Chapter 6
DAHLIA
Nobody moves for what feels like an eternity, then everything happens at once.
Cole sets me on my feet and steps in front of me, not hiding but shielding. I clamp my arms over my chest because I’m naked from the waist up and I’m standing in my brother’s living room while he glares at both of us.
Jared drops his bag. He doesn’t look at me.
He’s locked on Cole, and the expression on his face is one I haven’t seen since he caught Tommy Devlin trying to look up my skirt in eighth grade.
Jared got suspended for punching him. He crosses the room in three strides and gets right in Cole’s face, chest to chest, a vein popping out on his forehead.
“That’s my little sister.” His voice is low and dangerous. “My little sister, Cole. You want to tell me why the fuck you had your hands on her?”
Cole doesn’t step back or flinch. “Jared...”
“No. You don’t get to Jared me right now.
” He shoves Cole’s chest, one hard push that barely moves him.
“I let you stay in my apartment. I trusted you. And I walk in and she’s on your lap with her—” He stops.
His nostrils flare, mouth pressed into a white line.
“She’s my sister. She is off-limits. She has always been off-limits. ”
“I’m right here, Jared.” I step around Cole. His arm comes out to block me, but I push past it. “Stop talking about me like I’m not in the room.”
Jared’s eyes snap to me and then away because I’m still covering my chest with my arms. Cole hands me his T-shirt from where it was hanging on the back of the couch. I turn around and yank it over my head, smiling as his scent envelops me.
“You weren’t supposed to be back yet,” I say.
“Yeah, well, surprise.” Jared’s voice is tight.
“Tony puked on a blackjack dealer. They kicked us out of the hotel, and I drove straight back.” He drags a hand over his face.
“Seeing my little sister half-naked on my best friend’s lap is something I need to bleach from my memory.
Last fucking thing I ever needed to see. ”
“I’m not your property, Jared. I’m a grown woman, and I get to decide who—”
“You got out of a relationship three days ago!”
“Because my boyfriend was cheating on me! For months!” My voice comes out louder than I intended, and I don’t pull it back.
“Everyone knew. Maybe every friend I had, and I don’t know who is still my friend besides Marisa.
I was the last person to find out, standing in a bathroom stall at his friend’s engagement party while two strangers gossiped about me like I was a punchline. ”
Jared’s face changes. He didn’t know that part.
“And the man you’re about to put through a wall is the one who showed up for me when I texted the wrong number in a panic.
He drove to a restaurant full of strangers because he got a text from someone in trouble.
He didn’t ask questions. He didn’t hesitate.
He walked in, found me, and took me to Marisa’s.
He helped me move out of Jason’s apartment.
He’s made me feel like a person again after two years of living with someone I thought I might marry, but who didn’t respect me enough to break up with me.
He cheated instead!” I’m shaking and yelling. I don’t care. “So back off.”
Jared stares at me, then at Cole. His fists are still clenched, but the look in his eyes softens. I know he’s still mad, but he’s also sad for me.
His gaze lands on the couch. Specifically, on Gerald. “What the fuck is that?”
“I took her to the fair,” Cole says.
Jared closes his eyes. Opens them. “You took my sister to the fair.”
“Yes.”
“Shooting gallery?”
“Twelve for twelve.” Cole smiles.
Jared pinches the bridge of his nose. “Showing off for my sister. Winning her a stuffed animal the size of a goddamn pony.”
Cole doesn’t blink. “Damn straight.”
The fight drains out of Jared’s face, replaced by something that damn sure better be acceptance. He looks at Cole for a long beat, then at me, before exhaling heavily and picking up his duffel bag.
“I’m not happy about walking in on my sister’s bra next to a stuffed bear in my living room. I want that on the record.”
“Noted,” Cole says.
“And you’re not fucking here.” Jared points at both of us. “Get a hotel room. I mean it. I don’t want to hear it or see it under my roof. I don’t want to think about it.”
“Jared—”
“I’m serious, Dahlia. I love you and I love him and I cannot be in this apartment while—” He holds up a hand. “No. Get a hotel room. That’s a rule. And take that goddamned stuffed animal with you.”
I laugh. Absurd, and exactly my brother. “Deal.”
He looks at Cole one more time and narrows his eyes. “You hurt her and I’ll kill you. That’s not a figure of speech.”
“I know,” Cole says. “I’d let you. But know this: this is me being in love with your sister. That’s not changing, so you better get used to it fast.”
Gerald is buckled into the middle seat of Cole’s truck because Cole insisted. I think I might actually be in love with a man who buckles in a stuffed bear. The highway hums under us, and Jared’s apartment shrinks in the side mirror.
My pulse is still kicking from what just happened. Not the confrontation, but what Cole said.
He told my brother This is me being in love with your sister.
He said it with a certainty that took my breath away.
And somehow it wasn’t a surprise. Because that’s what the last couple of days have felt like.
Being supported. Having someone care enough about how you’re doing to pay attention and then lift you up when you’re low.
Having someone genuinely compliment and admire you.
Fuck. Did I ever feel like that with Jason? I must have, but the hurt of him cheating has stopped me from remembering anything good about him.
I look at him. His mouth is a flat line, hands steady on the wheel, eyes locked on the road, and he’s back in that buttoned-up mode where everything is controlled and contained. I need to know if he meant it or if it was adrenaline and a shirtless standoff with my brother.
“Did you mean it?” My voice is quiet and I’m half-scared to ask the question. “What you told my brother.”
He glances at me and nods. “I don’t understand it. A few days. That’s all it’s been. But I love you more than I thought it was possible to love someone. I can’t make sense of it, and I’m not trying to. I just know I can’t imagine a day without you. An hour without you.”
My eyes burn. I press my lips together and stare at the dashboard because if I look at him right now, I’m going to cry, and the last thing I want to do is cry right now.
“No one’s made me laugh, real actual joy, in longer than I can remember.
” His voice is low and stripped bare, his words heavy between us.
“I came back from my last deployment, and the world went gray and stayed gray. Then you showed up in a pink dress, and my life was technicolor.” He shifts his grip on the wheel.
“I’m sure as hell not giving up the woman who makes me feel something other than broken. ”
The backs of my eyes sting, and my ribs feel too small for my heart.
He’s quiet for a beat. “I know you just went through hell with your ex. You don’t have to say it back. We’ll figure it out as we go. I’m certain, and I can wait. Whatever time you need, I’m not rushing you.”
I watch his profile, the way his hands grip the wheel like he’s holding himself to the road because everything else just tilted sideways. This man. My man.
“I’m certain too,” I say, my voice cracking. “This is different than anything I’ve ever felt. I don’t understand it either. But I don’t want to let go of you, Cole. I’m not letting go.”
He looks at me for half a second before his hand finds mine, and he squeezes once.
He releases my hand when the light turns, and I put my hand on his thigh.
“Dahlia.”
“Mm.”
“I’m going to need you to not do that if you want us to arrive alive.”
I smile and lift my hand because there are so many things I need to do with Cole, and he needs to be perfectly healthy and in one piece.
Cole checks in at the first hotel we see and we rush up to our room. “Now where were we?”