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“Because guys suck, Hunter,” I pointed out.
“We’re guys,” he deadpanned.
“Yeah, and we’ve sucked plenty in the past,” I bit out. “Yeah, we’re not assholes now, but we’ve done some assholish things in our pasts.”
“Okay, that’s a fair point,” he replied evenly. “Still, we were young and dumb.”
“We still are,” I huffed.
“We are not,” Hunter argued. “You’re just trying to find a way to win this debate, so that you can go back to driving Edie crazy.”
“Am not,” I denied like a petulant child.
“Are to,” he automatically replied.
“Okay, so let’s say that she’s wise enough not to get pregnant, despite her lack of experience,” I granted graciously. “What if one of these assholes breaks her heart? What then?”
My brother’s momentary silence was a huge victory for me. “Uhm…”
“Exactly,” I pressed on. “You’re not the ones that will have to deal with a heartbroken Edie. Yeah, Talon will make the trip back home to kill the guy, but he’s not the one that’s going to have to see her upset every day until she gets over the sonofabitch.”
After a heartbeat of silence, Hunter said, “Well, since she’s smart enough not to get herself pregnant, then she’s smart enough not to fall in love with some guy. I mean, she knows that the plan is for her to go to college, right? Not all girls fall in love with their first boyfriends.”
Tired of pacing, I finally sat down on the edge of my bed. “I still can’t believe that Talon’s okay with Edie dating,” I grumbled.
“I don’t think that it’s a case of him being okay with it, Lars,” Hunter replied. “I think she just made some good points, and Talon’s seeing the writing on the wall. She’s no longer the little girl that we walked to kindergarten.”
See, and that was the problem.
The more that the topic of Edie dating came up, the more I started seeing her in a different light. She’d always been Talon’s little sister to me, a friend, and…and a girl that had just been a part of us. She’d always been so busy with all of her extracurricular activities that she hadn’t really been underfoot a lot.
However, things were different now.
The more that Edie argued with me about wanting to date, the more I started seeing her as a girl with all kinds of guys after her, and not Talon’s little sister anymore. The more that guys talked about how hot she was, the more that I noticed the truth of it. The more that guys eyed Edie as she walked down the hallways, the more I found my gaze following her, too.
I shook my head. The last thing that I needed in this world was to be attracted to Edie Draven. It’d be the height of disloyalty to develop feelings for Talon’s little sister. Talon was my brother every bit as much as Hunter was, and I couldn’t count how many times Talon had been there for me when I’d needed him. Our friendship was solid, and I’d cut off my own arm before ever doing anything to jeopardize that.
Nevertheless, these weird feelings were beginning to develop where Edie was concerned, and I needed to work them out before shit became really confusing. Even without Talon in the picture, I valued Edie’s friendship, too. Our friendship had started out at the same time that my friendship with Talon had started, so I needed to figure this shit out, and fast.
“Look, I think you need to be her friend in this, instead of her adversary,” Hunter suggested.
“What do you mean?”
“If you keep pissing her off, then she’s not going to tell you anything about her dates, Lars,” he pointed out. “The last thing that she’s going to want to hear from you is the dreaded ‘I told you so’. She won’t appreciate your smugness making things worse for her.”
“I’d never-”
“However, if you tone it down a bit and give her some space, then she’ll feel safe coming to you if someone tries to pull a move on her,” he went on, cutting me off. “Don’t alienate her, Lars. If you do, then she’ll definitely choose to maneuver this on her own.”
Fuck.
He had a good point.
“So, what in the fuck am I supposed to do?” I bit out through clenched teeth. “Be all smiles in her face, pretending like I’m onboard with this bullshit?”
“Yes,” he answered easily. “That’s exactly what you do. However, behind her back, make sure that every guy at Lakeside understands exactly what will happen to them if they think of screwing Edie over.”
“Okay,” I grumbled. “I can do that.” I ran a hand through my hair. “I can do that.”
