?” Hammer asked with brutal honesty. “We haven’t done a good job of that for a while.”
Liam couldn’t disagree. If someone would have told him on his flight from New York to Los Angeles that he and his best friend would soon be at one another’s throats, he would have laughed himself silly. Looking back over the past month, they’d said—and done—things to hurt the other. He regretted the sad state their friendship had fallen into. Hammer must also or else the man would have simply ceased speaking to him altogether.
“We’ve been friends for much longer than we’ve been enemies.”
“And we’ve shared before.” Hammer let out a tight breath. “We know some of the warning signs to watch for.”
“True. If we’re at all serious about this, we have to negotiate a few things.”
