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“I need to talk to Kendall,” I state.
“You might want to give her a second to cool off. She was pretty upset.”
“Because you called Declan a man-whore in front of her. You made her feel used.” My words hold no malice. I know that’s not what he was trying to do. He was angry with Declan, and Kendall was an unfortunate victim of his poor choice of words.
“Shit,” he growls, running his fingers through his already tousled hair. “I should probably apologize to her.”
“Let me talk to her first. I’ll be back in a minute.”
After lightly knocking on her door, I tighten the belt on my robe as I wait for Kendall it.
“Come in,” she calls, her voice hoarse.
She’s sitting with her legs crossed in the middle of her bed. I close the door behind me, take a seat next to her, and wrap my arms around her, resting my chin on her shoulder.
“I thought you were staying at Finn’s place tonight,” she starts.
“Poker game. Change of plans. I would have told you, but I thought you were asleep.” She doesn’t say anything, so I continue, “You don’t have to change your life to accommodate me, K. You live here, too. You can have over whoever you want whenever you want. You know that.”
“I didn’t invite him over. He just showed up.”
“The Graham boys are persistent, aren’t they?” I try to keep my voice light and playful, but her face remains stoic.
“No one was supposed to know anything. Not that there’s much to tell.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, meaning every word of it. “You could have told me, ya know? I would have understood. Those boys have a magnetism about them that’s hard to deny.”
“You can say that again,” she mutters into my shoulder.
“I can tell you really like him.”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“No more lies, K. Dec’s a good guy.”
“According to your boyfriend, his brother, he’s a man-whore. What does that make me?” she asks, her voice choking up.
“He’s not a man-whore, for starters. Finn’s just angry. He warned Declan to stay away from you if he wasn’t serious about you, so when he found him here in the middle of the night … well, it was clear Dec wasn’t listening to him.”
“It’s not Finn’s job to protect me.”
“Try telling him that,” I joke. “You matter to me, so you matter to him. He’ll protect you with all he has, even from his own brother.”
Kendall doesn’t say anything. There’s no reason to argue with me. We both know Finn would go to war with Declan if necessary.
“I think I just need to let him go,” she finally whispers, more to herself than to me.
“If that’s what you want.”
“I don’t know what I want anymore. One minute it’s him, the next it’s anyone but him.”
“That’s what you need to figure out then. Decide what you want. What makes you happy.”
We sit in silence for a few minutes before Kendall kicks me out so she can go to sleep. I contemplate staying with her, holding her the way I know I’d want to be held if the situation were reversed, but Kendall’s not me.
If she wanted me here, she’d ask me to stay. She wants to be alone, to think, and because I respect her, I leave her to do just that.
“She okay?” Finn asks as I slide under the covers. He tucks me against his chest, wrapping his arms around me as I get comfortable.
