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“Zay,” Blake warns. “Alex has his own life now. He’s heading to uni in September, just like Evie.”
“I know,” he whispers.
“Let us get settled and you can come to visit. I’ve got a better X-box than the one here, and a bigger TV.”
That makes his eyes light up a little.
“And you’ve got Atlas coming to hang out, so you won’t even notice they’re gone,” Blakely says, trying to soften the blow.
“I guess,” he mutters.
With the tension suffocating us all, Blakely announces that it’s ice cream time and directs Zay deeper into the kitchen while Evie and I go upstairs to pack.
“I know we’re doing the right thing,” she says softly as she zips up her bag, “but I hate seeing him sad.”
“I know. But he needs this. To return to some kind of normal life.”
Her lips part to say something, but she second-guesses herself.
“What is it?”
“What about school? He can’t go back—”
“There’s time for those discussions. It’s almost summer; he can make up for whatever he misses.” Stepping up to her, I wrap my arms around her upper arms. “He’s got a place at Knight’s Ridge College, but the decision is between the three of you as to whether he takes it or not.”
“Alex,” she breathes. “How is that fair? You can’t offer up something so incredible, something that could change his life, and then ask us to discuss it and possibly turn it down.”
“Knight’s Ridge is an incredible school, Evie. But it’s not for everyone. Yes, it will open up avenues that Lovell Academy wouldn’t, but that’s not to say he won’t carve the same path for himself.”
“I know, I just—”
“Stop, Evie,” I beg. “Let all of this die down a little, and then you and Blakely can talk to him. Let him decide. He’s a smart kid. Trust him to make the right decision for him. If it’s Lovell, then you can bet your arse I’ll support him all the way too.”
“You’re an amazing brother,” she says, slowly sliding her hands up my chest and looping them around my neck.
“Dad reckons I’ll be a good father someday,” I blurt, unaware that those words were going to spill free.
“Oh yeah? You want that?”
“One day, yeah. You?”
“A month or so ago, I’d have said no. But now, yeah, I guess I do.”
I take her lips in a bruising kiss, my need to have her to myself all-consuming.
“Let’s get out of here,” she whispers into our kiss.
“You want to get me alone, Vixen?” I growl, unable to think about anything but getting her naked and remembering just how her body feels against mine.
“I do.”
“Then what the fuck are we waiting for?” I release her in a heartbeat and grab both of her bags, ignoring the pain that shoots up my arms.
“Alex, no,” she cries, trying to wrestle the bags off me.
“I’m taking my woman home. Now let’s go,” I demand, marching from the room.
“Stubborn prick,” she mutters behind me.
