My face flushed. “I’m not going to develop feelings for my older brother’s best friend, even if he’s my mate. We’ve established that both men are assholes.”
“People fall in love with assholes all the time, Madison. Love defies assholeishness. Even on some occasions when it shouldn’t.”
“Is your bond with my brother one of those occasions?”
If she was allowed to bug me about Bo, I could annoy her about Artie.
Emily’s smile came back. “No. Artie was never like that with me. My last boyfriend was abusive. It took me longer than I wish it had to get away from him. He didn’t want to let me go when I finally did. Artie found out Chris was sending me threatening messages before he and I were anything more than friends. He tracked Chris down and convinced him to back off by claiming I was his mate. I was pissed for a few minutes, but when Chris really did leave me alone, I fell for Artie pretty quickly.”
“I wouldn’t have imagined him standing up for a woman. No offense.” I looked out the window. He had never stood up for me.
Hehadjust been a kid, though. Like I was. And Bo was right—standing up for me would’ve meant the skulk would want to kill him.
It wasn’t as simple as Artie just being a terrible brother. Even if there was no excuse for him choosing to be a dick to me for so long.
“None taken. If I were in your shoes, I’d probably hate him too.”
“I don’thatehim. I’m just…” I trailed off, shaking my head as my gaze lingered on the trees outside. “Sad, I guess. We were all each other had, and he preferred Bo. That’s a hard thing to wrap your head around when you’re a twelve-year-old girl who’s engaged to a man more than twice her age.”
Emily grimaced, but nodded. “And Bo was a dick to you too.”
“Yep.”
“If he’s in love with you, he’s got his work cut out for him.”
I snorted. “Drop it. He’s not in love with me, and he’s never going to be.”
“You never answered my question about if he was, though.”
“If Bo was in love with me, it would be obvious.”
“You think he’d tell you?”
“I don’t know. Probably not. I’d notice, though.”
“What would you notice?”
“He’d be obsessed with taking care of me. Most male shifters are like that. He’d want to feed me all the time, and he’d always make sure I had enough to eat.”
“Yeah, Artie does that with me. Bo doesn’t feed you?”
“He does, but it’s only because I can’t cook. I’ve tried to learn. Maybe now that I’m not engaged to the alpha I’ll be able to.”
She nodded. “Artie is super possessive when it comes to other people touching me. Bo would probably be the same if he was in love with you.”
“Yeah. And he let the skulk take me out of his cabin. He didn’t technically let them touch me, but I’m sure he would’ve tried harder to stop them from making me leave if he loved me.”
“Unless he thought it might lead to you getting hurt even worse.”
“I guess.”
“Or unless he hadn’t realized he was in love with you.”
I wrinkled my nose. “How could you be in love with someone without realizing it?”
“Love doesn’t always look like a romance movie. Sometimes it looks like intense friendship. Or hatred. Or obsession.”
“I guess itcould.”
