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“I…I mean, yeah, but hell.Trickasked Lucy to marry him too. And if there’d been any other available guy left in the family, I bet they would’ve asked her too, out of obligation, you know. And duty.”
“Exactly.” Pick nodded his head slowly. “Obligation and duty. Except Trick only asked her because he knew she’d turn him down. And it would’ve been the same with any of the others. But not you.Youasked her, determined to make her say yes. Didn’t you? Because it felt like yourduty.”
“Because I thought she needed help,” I cried desperately. “I didn’t realize Vaughn was already in the picture, more than willing to play parent number two.”
Pick pointed at me, smirking proudly. “But you were there to help, anyway,” he insisted, “thinking Lucy Olivia needed it. So why can’t you be there for Chloe? To helpher. Right now. In the same way.”
I shook my head, utterly confused. “Because Chloe doesn’t need anything the way Luce did. She’s not raising a kid alone. She’s going through a little trauma, sure, but before long, she’s going to get past that and be just fine again.”
“No… She’s not,” Pick insisted. “Becauseyou’rethe one she wants.”
I lifted a finger, once again lost. “Uh…what?”
“You heard me right,” he said. “She’s been in love with you since she was fourteen, and she’s been looking for you in every guy she’s ever dated, hoping to get over you and finally fall for someone else. But it hasn’t happened. It’s notgoingto happen. There is only one you. And I’m done watching her heart break time after time again when the man she really wants is right fucking here, available and already suitable enough to be everything she needs. I mean, Jesus, Luke. I’ve sat back foryears, saying nothing in the hopes that you’d finally wake up and pull your head out of your ass already. But I’m done waiting. And now I’msayingit…” Lifting his arms to encompass the room, he finished his speech with, “Give my little girl what her heart wants most.Please. Give her…you.”
When he was done talking, he slowly lowered his hand to the top of his desk, and lifted his eyebrows expectantly, awaiting my response.
Except, for the longest moment, I simply stared at him, slack-jawed.
“Dude,” I finally said. “I think this whole situation has knocked a few screws loose in your hamster cage because seriously… I’m thelastthing your little girl wants. Chloe…detestsme.” I rolled my hand encouragingly, trying to get him to see reason. “Sure, she lets me stay over because she knows she can trust me, but Jesus. We bicker constantly. I can’t remember the last time we had a normal conversation without breaking into a fight. Hell, maybe weneverhave. So I’m sorry, but you’re wrong. You’re just…wrong.”
I mean, hehadto be wrong.
“No,” was all he said back. “I’m not. I might agree that she’s been pissed at you for the last decade or more because you never reciprocated her feelings or noticed her the way she wanted you to; she lost hope that there could ever be anything between you. She truly, honestly believes you could never feel the same way about her that she does about you—the way sheneedsyou to—but all that fire and passion and rage you get from her… It’s not hate.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I blurted, pushing my way to my feet to gape down at him. “I mean, this is absolutely fucking ridiculous. She doestoohate me, and she tells me so. Frequently.”
“Then why are you the one who stays with her every night? Why are you the only person who can touch her without making her flinch? Why are you thesingularsoul in the whole goddamn family she can be totally honest with and tell when she’s not fine?”
“I…” I shook my head, stumped.
“Because I still can’t go in for a hug without making her jump first. Neither can Eva. Or any of her siblings. Only you. It’s only ever been you.”
The breath left my lungs in a rush. I hadn’t realized everyone else still made her flinch or that she put on a brave,I’m okayface for them.
But that didn’t mean…
It couldn’t.
I shook my head, refusing to believe that what he said was true.
“B-because I’m the one who found her,” I finally bumbled out. “Isawwhat she went through, and it’s… It affected me too. We have shared trauma from it. That’s all.” I shook my head stupidly, unable to allow any other explanation into my head.
Because any other explanation felt too big. And terrifying. And too secretly thrilling to hope was true.
Pick sent me a sad smile. “That’s not even close to being all, kid. Why do you think I hired you here in the first place all those years ago and took you under my wing, teaching you everything there was to know about this nightclub?”
“Uh… Because you…likedme?” I answered, making it sound more like a question since I was suddenly unsure of the answer.
“Idolike you,” Pick assured, nodding solemnly. “Dumbass that you can be, I like you a lot. But half a dozen of you kids tended bar here for a short time, and I didn’t giveanyof the others the same responsibilities and consideration that I gave you. I didn’tguidethem the way I did you.”
“Because none of the others got into the nightclub life the way I did,” I insisted, frowning.
“And thank God for that,” Pick said, nodding. “Because you’re the only one I can picture handing Forbidden over to someday.”
My lips parted. All oxygen vacated my lungs. “Saywhat, now?”
Pick hissed out a sigh. “None of my own kids are interested in running this place,” he told me quietly. When I cast him a sharp, surprised glance, he lifted his hands. “I’m just saying; it’d sure as hell look better and not like I was playing favorites if I could pass this place on to myson-in-lawafter I retired and not just one of the many kids of one of my many friends.”
