AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He grimaced and muttered, “Sorry, Babcia.”
It was too much to take in, too much to wrap my head around. I stood.
Aithan caught my hand. “Where are you going?”
“To get ready for bed.”
Drew asked hesitantly, “Where are we sleeping, Brick?”
I looked from him to Aithan. “In here with me, of course.” I squeezed Aithan’s fingers, then let go, went around him, and got pajamas out of my dresser.
“Zelda.” He stood. “What’re you thinking?”
The dresser drawer thudded shut. “I think I’m too tired to think.” I headed for the bathroom, peed, and changed. While I brushed my teeth, Aithan appeared in the doorway. He leaned against the jamb and watched me, chin down, blue eyes seeing into my soul.
God, those eyes. Why did he have to have such beautiful eyes?
“I stopped dating after that conversation,” he said.
I rinsed and spat. “Why?”
“Because I needed to figure myself out. I needed to get my priorities straight.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah. I decided women weren’t one of them.” He wore pajama pants and a T-shirt. “I bought Blue Water and the business grew. Tobias and Juju married and had Amara, Scumwater took off. Everything was perfect. Then Juju died and it was so sudden. Tobias was a new dad and a widower, and I watched him suffer, and I decided I never wanted to go through something like that. Love wasn’t worth that kind of pain.” He pushed away from the doorway and came up behind me. “Then I met you.”
I turned. “Aithan, I—”
He silenced me with a kiss, then said, “You make me ashamed of the idiot boy I was. You challenge me to be a better man than I’ve ever been. That’s why I love you, Zelda.” He searched my face. “It’s why I need to know if what I told you, what I did tonight, changes us. So I can fix it.” He pulled me against him. “Because I now understand that loveisworth risking pain.”
I closed my eyes and held him. He made it impossible to stay mad. “Okay.” Raising my voice, I called, “Drew?”
“Yeah, babe?” He hadn’t moved from the chair.
“Can you come in here?”
He joined us as I eased out of Aithan’s arms and gently pushed him back.
The worry on Aithan’s face knifed me.
I reached for their hands. “I want you both to understand this. No one exists who hasn’t said and done stupid things. Including me. I’ll never hold your past against you. I won’t love you any less for making mistakes and being only human. And as long as you encourage me to be better and hold yourselves to the same standard, I’ll remain by your sides, even when you forget and do something incredibly dickish. Because that’s the best place to witness your bullshit and call you out on it.”
Relief replaced Aithan’s fear, and he lifted my fingers to his lips.
Drew nodded solemnly. He brushed his lips across mine. “You’re too good, Brick. That’s another reason why I love you.”
26
SIGNS OF TROUBLE
“How’s your head?”I asked Tobias as he wandered upstairs the next morning, dressed but looking bleary.
“It hates me.” He slumped in a chair at the dining table and eyed the orange juice, coffee, and ibuprofen I set before him.
“Those’ll help. Do you want food?”
His face screwed up. “Dunno. Do I?”
