Page 79 of Crazy Pucking Love
My sentiment exactly. She ran over and curled her hand around one of Beckett’s arms. “Babe, calm down.”
A vein throbbed in his forehead. “He just had my sister pinned against the wall, and his tongue was down her throat—I can’t be fucking calm right now.”
“I can make my own decisions,” I yelled, barely resisting the urge to add a foot stomp. How dare he completely ignore what I wanted, not to mention talk about me as if I weren’t right here!
“Just hit me,” Dane said, spreading his arms wide. “I deserve it. I’d feel better if you did, actually.”
I put a hand on his chest, holding him back. “Not helping, Dane.” Honestly, I was surprised Beckett hadn’t hit him. If Lyla hadn’t shown up in the nick of time, I was pretty sure he would’ve. I focused on my brother, looking him in the eye. “How about we discuss this like adults?”
“You’re not an adult. You’re my little sister, and it’s my job to keep you safe.” He turned his attention to Dane. “So if this isn’t part of some bet, what is it then?”
“I tried to keep it as friends, I swear I did, but…” Dane scrubbed a hand over his face. “We met before I knew she was your sister, and I tried to stay away, but I…I care about her.”
The soft, sincere way he said it sent warmth coursing through my veins, and I wished that we didn’t have an audience so I could bask in it for a moment.
“I promise, the last thing I’d ever do is hurt her.”
Some of the tension leaked out of Beckett’s posture, but his gaze remained hard. “You’re not good enough for her.”
“I know.”
I reached out and took Dane’s hand. “Look, like he said, we met before we knew there were other…complications. And we care about each other. I need you to be cool about this.”
“Well, I’m not. I need you to get your ass in my car, because we have a long drive ahead of us, and if I don’t leave right now…” He curled his hand into a fist, and I tightened my grip on Dane. “I’m going to grant his request and smash his face in. We’ll talk about the rest on the drive home. If I manage to stop wanting to kill him by then.”
Beckett flashed Dane another death glare, and then Lyla tugged his arm, pulling him back toward the noise of the other people waiting around after the game.
A torn apart sensation tugged at me, pulling me to stay and smooth over everything here, and to go and talk to my brother, and I wasn’t sure which would fix the situation, or if that was even a possibility. “I’m sorry about all this. Obviously, this went differently in my head.”
“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. He’s right. I broke bro code, and if I was in his place and it was my sister, I’d hit me.”
My throat tightened. “Don’t say that.”
“Now, Megan,” Beckett snapped, and I jumped.
“I better go, but I’ll call you later, okay?” I reached up and fiddled with my earring. “Of course, now that he knows, you might as well come along. Didn’t you always say you wanted to go on a road trip from hell?”
Dane barely cracked a smile, the gesture so fleeting it was gone before it could catch hold. Clearly my joke didn’t land, and while things were beyond icy, I hoped that with the cat out of the bag, we could be done with secrets and distance, and finally move toward a real relationship.
Maybe in the end, this was for the best? Something I wouldn’t say now, but we’d discuss it over the phone, once everyone had calmed down.
Since risking a kiss good-bye might set off my brother, I settled on blowing him a kiss. Then I turned and rushed toward Beckett and Lyla, trying to shove away the feeling that I’d just said a more final good-bye than I wanted.
It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.
But when I glanced back, Dane looked defeated, and my sunny optimism wilted, leaving me with an empty, hollow sensation in my chest.
…
The first hour of the drive passed by mostly in silence, only the radio filling the air. Lyla did her best to pacify Beckett, rubbing his arm and holding his hand, only he didn’t seem very relaxed.
At first I was afraid to say anything—especially since he was all snappy when we’d climbed in the Land Rover—but anger was rising, and I decided he wasn’t the only one who deserved to be upset.
“Look, I appreciate all the times you’ve taken care of me, and I know it used to be me and you against the world, but then you left for college and it was just me against the world.” He opened his mouth, and I charged on before he interrupted. “And I don’t hold that against you. You needed to go to college and get away, and now I need the same thing. I can’t learn and grow if you’re suffocating me.”
“Apparently, I haven’t been suffocating you enough. Consider me your shadow every weekend from here on out.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know you don’t have time for that. I’m sure Lyla isn’t going to want to spend every weekend watching over me, either.” I looked to her for help.
