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“I don’t know,” she insisted. “That’s what I’m trying to get you to understand. You ran out of there without listening to anything he had to say. Don’t you think you owe it to yourself to find out the truth? You deserve to be happy, babe. And I’ve never seen you happier than when you were with Rowan. I just don’t want you to regret not hearing him out.”
“So, you’re on his side?” I asked unreasonably.
“I’m on your side and you know that. But I’m not going to stand by and watch you ruin your chances at something great because you’re scared. You had a raw deal growing up, babe. I can’t imagine how hard it must have been. One person should never have to handle that much disappointment. But you’re out of your mind if you think I’m just going to sit back and let you rebuild those damned walls you’ve lived behind all your life. You’ve worked too hard to become the person you are today to cower away and hide when shit gets rough. I love you too much to let you do that, even if I run the risk of you hating me for it.”
“I could never hate you,” I whispered.
“Then please promise me you won’t let go of the woman you’ve become. Do whatever it is you need to in order to be happy. You have people in your corner now. I can’t promise that everything with Rowan will work out, but what Icanpromise is that, no matter what, there are too many hands holding on to you to let the fall be as painful as it’s been in the past.”
I sniffled and wiped at the lone tear that broke free and made its way down my cheek. “Stop being so smart. It’s giving me a complex.”
Her laughter rang through the line. “Then stop being so damn hard-headed.”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, honey. And I’ll be here no matter what.”
“You promise?”
“Cross my heart and hope to die. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Okay.” We hung up and I sat up on a loud inhale to find Carson standing at my bedroom door, shoulder resting against the frame, a concerned smile on his face. “Hey,” I offered with a weak smile of my own.
“Hey, yourself.”
“How long have you been standing there?”
Pushing from the door, he walked into the room and sat beside me. “Long enough. You ready to join the land of the living again?”
Toying with a loose thread on the hem of my shirt, I shrugged. “I guess.”
He blew out a deep breath and stared at the wall ahead of him. I had just begun to wonder if we were going to sit in uncomfortable silence when he spoke. “You know, if there’s one guarantee in life, it’s that all guys are stupid assholes.”
“O-kay…?” I dragged out, my brows tipping in confusion at his random statement.
“I mean, seeing as Iama guy, I know that to be a fact. And because we’re stupid assholes, we have a tendency to do stupid shit. Take me for instance.” He turned to face me, his grassy green eyes holding a sincere grin. “I almost lost Cassidy once because I was a stubborn jackass. But lucky for me, I have this little sister who wanted nothing but the best for me. So when she saw how badly I was fuckin’ up, she called me out on my shit. She told me how much I’d changed when Cass came into my life, how much she wanted nothing more than to see me happy. She understood what it felt like to be beaten down over and over again, but she made me promise not to let my past dictate my future.”
“She sounds brilliant.” I giggled through my tears.
“Oh, she is. Smartest girl I’ve ever met. She’s the best sister I never had.”
Brushing the wet from my cheeks I smiled brightly up at him. “And you’re the best brother she’s never had.”
Wrapping an arm around my shoulders, Carson pulled me in for a hug and placed a kiss on the top of my head. “I’m not gonna like him,” he spoke. I laughed into his chest, knowing he was talking about Rowan. “I’d never like any guy you ended up with. But even though I hardly know the guy, and his first impression was shit, I can honestly say you had a glow when we visited that I’d never seen before. Cass saw it, too. So all I’m gonna say is if you can work out your issues, and he’s the guy who can make you that happy for the rest of your life, well, I’ll try really,reallyhard not to kill him.”
“I love you.” I laughed loudly before placing a kiss on his scruffy cheek.
“Love you, too, little bit. Now, let’s go eat. Anymore of this lovey-dovey shit and my balls are gonna shrivel up into raisins.”
I was running on fumes by the time I saw the sign for Willow Ranch. I was functioning on maybe six hours of sleep combined over the past four days. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d eaten anything. And I was pretty sure that rank odor I was smelling was myself.
But I refused to stop. The moment I’d gotten what I needed out of Harlow, I was on the first flight from New York to Texas. I hadn’t bathed or changed clothes since the last night I slept out on their goddamned stoop. I was fucking miserable, but if I didn’t get to Navie within the next five minutes, what was left of my sanity was likely to evaporate.
The minute a large white house with a wide wraparound porch came into view, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was exactly how Harlow had described. I threw the car into park and jumped out, running up the steps like an Olympic hurdler.
“Navie!” I yelled at the top of my lungs as I beat on the rickety screen door. “Navie! I know you’re in there! Open the goddamned do—”
The front door shot open. Carson pushed through the screen door and stepped onto the porch, letting it slam closed behind him with a loud bang. “Have you lost your fuckin’ mind? You can’t just run up on someone’s house, beating on their door like a crazy person. This is Texas, man. You know we shoot people for that shit, right?”
