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“I know how hard it is. When Kenneth and I toldmymom, she hated us for a long time. For years. But she couldn't keep hating when she saw how happy we were together. She had to admit that we had something special.”
“I don’t want Mom to hate me for years.”
“Are you prepared to leave your step-uncle?”
“No. Never.”
“You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, but you must choose.”
* * *
“What are you going to do?” Tess says on speakerphone as I drive home, wringing my hands around the steering wheel, sweat coating every inch of me. It’s as if my body is ramping up for something, putting me in fight-or-flight, but I won’t fly. I won’t run. I have to fight for Miles and me.
“I can’t keep lying and running,” I say.
“Don’t do anything you’ll regret,” Tess murmurs.
“I won’t know if I regret it until it’s over. Mom and Noah will hate us, or they won’t.”
After saying goodbye to Tess, I drive the rest of the way, parking and quickly climbing from the car. I’m moving fast, determined to get this over with and end it. No, not end it. Make it so we can finally begin.
Miles, Noah, and Mom are sitting around the table in the garden. I pause in the kitchen, looking through the window as Miles says something, and Noah laughs, grinning at his little brother. I’m tempted to stay in here and let this continue. I don’t have to go out there and shatter everything, obliterate any good feelings, wreck the scene, and wreck my family. If I don’t do it now when I feel halfway ready, I never will.
“Hey, sweetness,” Mom says, turning in her chair as I approach.
Miles offers me a quick look but doesn’t let his gaze linger. I know why. It’s the same reason I can’t look at him for too long. I can’t study his thick arms, broad chest, taut muscles, and sexy silver hair. Every single part of him is a reason I have to do this.
“Are you okay?” Mom asks.
“Yes,” I say, “but I have to tell you something.”
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s fine.”
I take a breath. This could be the last moment Mom ever looks at me with that kindness in her eyes.
“Miles and I are in a relationship.”
CHAPTERTWENTY
Miles
I didn’t expect her to say that.
When she walked out wearing her kitchen-assistant uniform, my thoughts took their usual carnal path as I drank in her wild hair and curvaceous body. Then I saw her furrowed eyebrows, and I knew something was wrong.
Now the truth is out there. Noah turns and looks at me. I nod.
“It’s true?” he says.
“It’s true,” I reply.
“I d-don’t…” Elena trails off, shaking her head. “This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Can I sit down?” Layla asks.
Elena scowls. “You don’t have to ask that in your own home.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
