Page 55 of Between Brothers

Chapter 20

Duracell

It was an ambush, but I had to hand it to them, it was pretty much perfectly choreographed and executed. Actually, I had to hand it to Blue. He’s the only one that knew that Hayley getting her way and me looking any kind of penitent would be the only thing to save me from having my ass beat. The club caught wind of how I treated her and there was no telling what they’d do but Hayley was a hell of a lot more likable than me so…

Still, it wasn’t my fault she’d gotten all butt-hurt the night before when I’d told her to get the sappy shit elsewhere. That that was Blue’s dog and pony show, not mine. I kind of figured I was in for it when I’d gone to Blue’s room for a round two and neither of them had been there.

Blue had sent me some angry fucking text messages last night which I’d gotten when I got back to my room after discovering they weren’t in his and those led to me standing here sucking it up and finally taking one for the team. I mean, he was right, it’d been a while since I had.

"Why do I have to say it? You see it in my eyes, you feel it in my kiss, what does it matter if I say it out loud or not?" I argued, pouring on the charm.

She sighed, her shoulders dropping, eyes full of wounded emotion, "Because sometimes we just need to hear it..."

By ‘we’ I assumed she meant women in general and so I contemplated her, mulling it over for a full minute before I sighed and gave in, "Fine, I'm sorry, okay?"

She didn’t look like she believed me, and Blue knew I was full of shit, but that wasn’t the part that mattered. What mattered was making her believe, making her feel loved or cherished and while I couldn’t give her that, I could give her my respect. It was downright fucking ballsy of her to call me out like that. I’d killed motherfuckers for less.

She looked up at me and I could see something else in her eyes, that even though she didn’t believe… she had the willingness to believe going on. I was totally capable of lying to her and if the compromise was going to get me out of another uncomfortable ambush like this one, I could get on board.

“I mean it, Hayley… I didn’t think about it and it was an asshole thing for me to do. I fucking hate apologizing, even when I know I was wrong but that’s not an excuse. Not when it comes to you. I’m sorry, I mean it.”

Chew that fucking crow any harder and I’d fucking choke to death on it. She nodded finally and let me kiss her again and god, I hoped this was the end of it but knowing me, and knowing Blue… probably not, dammit.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

“Blue told me about your past, but I guess it’s just not the same as hearing it and seeing it for myself,” I said. I wasn’t about to take the full blame here. She could eat some of this, too.

She didn’t look happy, but she handled it with grace by nodding and saying, “You’re right, I’m sorry… I have a really hard time talking about it but that’s really no excuse. I should have communicated with you.

I nodded, “That’s all this is, I think… a miscommunication.” The fuck it was, but whatever. Hayley getting on board and believing it would save my ass this time but it wasn’t a card I could always play.

“I can agree with that,” she said gently and I hugged her a little tighter, rubbing her back which seemed to please Blue, so it looked like I’d figured out the winning combination. With the way they both looked, it didn’t seem like they got a fuck of a lot of sleep the night before so I went with it and declared, “I think we just need a lazy Saturday.”

“Yeah?” she asked and I nodded.

“Why don’t we all just crawl back in bed and get some more sleep, then maybe watch a couple of movies or something. It’s cold as fuck out there anyways and there really ain’t shit else to do.

Hayley smiled up at me and nodded, “I like that idea. Blue?”

“Sounds great, actually.”

“I’ll even let you pick the movies.”

Hayley laughed and said, “You might be surprised.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I like action movies.”

“No, shit?”

“I’m a daddy’s girl, what can I say?”

Hallelujah for one thing. At least I wouldn’t be sitting there with my fucking dick in my hand completely bored off my ass watching some trashy chick flick.

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