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“It’s not that simple for me, West. He hurt you, and he broke my trust.”
I shrugged. “I hurt you, and I broke your trust.”
He gritted his teeth. “It’s not the same, West.”
“How?” I heatedly demanded, getting angry. I vaguely heard Lincoln call my name, but I ignored him. “How the fuck is it different? You grew up with Lincoln. You’re his fucking family, Jessie. When you had no one, Lincoln was there for you, just as you’ve been there for him. And if me being here is going to cause a rift between you two,” I swallowed past the sudden lump in my throat, “I will leave,” I warned him. I refused to come between the two of them.
Jessie’s eyes widened in horror. Both men quickly moved so I was sandwiched between them, blocking my escape. “No, baby,” Jessie rasped. “You fucking leave, you’ll destroy us—both of us. Is that what you want?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Well, do you want me sitting here feeling guilty because I need you both so goddamn much that I can’t stand to see you two fighting?” Silence rang. “It fucking guts me to see that I’m the reason you two are fighting, the reason you two are walking on eggshells around each other.”
“I almost made him lose you,” Lincoln said quietly from behind me.
“But you didn’t!” I finally yelled. I pushed them both away from me. “You came back—you fixed this shit!” I pointed at Jessie. “I know you’re fucking hurt; I know he broke your trust in him, but goddammit, Jessie, he can’t fix the shit between you two if you don’t goddamn open up and let him!” I barked.
He opened his mouth to speak, but I put my hand up. “No!” I snapped. “I don’t want to hear a fucking word. I want you two to work on the shit between you. Because if I can put aside all of my hurt and pain to hold Lincoln as he fucking cried that day, if I can let him heal the parts of me he almost ruined, then you can fucking let him back in and let him rebuild everything he broke,” I snapped. I turned on my heel, not even hungry anymore. “I’m going to Meghan’s for the next couple of days.”
“What?!” both men shouted.
“I said I’m going to Meghan’s!” I shouted at them. “And no, do not even try to convince me to stay,” I sneered at them as I turned around. “I’ll come home when you two can prove to me that you’ve fixed this. I will not walk around on eggshells around you two. I’ve matured, and I’ve fucking healed so much in the past few months.” I drew in a deep breath, feeling that familiar blockage coming up. “Just don’t,” I told them before I moved upstairs, pulling my phone from my pocket.
Was I possibly handling this wrong? Yes. Was I being petty? Maybe. But they were best friends long before I ever came into the picture, and I would not be the one to destroy their friendship.
And I knew I meant so much to those two men that they would do whatever was needed to have me come home to them.
If they couldn’t get along, couldn’t live in a good, happy harmony together, then the three of us couldn’t be together. They may not be fucking each other, may not be calling each other boyfriend, but the three of us were in this together regardless.
A week had passed since that day in the hospital. It was time for them to work through this shit.
34
West
Meghan sat beside me on the couch, her green eyes locking on mine. “What happened?” she asked me.
I shrugged. “They’re on the outs,” I told her quietly.
“And you feel at fault, don’t you?” she asked, understanding washing through her tone. I only shrugged again. She sighed. “West, you’re not at fault here. As your men, they should have worked through this right after it happened so it wouldn’t affect you. Them refusing to do this is on them, not you.”
“It’s just…” I drew in a deep breath. “If they c-can’t work through this, then we can’t be t-together.” I clenched my jaw, hating that I was stuttering.
“Easy,” Meghan soothed. I drew in a deep breath and slowly released it. “They’ll work through this. You want to know how I know?” I raised my eyes to hers. She smiled at me. “They love you, West, and they don’t want to lose you.” She jumped up from the couch and moved to her stand of movies. “In the meantime, we’re going to binge on a bunch of junk food and watch really good romance movies.” She flashed a movie at me with a big grin on her face. “Beginning with Pretty Woman.”
“I’ve never seen it.”
