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“I know-”
“Stop,” he ordered. “I need you to listen to me, or I swear to God, I’ll tell Lars to double his efforts.”
That shut me up.
“Okay.”
“I don’t give a fuck if the guy is Prince Charming himself, Edie,” he went on. “College isnotnegotiable. You have my permission to fall in love and even plan your wedding if that’s what’s happening. However, you are not giving up college for some swinging dick that you’ve fallen for.”
“C’mon, give me a little bit more credit than that, Tal,” I muttered.
“I do,” he replied, though it was hard to believe him. “I also know that he will follow you if he’s the right guy for you, Edie. He will not insist on putting his dreams before yours.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” I argued. “What does that say about my love if I insist on puttingmydreams beforehis?”
“Edie, I’m going to tell you something, and it’s going to be the most realest thing that I will ever tell you,” he said seriously.
“Okay, what?”
“If a guyreallyloves you, if you arereallythe girl for him, then he will always love you more than you’ll ever love him,” my brother said. “Your dreams will always matter to him more than his own. Your happiness will always come before his. In fact, he won’t beableto be happy if you’re not.”
I thought about that, and seeing Talon’s behavior towards Kenzlee, it was hard not to believe him. Even though I’d grown up in a household with no father, I’d seen plenty of Lars’ parents over the years, and I’d never seen Mr. Finley ever treat Mrs. Finley rudely.
“That seems kind of extreme,” I muttered, unsure how I felt about his statements.
“It might be,” he agreed. “Nevertheless, that’s the way of it, Edie. So, if a guy starts to encourage you to shift your focus from what you have going on to what’s important to him, then he’s a fucking asshole and doesn’t really care about you.”
“That simple, huh?”
“Not even close,” he replied on another sigh. “Relationships are never simple, Edie. That’s something else that you should probably know.”
“I just want to go to the movies with someone, Talon,” I grumbled. “That’s all.”
“I know,” he said softly.
“WithoutLars Finley killing them for it,” I added, afraid that I was going to be single forever.
~
Lars~
“Can you believe that shit? I mean, seriously. I mean, what the fuck, Hunter?” I was pacing my room, irritated beyond shit that Edie had gone through with her threat to call Talon. “Since when is Talon okay with Edie dating?”
“He’s got a good point,” Hunter replied carefully. “It’s better that she gets some experience now while you’re around to look after her. Edie needs to know what to look for before she heads to college.”
I hated that Talon and Hunter were sounding so reasonable about Edie dating. I hated that they were okay with one of these assholes trying to get at her. I hated how everyone seemed so onboard with Edie finally dating, and that I was the only jerk in this scenario.
“None of the guys here deserve her,” I reminded him. “Waiting until Talon left is a coward’s move, and Edie deserves better.”
“Lars, you’re acting like she’s going to marry the first guy that takes her to dinner,” he sighed. “Plus, you’re forgetting one thing.”
“Yeah, what’s that?” I scoffed.
“Edie Draven was raised by Talon Draven, Lars,” he reminded me. “Edie isnotnaïve or stupid. She’s a smart girl, and she is not going to throw her entire future away for some guy.”
“You say that like guys can’t be manipulating as fuck,” I shot back. “What if she gets pregnant?”
Hunter was silent for a second before asking, “How did we go from taking the girl to dinner to getting her pregnant?”
