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Micah hangs up and dials again. “I need a team to go to my parents’ and stand guard. My kids go nowhere. I don’t know who is fucking with us, so we trust no one.”
“I don’t understand what is happening,” Sienna says once he’s hung up.
“I don’t know yet,” Micah says, lifting her chin and kissing her softly. “But we’ll figure it out.”
Sienna nods and then turns her attention on me. “She wouldn’t have left if you hadn’t upset her. What did you say to her?”
“Hellcat,” Micah begins, but I shake my head because she’s not wrong.
“No, she’s right. I fucked up, and if something’s happened to her or the baby...” I choke out, the reality of the situation hitting me like a tidal wave.
I did this.
I was so focused on right and wrong, on what my family would think, I kept her at arm’s length instead of embracing my feelings for her. I knew the moment I found out she was the woman from the club, I wanted her, but I was stuck on the fact that she was also the sameteenage girlwho once had a crush on me.
“What happened?” Sienna asks.
“I’m falling in love with her,” I admit out loud for the first time.
“You’re what?” Micah barks. “I told you that Ellie is off-limits.”
“No, she’s not,” I argue, done with those fucking words. “TeenageEllie was off-limits, but twenty-two-year-old Ellie is a consenting adult.”
“We agreed,” Micah seethes.
“We didn’t agree to shit,” I counter.
“She’s still a fucking kid!” he shouts.
“She’ll always feel that way to you,” Sienna says, “because you see her as a little sister. The girl who grew up under your roof. You helped raise and protect her. But she’s not a kid. She hasn’t been for a long time.”
“She’s fourteen years younger than him!” Micah barks.
“So what?” Sienna argues. “I’m eight years younger than you. Who cares as long as my sister is happy? He didn’t go after her when she was fourteen. You were there, and you know damn well Lincoln never crossed any boundaries. Don’t turn this into something sleazy when it’s not. Ellie was twenty-one and a consenting adult when Lincoln saw her as anything more. She’s the one who made the choice to seek him out. And can you blame her? Your brother is one of the best men I know, besides you.”
Her words cause a lump of emotion to settle in my throat, and I have to force it down in order to speak. “I tried to stay away from her,” I tell Micah. “After I found out she was my mystery woman, despite knowing how attracted I was to her, I tried to stay away. But then I spent time with her...And fuck, bro, chemistry aside, how could anyone not fall in love with her? I love her being in my home, occupying my space. I’ve never been inclined to converse with a woman, but when I’m with her, I don’t want the conversation to end.”
My thoughts go to her calling me out on my shit when I fucked her on the desk after thinking she was on a date. Doing yoga in the living room. Lying out by the pool. The way shereads about her pregnancy and focuses on our baby all the time. She wants so badly to be a good mom...To be nothing like her own. She’s constantly rubbing her belly and talking to him, so completely in love with our son already. What she doesn’t get is that she’s already a better mom than the woman who gave birth to her.
Visions of our future flash in front of me: Late nights in bed, talking, making love. Family trips. Sharing a home, creating memories. Ellie in a white dress, walking down the aisle toward me. Pregnant with more of my babies...
Fuck, they have to be okay.
“You really are falling for her,” Sienna says with a watery smile.
“And you’re really okay with that?” Micah asks.
“I am,” she says, “because my fully-capable sister deserves to fall in love, to be cared for and cherished. Falling in love with you was the best thing to ever happen to me”—fresh tears fill her lids—”and if Lincoln can love her the way you love me, why would I not support them? If he’s capable of being the hands-on dad you are to our girls, of creating the kind of life with Ellie that we share...Why wouldn’t I want that for my sister? Who cares if he's older, if he’s your brother? My sister deserves to be fucking happy.” Tears skate down her cheeks, and Micah swipes them away.
“If you hurt her...” Sienna says to me.
“If she gives me another chance after today, I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she’s never fucking hurt again. Everything you said...I want that with her.” I glance at Micah. “I don’t need your permission or approval, but as my brother, as my best friend, I’d really like your blessing.”
It takes him a minute of staring me down before he nods once. “Then you have it. Just don’t fuck it up, because you might be my brother, but I’ll kill any motherfucker who hurts Ellie.”
“Good, then we’re on the same page,” I tell him. “Because I plan to do the same...Starting with whoever is responsible for putting her in this fucking hospital.”
Concussion.
