Page 56 of Hard To Stay

His mouth hung open, then he snapped it shut. He placed his hands on his hips, still glaring at me. “Unbelievable.”

It had been an impulsive decision to invite Gage out tonight. I’d acted without considering the potential consequences. Even though I did it for the right reasons, it suddenly felt wrong.

“You wanted to see me, Lily?” Gage asked, causing us all to swing our gaze to her.

Lily looked nervous, like she was unprepared on how to handle this. She was chewing on her bottom lip so hard I was afraid she would draw blood. “I…” she started to talk, but Brad stalked up to Gage.

He approached him with a murderous look on his face, one that would have most men cowering down. Gage however, didn’t even flinch. “Stay away from my sister. I told you once, I will not tell you again.”

My stomach churned. This was my fault. “Brad, that’s not your decision to make.”

Brad’s angry stare flipped to me. “Excuse me?”

“Listen,” I softened my voice. “I know you’re only looking out for your sister, but you have to let her make her own decisions.”

Lily reached out and placed her hand on his arm. “I love you, but I need to talk to Gage in private. I promise I’ll be okay. I just need you to trust me.”

“Lily, he’s a manwhore. He’s only going to hurt you. Is that what you want?” He asked looking defeated.

Lily smiled at him trying to ease the tension in the room. “I’m just going to talk to him Brad, not run off and elope.”

“It’s your life, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

She gave him a kiss on the cheek and then walked off with Gage to have a conversation, which in my opinion was long overdue.

I slipped my arms around his middle and laid my head on his chest. “I love you and I’m so sorry that I upset you and went behind your back. I never would have arranged for them to meet tonight if I didn’t feel so strongly about it. She’s going to be okay.” I whispered, as his hand brushed along the back of my hair.

“I love you, too. Just don’t ever ambush me like that again, okay?”

I squeezed him as tight as I could. I didn’t ever want to let go. “I won’t. I promise.”

It had been over an hour and Lily and Gage still hadn’t come back from their ‘talk’ yet. Lucas and Sawyer were trying their best to keep Brad distracted, but you could see him growing more uncomfortable as the minutes ticked by.

I ran my hands over his back. “She’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

He sighed in frustration. “I’ll kill him if he hurts her.”

Brad looked away then something must have caught his attention because his face went pale. I moved my stare to where he was looking. He was focused on a group of people at the top of the stairs. They didn’t look familiar to me, so I had no idea who they were.

Brad slid off the bar stool like a man on a mission. “I’ll be right back.”

Lucas and Sawyer both turned their heads to see where he was going. I guess they’d noticed his strange behavior as well. Both men shared a glance and then shot me a reserved smile.

I squinted my eyes to get a better view. There was a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. As soon as Brad approached the people at the top of the stairs, the woman with long brown hair turned her head. I recognized the face from a picture I had found when I was cleaning the apartment one day. It was Emily.

“Lexi?” Faith called out getting my attention.

My chest burned, and it felt like someone had slapped me across the face. I couldn’t take my eyes off them no matter how much it hurt. Brad was exchanging words with the guy standing next to her and it didn’t look pleasant. I stood there and watched them, feeling my blood run cold. He just up and left me to go to her, of all people.

I straightened my shoulders and forced my voice to come out much stronger than I felt. “I’m leaving.”

Lucas was the first to speak up. “Lexi, let me take you. Brad would not want you leaving alone.”

“No thanks. I’m good.” I said, trying to hide the crack in my voice.

Lucas looked over at Sawyer for some kind of confirmation, then back to me. “Brad would not want you leaving this club without him.”

“Something tells me that Brad won’t even notice that I’m gone.”

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