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I couldn’t doit anymore.
For so long I had let Alley have her way because I loved her more than I had ever known was humanly possible to love another soul. I also knew how bad she was hurting and the sorrow she felt deep. But those times were over. And she wasn’t the only one that had been torn apart and grievous over everything that happened.
It was time the stubborn woman listened to me—once and for all.
But for the rest of the evening, I had let it be because I’d already caused a huge scene clearly upsetting her, which didn’t feel good to me. The last thing in the world I ever meant to do was hurt her. Not then or in the future. So I let her simmer and try to enjoy the rest of the evening with her family and friends.
If those were not reasons enough, then the semi-murderous look in Braxton's eyes when he followed Alley and the girls out the back door, his gaze immediately finding mine letting me know I was on thin ice, was another indicator that I needed to let it go right then.
Looks like big brother just caught wind of the depths to which Alley and my relationship really went.
Braxton had been a close friend for a long time, so I felt bad about keeping secrets from him. But Alley had asked me to, and I would do anything for that woman even if it possibly meant losing my friendship with her brother. I knew what I was getting into and it was worth every moment I had gotten to spend with Alley. I would never in a million years feel guilty about loving her.
She may not know it or believe it, but she was meant to be loved like nobody else.
“Wow, you sure know how to stir the pot, Big Brother.”
Turning toward the sound of my sister's voice as she approached from behind me, a sheepish look covered my face, as I replied. It was her night and not the right time to have gone all caveman, but when I heard Alley say someone was harassing her, I’d lost it. With no thought, instinct had kicked in and before I knew it, she was over my shoulder and I was marching out of the backyard, my emotions taking over.
“I’m sorry, I should have waited and handled that better, but—” My words died on my tongue when another voice joined the mix.
“You should have handled a lot of things differently, but it seems you’ve been fucking that up for years,” Braxton stated in a menacing tone.
Before I could answer him, the love of my life was up in her brother’s business.
“What did I just tell you inside?” she asked him, but then kept right on going before he could respond. “I told you to let me handle it, but you had to come out here and go all older brother, crazy, and not listen to a word I said.”
She threw out her world-famous Alley attitude, with her hands planted on her voluptuous, curvy hips, the ones I used to rest my hands on when we… Shit I don’t need to go there right now, what is wrong with me?
I’m not sure what I missed when I had started daydreaming, but Braxton was looking at me, not his sister. “I asked you why you felt the need not to come to me man-to-man and tell me something was going on with my baby sister?”
The thing was, Alley wasn’t a baby when I finally laid my hands on her sexy body because I couldn’t control the desire I had for her anymore. And she wasn’t a baby when I had fallen in love with her either.
Truth was, I had always loved Alley.
First, like a little sister when she hung out at our house with Summer. Then, as our friendship blossomed even with Alley being younger than me, she had become my friend, just like her brother. And although with the age difference people may think that it was weird, she was very wise and mature for her age. Our conversations were so much different than I had with anyone else.
Alley understood me, she encouraged me and was always there for me.
But somewhere through the years, the bond we shared had changed into something more. When Alley turned eighteen, she wasn’t just a wise, young girl anymore. She had grown into a remarkably smart woman. Along with that, I had never met anyone that possessed the beauty she did inside and out.
And by the time she turned twenty, there was no denying the feelings I had for her as a man would a woman whom they wanted to cherish in their bed and out. I wanted to give Alley everything and I had fallen in love.
I was one lucky bastard too.
Because she’d felt the same way.
Then I lost her, and my life hadn’t been the same since.
Lost in my head once more, I hadn’t answered Braxton again, but Alley beat me to it. I wasn’t about to tell Braxton that his sister had asked me not to say a word to him because those two were thick as thieves and I didn’t want him upset with her. Her reason for not telling him, for her, felt like she was protecting him. And I honored her wish. But it seemed I didn’t need to say a word because Alley had told him herself.
“It wasn’t his fault,” she said loudly, that fire in her flaring to life again when she got mad.
Or protective. That was another amazing quality about her. She protected those she cares about.
Wait, does that mean she still cares about me?
“I told him not to tell you and I had my reasons. But we are not talking about this anymore right now. I told you it was Summer’s night.”
