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Jake nodded. “Why isn’t Hailey here?”
I swallowed, unsure how to answer her brother and my best friend.
“Why are you pushing her away?”
It took a few seconds for me to realize he wasn’t giving me a hard time. “You’re not angry?”
“I’m pissed you kept it from me. But I’m angrier about the way you’re treating her right now.” Barely restrained anger simmered just beneath the surface.
“I’m protecting her from the shit storm that is my life right now. Tiffany threatened to take away Corey, and she almost did.”
“Would you have moved back to Texas?” Jake asked, his tone dangerously calm.
My jaw tightened. “I don’t know. I couldn’t imagine not being close to Corey.”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. “Hailey thought you’d leave.”
Uneasy, I said, “I might have.”
“What are you going to do now?”
“We have the juvenile hearing next week.” There’s one more thing to get through, and then I could think about the rest of my life.
“So, your plan is just to wait it out?”
I shook my head. “I can’t think past these hearings. I’m a mess.”
“Don’t you think you’d feel better with her by your side?”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Oh, I know I would.”
“Then why isn’t she here?” he asked again.
“I can’t pull her into this.”
“When you’re in a relationship, you’re there for each other.”
“We never defined what we were.” The words fell flat.
“So, what, you’re just using my sister?” There was a bite to his words.
I sensed I was in dangerous territory. He’d always be Hailey’s brother, her protector first. “Fuck no. I’m not explaining things right.”
Jake leaned closer. “My sister’s hurting right now.”
I grimaced. “I didn’t mean for that to happen. I wanted to save her from this. The stress. The worry. The uncertainty. When I know what’s going on, then we can sit down and talk.”
“And in the meantime, what’s she supposed to think?”
I hadn’t really thought about much, other than saving her from this. “I don’t know.”
Jake leaned back. “You’re fucking this up.”
I never thought that Jake would be the one schooling me on relationships. “Why are you encouraging me to be with your sister?”
He looked away. “I want her to be happy, and she seems to think that’s with you. So, what are you going to do about it?”
I was a little in shock that Jake was not only okay with me being with Hailey but was encouraging it. “You think I’m the man she needs? I have baggage.”
