Page 79 of Does He Know?

“Honestly, Rome, I can’t think of one person that I know that’s good enough for my baby sister. I hope that never happens, but if it does, we’ll have to navigate that land mine when we get there.”

My heart stalls in my chest, and I suck in a deep breath.

She’s going to lose her brother, and I can’t let that happen. I fucking knew this was how it would turn out. My biggest fear is our reality. I can’t ask her to pick me over her brother. She’s young and still has so much ahead of her. Graduation and starting her career. It’s going to hurt us both, but I can’t be the reason she loses her only blood family. I have two loving parents and a handful of extended relatives.

She has her brother.

I knew that I loved her. However, it’s not until this moment, knowing that I’m losing her, I realize how much.

I’ll never love anyone the way that I love Emerson Huntley.

I opted to sleep in the basement tonight. I use the term sleep loosely. It's 3:00 a.m. and I’m still wide awake. I rub my chest over my heart, trying to soothe the ache. It doesn’t help. I know nothing will take the pain away. How could it? I’m about to break the heart of the woman I love. Not because I don’t love her. I crave her. She’s in my blood, imprinted on my soul.

What is it that my father used to say? “The hard choice is usually the right choice.” I hate that logic, but I fear he might be right.

This is the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make. I’m going to break both of us. She won’t understand that I’m doing this for her, but I am. She needs him. She might think that what we have can convince him, but she didn’t hear him tonight. He’ll never approve of us.

It doesn’t matter that I love her so completely I don’t know who I am without her. It doesn’t matter that there isn’t a man on this earth who could love and cherish her the way that I could. All that matters is I’m not what he sees for her, and he’ll fight for her to get the life he thinks she needs.

He doesn’t seem to care that it might not be the life she wants.

The stairs creak, and I tense. I know it’s her.

A minute later, she’s sliding into bed next to me. I pull her close and breathe her in. My heart hurts. Am I having a heart attack? I’m only thirty, but this pain, it’s more than I can bear.

“You’re warm,” she mumbles, snuggling closer.

“You cold, baby girl?” I whisper. My voice is thick with what I’m about to do.

“Not with your arms around me.”

Fuck. I close my eyes and will myself to find the strength to do what I know needs to be done. It’s more than just breaking our hearts. She’s my best friend. I love the guys, and they will always be at the top of my list, but for me, my number one spot is Emerson. It will always be Emerson, and I don’t know how to move past that.

How do I give up my heart and my best friend?

I hold her for a long time. We’re both quiet, but neither of us is asleep. “I can feel the tension in your body,” she finally whispers.

“I talked to your brother earlier.”

“Yeah, it looked pretty intense. Monroe and I started to come back to the living room, but we decided whatever it was you were discussing needed to be aired.”

“He’s never going to accept this. Accept us.”

“He has to.”

“He won’t, Em. He told me he would never let you settle for this small town, and any man in it. He flat out told me he didn’t know a single man good enough for you.”

“That’s not his choice to make.”

“I told him that. He said you would never be with someone he didn’t approve of. Emerson, I can’t be the reason the two of you have a divide.”

“What does that mean for us?”

“You know what it means, baby girl.” My voice quivers, and I swallow hard, fighting back the emotions threatening to overtake me.

“When?”

“The longer we stay together, the harder it’s going to be.”

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