Page 176 of Defend Me

“Yup. That’s what happens when you love someone.”

“Shit, Tilian is still in there. I have to go.”

He grabbed my wrist when I stood up. “I’m gonna finish breakfast with you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re sort of a useless lump when it comes to your mom and Tilian might piss himself.”

I frowned. “Be blunt, Kai.”

“Do you want her to find a way to fuck him up too? No, you don’t. So, I’m gonna sit my ass down, eat a bunch of food on her dime, and give you time to figure out how much your boyfriend is worth to you. Because if you don’t do something, you’ll lose him in one way or another. Hopefully, he’s not broken when it happens.”

He started toward the restaurant and I took a moment to breathe. I knew he was pissed right now and maybe lashing out a little. His words were harsh, but he wasn’t wrong.

Stand up to my mom? I’d never even considered doing it. I didn’t know how.

I returned to our table, still unsure how to proceed with this damn breakfast. I didn’t know if my mom had expected Kai to leave after what happened and I didn’t really care.

It also wasn’t entirely clear what the end game was. Did she want to break apart my relationships? What mom would want to do that?

Tilian raised a brow at me and I just shook my head.

“I’d like to make sure we’re on the same page,” I noted, folding my hands on the table to hide that they were shaking. “Tilian is my boyfriend and that’s not going to change. Kai is one of my closest friends and he’d like to finish breakfast with us. You need to respect them.”

My mom’s lips were pursed while I spoke. When she broke into a smile, my stomach constricted.

“Your friends are always welcome, Brooks. I’m sorry if I said something wrong earlier. Sen was obviously upset.”

Silence fell again and I stared at Tilian, trying to gauge where he was at.

“The relationships you build in college are so important,” she said. “You’re all going into very different fields of work. Eventually, you’ll go your separate ways. It’s always smart to protect your heart, of course, so make sure you remember that. As long as we’re…” she took a sip of her water and smiled again, “all on the same page about what’s important.”

If I gripped my glass any tighter, I’d shatter it. Surprisingly, it was Tilian who leaned forward.

“Just so we’reon the same page, Mrs. Elrod, what exactly are you trying to say?”

“Where do you want to go when you finish school?”

Tilian tried to hold her gaze, but when he couldn’t, he shifted it to me. I didn’t know how to respond either. We were supposed to talk about it later.

Looking away from him, I rolled a blueberry around on my plate. “We’ll talk about it when it’s time. It’s not something we have to discuss right away.”

“It is when you already know where you’re going. Two people have to align.” She turned to Tilian again. “You seem close to your family. Would you want to move all the way across the country when Brooks finishes law school?”

“I think that’s for us to decide,” he countered.

“Of course. I’m just making sure you’re prepared for what could happen. Brooks already knows what he’ll be doing, so the decision really just comes down to whether that’s the future you want, right?”

When she looked at me, I dropped my eyes to the table.

“Don’t avoid eye contact, Brooks. It makes you look weak.”

I lifted my gaze, meeting hers. We were locked in a stare off for a few minutes, but I didn’t know what good it would do. Realistically, it would accomplish nothing. I just needed to make a damn move.

“You don’t know everything,” I said before taking a fig from the platter on the table.

“Is that so?”

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