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He gently shook his head. “Nah, I’m good. I respect Carter too much to have his girl serving me in his absence. I probably shouldn’t be here at all.”
“Then why are you?”
She felt him tracking her movements and glanced his way, waiting until he confessed, “He’s my family.”
McKenna understood the depth in the simplicity of that statement.
He trusts you, I need to be sure he should.
“Do you date?”
Brooks grinned. “I wouldn’t call what I do dating.”
“Right, then maybe you can’t understand.”
“Understand what?”
“I want to be with Carter. I can’t say it all makes sense, how this will work, but I want to be with him.”
“There’s that uncertainty again.”
“I’m going to be with him.”
Brooks lifted his chin in acknowledgment. “I fuck with that and just because I don’t date doesn’t mean I don’t understand. Nobody wants to be alone, Kenni.”
She wanted to argue about him calling her Kenni but understood he was doing it to rattle her, like an annoying little brother. In a sense she supposed that was what he was to Carter, and now to her.
“How old are you?”
“Why?”
“Just curious.”
“Twenty-four.”
Yep, annoying little brother.
“And you don’t want to be alone?” she asked, grabbing a bottle of water from the refrigerator and rejoining him. She kicked off her shoes and curled her legs beneath her, filling the opposite end of the sofa, peering his way as she drank.
“For the rest of my life, no. But I’m cool with how things are now. No attachments mean I get to move around without added stress. No responsibility for anyone but myself.”
“But you want to be with someone, one day.”
“Yeah, which is why I understand Carter’s need to fit you into his life.”
“Fit me into his life.”
“Make room for you, accept you, fit you. All of the above present the same argument. Who he is and who I am requires solidarity. It’s not a life where you function with meaningful connections. He is fitting you in, Kenni. He cares about you. That’s not good or bad, it just is. You can’t be in your feelings about how it happens. Focus on it happening. And don’t stress him the fuck out by trying to make him justify how things between you will work so you feel better about it.”
She narrowed her eyes, prepared to argue but then smiled slowly. “You’re so much like him it’s almost scary.”
“It should be scary.” He lifted a hand and emulated a gun and her eyes narrowed more.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know but you’re easy to fuck with. I am a lot like him and that’s because he’s the best person I know. I want to be half of the man he is in all aspects of my life.” His eyes met hers before he winked and lifted from the sofa. “Carter is good people. Be for him what I know he’s gonna be for you and you don’t have to worry about how you got here. Your only concern will be that you belong here.”
“Thank you.”
