I scoff. “Are you kidding? You were two grades above me, and best friends with all my brothers. I had to keep my feelings quiet, or I’d never be let anywhere near you.”
He nods. “That’s true.”
“Why didn’tyousay anything?” I ask.
He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear, and my cheeks warm. “Because I watched them chase off every guy. Helped them even. I thought for sure that if I ever made a move, they’d chase me off too.”
“Good thing I took care of them.” I smile up at him. Speaking of, my brothers still don’t know it was all a joke. I should probably tell them.
“I always knew you had it in you,” he whispers.
His tongue grazes across his bottom lip, and I follow its course. His head drops toward my own. I close my eyes, aching to feel his lips on mine again. I’ve always been so scared to kiss someone. Scared that I would mess it up somehow, but this is Grant. He’s never scared me.
His lips touch mine. So soft I shouldn’t feel anything, but I do. My heart races, and my pulse throbs. I don’t have to think. I don’t have to try. My lips react to him in the way they were always meant to.
He pulls back. “I’m sorry.”
I blink, trying to clear the fog in my brain. “W-what?”
He shakes his head and backs away. “I’m sorry for bringing you into my crap. You’d be better off with someone else. Someone like Noa.”
“Why?”
He looks up like my question confuses him. “Why what?”
“Why would you think I would ever be better off without you?”
He sniffs and looks back at the hospital. “Were you not in that room? I’ve got nothing to offer you except a broken family, and a family trait of addiction.”
My heart shatters into a millions pieces. “Do you really think that?”
He doesn’t look at me, so I grab his face between my hands and pull his attention to me. “Nothing in there matters to me as much as the man in front of me. You are not your father and you never will be. I know you haven’t been told this a lot in your lifetime, but there are people who love you, regardless of where you come from. I love you.”
I freeze.Did I just say that?
I’m about to ask him to ignore that last part, but no. I want him to know. Even if he doesn’t want me at the end of whatever this is, I want him to know that he is worthy of being loved.
“Lennox,” his voice is rough and his eyes search mine for sincerity.
I drop my hands. “I just want you to know that you’re never alone.”
I turn and unlock my car, hoping he’ll stop me. But he doesn’t move. I back out of the parking lot, and he’s still in the same spot.
I’ve waited for him for years. I can wait a little longer. Unless he doesn’t feel the same way.
Then I just ruined everything.
Chapter 23
Lennox
I yawn as I open the front door of the house. It’s almost eleven and my brothers are still here.
The rest of the employees are gone, but my brothers are helping mom clean up the house. The tables have been taken down, but the giant ice tree is still sitting in the back corner, slowly melting away. It’s like watching the grinch “slowly” steal Christmas.
Sean is scrubbing floors, and Trent is cleaning tables, and Michael is doing the dishes. I feel like a kid again, when mom would make them pay for their consequences after misbehaving.
I smile. Then remind myself I’m supposed to be sad about my breakup with Noa.
