Page 93 of Always Be Mine
The knife in his heart twisted a little deeper.
“Craig basically just told her that she wasjustthe nanny.”
“Not basically,” Chase chimed in. “He did say that.”
“Why would you say that?” Charli turned on him. “Craig? Why would you?—”
“Because she is!” He surprised himself by raising his voice. He never yelled. Ever. “Isn’t that what you all wanted? I needed to hire a nanny, so I did. And that’s what Lucy is. Thenanny.I hired her and lived with her and…”Held her at arm’s length…fought my feelings…sacrificed hers…“I did it for all of you. Because that’s what we do, right? We follow Dad’s orders from beyond the grave, no matter how fucked up they are and how much they hurt the ones we love in the process.”
“Love? You love her?” It was Chase who asked.
Craig looked at his eldest brother and inhaled through his nose. “It doesn’t matter now. Because I’ve fucked it up anyway. She’s going to leave before the six months are up, and it’s all because I failed.”
“How?” Charli put her hand on his shoulder. “How did you fail?”
“I chased her away. I tried so hard not to have feelings and then when I did, I was so sure it would be okay because I love her so much that there was no way it couldn’t be okay. I just needed to make it through the six months and then we…now, it’s too late. I fucked it up. I failed at trying to keep it all together. I thought I could have it all.”
“Why can’t you?”
He looked up to see Kat in the door of the kitchen.
“I assume we’re talking about Lucy and how you love her.”
“You know?”
Behind him, Asher burst out laughing, followed by the rest of them trying and failing to stifle their mirth.
“What is so funny?” He looked around the room, and finally landed his gaze on Symon, who was slightly more successful than his siblings in containing himself.
“We knew,” Symon said simply. “I mean, I’ve hardly even been around lately, and I could see how much you care about Lucy.”
“Love,” Charli corrected him.
“Sorry.” Symon gave a nod in his wife’s direction. “How much youloveher.”
“The question isn’t if you love her, Craig.” Kat walked toward him. “But I think what we’re all wondering here is why you tried so hard to hide it for so long.”
Craig’s blood pressure rose. This wasn’t happening. Everything he’d done had been to protectthem.And now they were standing here, givinghimshit for it?
No.
Craig shook his head and turned around.
“You had to know we’d understand, Craig. Why didn’t you talk to us?”
On a logical level, Craig knew Chase meant well. He knew his brother was just trying to defuse the situation. Hell, Craig knew he was trying tohelp.But it was the last straw.
“You’re kidding me, right?” He snapped his head up and glared at his brother. “You’re all seriously kidding me right now.” He swung his head around. “You have to be. Because there isnoway that you could stand here and tell me with a straight face that you would have understood that I was falling in love with the nanny I was forced to hire to save our fucking family.” No one spoke. “Because the only thing any of you said to me was how I needed to stay away from her. How I needed to keep it professional.” He used air quotes.
“You even told Lucy that it was a good thing we weren’t involved. What kind of shitty thing was that to say?” He glared at his eldest sister, who opened her mouth to speak. But Craig didn’t want to hear what Charli had to say. Not now. He held up his hand to stop her. “If you all saw this a mile away, then how come none of you stepped in? How come not one of you offered to help me figure out how I could be with the woman I loveandfollow through with my part of Dad’s will?” The room was silent. “You’re all a bunch of hypocrites.” He ran his hands through his hair and tugged on his roots.
“What happened here tonight, that’s on me. I was an asshole and an idiot, and I hurt the woman I love. The only woman I’ve ever loved.” Emotion threatened to overtake him, but he needed to keep control. At least until he got out of there and found Lucy. “That’s on me,” he said again. “And I’m going to fix it. I don’t know how, but I’m going to try.” He took a breath and straightened his shoulders. “But I think you all need to recognize the part you’ve played, too.” He looked to Charli and Chase. “You both know how hard this is. To have the entire future of our family on your shoulders.”
“You’re right, Craig.” Chase tried to step forward, but Craig warded him off with a shake of his head.
“We should have been there for you.” Tears streaked Charli’s cheeks. “You’re right, Craig. We weren’t?—”
“I don’t want to hear it.” He shook his head and turned to leave. “I need to get out of here.”
