Chapter 25
Nick
When I got home, I threw my keys on the counter and went into the bathroom to shower. As I stood under the hot water, I thought about Claire. She looked beautiful but had sadness in her eyes. I was in love with her, and I wouldn’t deny it. It hurt not to see her every day, cuddle with her on the couch, and sleep beside her in bed, holding her tight in my arms. She said she had feelings for me, but I had difficulty believing it.
When I was in the shower, my phone went off. Wrapping a towel around my waist, I grabbed my phone and saw I had a text message from Christian.
“Hey, are you home?”
“Yeah. I’m here.”
“Want some company? Charleigh is out with the girls.”
“Sure. Come on over.”
“Great. I’ll see you in ten minutes.”
I threw on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, dried my hair, and heard a knock at the door. When I opened it, my brows furrowed when I saw Sam, Stefan, Sebastian, Simon, Shaun, and Christian standing there.
“Hey, you guys.”
“I hope you don’t mind. I brought my cousins with me.” Christian smiled.
“And we brought the beer.” Simon grinned as he and Sam held up two six packs.
“Come on in,” I said.
Simon and Sam set the beer on the counter. We all grabbed a bottle and went into the living room.
“So, what’s up?” I asked.
“We need to have a little chat about our sister,” Simon said.
I let out a long sigh before tipping the bottle to my lips.
“Listen, Nick. We like you,” Simon said. “You’re good friends with Christian, and that makes you a part of our family.”
“We think you’re a great guy,” Sam said.
“I appreciate it, but I don’t want to talk about Claire.”
“Too bad,” Simon said. “We’re going to talk about her because Shaun and I had to go pick her up at the brewhouse.”
“Why?” My brows furrowed.
“Because she was drunk off her ass,” Stefan said.
“She turned to alcohol to escape the pain of your conversation today,” Simon said. “I know I haven’t known her very long, but she is our sister, our blood, and we don’t like seeing her like that.”
“Simon—”
“Don’t interrupt, bro. I’m not finished. Yeah, she didn’t tell you who she was. Everyone makes mistakes. Hell, we’ve made more mistakes than we like to admit. You need to understand what kind of head space she was in at the time. Her mother had passed away; she’d just found out who her biological father was, found us, packed up her life, and moved here. I admit that she probably didn’t handle the situation the right way. She dove head-first into the unknown. And in the midst of all that, she met you.”
“She used me to get to you guys,” I said.
“Nah, I don’t think so,” Simon said.
“Listen, Nick,” Shaun said. “I’m not going to lie. I sort of used Jenni to get to my brothers.”
“Sort of, bro?” Sam smirked.
“Shut up. The point is that was my intention. But when I met her, I fell in love with her. I mean, how couldn’t I? She’s an amazing and beautiful woman. The guilt I felt every single day keeping that secret from her nearly destroyed me, but it didn’t. You know what did? Her finding out and hating me for it. Finding out you have siblings you never knew about isnt easy. And it’s not something as simple as knocking on one of their doors and announcing who you are. Christian knows how it feels, and so does Carter.”
“Excuse me?” Simon cocked his head at Shaun. “Can I finish?”
“Sure, go ahead, bro.”
“Your ex cheated on you. You found out on your wedding day. That must have been an awful situation, and I can’t even imagine. You have trust issues. So did all of us. If Claire used you to get to us, do you think she’d be broken up like she is? People only get wasted like that when they’re hurting. Would she come to you and ask you for a second chance if she used you? No. She wouldn’t care, Nick. But she does. She cares about you a lot. Right now, she’s lying in bed, sleeping off the alcohol because of you.”
“We wouldn’t be here lecturing you if we didn’t see for ourselves the connection the two of you have,” Sam said.
“The last thing I wanted when I moved here was to get into a relationship with another woman,” I said.
“And you think I wanted to get into a relationship?” Sam asked. “I wanted nothing to do with relationships at all. Then I met Julia, and she changed everything for me. The same goes for all of my brothers and cousins. We’ve all learned that the best things happen to you when you aren’t even looking. Sebastian, you’ve been awfully quiet. Don’t you have anything to add?”
“Stop being a fucking douchebag, Nick.” Sebastian stared at me.
“Excuse me? How am I being a douchebag?”
“You’re letting the wrong feelings and emotions win. You’re hurt and angry because she didn’t share something so personal to her. One, you’re close with Christian. Two, you most likely would have pressured her to tell us when she wasn’t ready. And three, you never gave her the chance to really explain. You were so hurt that you found out from Christian, instead of the woman you were falling in love with, that you took that anger and rolled with it. You let the hurt consume you instead of calmly sitting down and letting her explain. You’re in love with our sister, Nick. You have our blessing. We love you too, and if we had to choose any man to be with her, it would be you, hands down. You’re a great guy, and only one woman on this earth is lucky enough to have you in her life. And you know who that woman is.” He pointed at me. “It isn’t your ex. It isn’t some random chick, and it isn’t the girl down the street.”
“What girl down the street?” Christian furrowed his brows.
“I’m giving examples,” Sebastian said. “That woman is Claire. You’re broken, she’s broken. Fuck, we’re all broken over this because this is what we do. When a family member is hurting, we make it our business to make things better. You’re a part of our family. Give Claire another chance. There isn’t one of us in this room who would be where we are today if we weren’t given second chances.”
“Yeah. What he said.” Stefan smiled.
“Damn, bro.” Simon stared at Sebastian. “That was good.” He held up his beer bottle to him.
“Thanks, my brother.” Sebastian tapped his against it.
“Are you in love with her?” Simon asked as he stared at me.
I looked down at the beer bottle I was holding. “I do love her.”
“That’s all that matters.” Simon stood up. “I think our work here is done.”
I looked up at him, and he winked.
“Thanks for coming over.” I stood up and walked them to the door.