Page 135 of Falling Into Forever
“I’m not sure what to think, Sayls. But I’ve made peace with that goodbye. I spent six years of my life trying to save him from himself. I couldn’t do it. He either will, or…”
“Or he won’t,” I finish for him. Sitting up, I take his face in my hands. “Are you okay? With everything?”
“He’s going to live in my mind like my own personal failure. I can’t help that. I want so badly to help him, even now, but he’s no longer my priority, not if I want his sobriety more than he does, so I let him go. I hope and pray he gets his life together, but I’m also preparing for a phone call someday asking me to identify a body.”
“He’s an adult, Dante. He was never your responsibility.”
“No,” he says, pressing my face to the side of his chest that isn’t scarred. “But I wanted him to be. He’s my brother, and our lives could have been so different with other choices. But I’m also aware that I can’t fix this for him.” He shrugs and releases a shallow breath since he’s still working on his lung capacity. “I’ve let him go.”
There’s pain in those four words, but he squeezes me a little more tightly, and I hold on with all my strength.
“You are my future, Saylor. You and Poppy and Lena. Even the Reids and all our nosy neighbors. Walking away from what hurts us is hard. It’s painful, but sometimes, we understand why it has to be done.”
He could be talking about Trent, or he could be talking about us six years ago. Two totally different situations, but I imagine the pain is a similar one.
“I’m sorry you had to make that choice,” I say solemnly.
“Me too.”
We sit in the sterile room, and I breathe him in.
“I heard from Grady today,” he says.
I tilt my head and lean into him. “You did? What did he say?”
One corner of his mouth lifts, flashing that dimple at me. “Well, Blake is a little scarier than we gave him credit for.”
The tension winding up my neck tightens its hold. “Why do you say that?”
“Apparently, Grady got a call this morning, since you listed him as your lawyer.”
I sit up fully now, and my fingers find my necklace while I wait for him to continue.
“And?” I finally blurt when Dante just freaking smiles at me.
“And it seems Malimar Media is under investigation for a laundry list of offenses, so they’re dumping weight. His publishing and recording companies are offering their talent a chance to purchase their rights back—below market value.”
My hands ball into fists.
“Why are you angry? This is good news,” Dante says. The confusion on his face would be laughable if I weren’t so irritated.
“It is good news,” I fume. “Except I told Blake I wanted to fix my career myself—all by myself. This is— He went—”
“You’re so stinking stubborn.” Dante chuckles.
My mouth falls open in outrage, but before I lay into him, he kisses the side of my head.
“You wrote your story your way, Saylor. You will still self-publish it and own every second of the process. You did fix your career. This is just speeding things up, removing roadblocks, and allowing you to start fresh as the CEO of your life and career. I’m sure he didn’t do it to go behind your back. He said he was going after Malimar, and this is probably a natural progression of things.”
“Damn it, Blake,” I grumble again. “Seriously, though. What are you doing out here? You’re supposed to be in bed, so don’t try to distract me with Trent and Blake. You’re still in trouble here.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’m only on bedrest because you say so. Even the doctors said it’s good for me to be up and moving around. Bed rest isn’t going to help my lung recover.”
God, I hate when he’s right.
“And I came out here because the Wi-Fi in the guest room sucks. I was taking more of those classes on self-publishing.”
I groan. Writing I can do. It’s everything else I’ll struggle with. “I’m pretty sure my old editor will work with me on the side, and I found a new cover designer who seems amazing. It’s the other stuff I don’t get.”
