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My lungs seized, failing to push out enough air at the thought I might have to let her go. I may have not had her yet, but damned if I didn’t want her and had planned on working my ass off to deserve her.
But now…
I didn’t have time to keep wallowing because Braxton cut in.
“Gyth, man, give yourself a break. What we went through, you the most, was fucking hard, and you need to allow yourself time to heal. I’m sure Summer understands. She is one of the most caring people I know besides my wife.”
The frown on my face and the look of skepticism in my eyes must have fueled him to keep going.
“You will work through this. I’ve watched how you have been with her over the last couple of months, and there is no way you can walk away from this girl with how you feel. I know because I’ve been there.”
“You and Jurnee are different, and you don’t come with a load of issues and Summer has her own shit going on,” I replied, my voice coming out strangled.
“Yeah, we all can see something is happening with her, but she needs you. Summer may push and shove you away, but it has also been clear as day to the rest of us that she wants you with her just the same.” He raised his eyebrows at me to challenge his words and I couldn’t.
I’d known Summer was all over the place but had seen how she used me as a lifeline at times recently. If she hadn’t I would’ve backed off, but some of her actions showed she had needed me. It had made me believe that maybe we belong together.
Even as unlikely as the two of us as a couple would be.
Blowing out a load of air, I relaxed a fraction.
“And what about the nightmares?” I asked Braxton because I wanted his opinion.
“We have talked about this before and you said that they are a lot better, so I think you will work through it, and it would be up to Summer if she can handle doing that with you.”
What if she can’t?
Braxton was right though, maybe I should wait and see how Summer felt about it. She had helped me a lot, and she hadn’t acted weird about it the next day.
Not that there had been much time between her getting sick and then finding me the next morning with my junk dangling in the air. A wicked smile broke out across my face at the thought.
Shit, I am bad.
“What the hell is so funny?”
“I ain’t telling...or then I’d have to kill you.”
Changing the subject, I said, “Things have been better, I think it was the fireworks, yelling, and banging outside that triggered it, but I don’t have them all the time like I used to.”
“And that makes sense, so give yourself a break.”
“I know, dude, and I will, just trying to work through the events of the last weekend and what’s to come.”
I was thankful he didn’t ask what I meant about what was to come because I promised Summer I wouldn’t say anything right now. It was her story to tell.
Braxton's face held a huge amount of sympathy and his next words hit hard, but in the best way. “I’m here for you, we are family. All you ever have to do is ask and I’m there. You get me?”
God, I love this asshole like a brother.
“Don’t fucking try and get me all choked up, dickhead. You are the only family I have, and it means a lot. Now let’s leave it at that and maybe go a few rounds on the mats. I’m still full of adrenaline and need to work it out. What do you say?”
“You’re on, watch out, old man,” he joked.
“Shit, you’re as old as I am and I can take your ass any day of the week,” I fired back.
And that is how I worked out my frustrations, and the two of us ended up pounding on each other.
What are friends for, right?
