Page 122 of Hate Me

Damien: Jett’s come out of hiding. Working on getting a location. You want it?

Skylar: No. It’s done. No more.

Damien: You want me to drop it, for real? No more tracking him for you?

Skylar: Drop it, yes. I don’t need it. Things have changed. Thank you for all your help.

Damien: All right. Consider it dropped.

Damien: Least I could do, by the way. Hope you’re doing better.

Skylar: Getting there.

Damien: Good. I mean that, Bluebell.

Skylar: I know you do.

Damien: Take care of my little brother for me, yeah? Bye, Sky.

Skylar: Bye.

“Wow,” I breathed, absently handing her phone back to her as I tried to absorb it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“You didn’t actually need to tell me at all. He never would’ve sold you out, not with his goal clearly to redeem himself to you. The fact you did tell me is what matters.”

“It is?” she asked, tentatively.

I smiled and took one of her nervously twitching hands in mine. “And that you gave up your shot of finding Jett on your own. Your mission, Sky. Something you were so hellbent on.”

“I did it for you. For the three of you.”

“I know, baby.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again, and winced.

“What?”

“I just… you probably don’t want to hear this, but it really seems like he is trying to make amends. And helping me wasn’t for me. It was for you, Bastian. He’s recognized and accepted what I mean to you, and he’s trying to protect that. He even tried to guide me back here with a few choice words and comments here and there. Of course, circumstances being what they were at the time, I couldn’t even consider that, but he still tried, nonetheless.”

“I’m getting that, yeah.”

“Maybe sometime down the road you can consider it properly. But, hopefully, for now, you can take some comfort and peace in the fact that he’s trying, that he’s trying to be your brother again.”

I pulled her into me and kissed her cheek chastely.

She turned into it and nuzzled against me, and it was a struggle to leave it at that, and force myself to pull away.

Somehow, I actually managed it, and pushed off the couch.

As I returned to my seat and settled back down with my laptop, she opened hers with her eyes on me. “Are we… I mean, is everything—”

“We’re good, beautiful. More than good. It means a lot that you told me this and that you turned down that intel.”

“Okay, okay, good.”

“Sky, nothing can fuck with what we have now. Nothing, okay? You’re ours, through and through. Whatever comes, we face it together.”

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