Page 36 of Hate Me

He rubbed my arms softly. “I care about you. More than I should, we both know that.” He leaned in and brushed his lips over mine. “I can’t let anything happen to you,” he breathed, sparking that need in me that had gone so long unfulfilled that it was always right at the surface.

But he couldn’t give me that, he couldn’t ease that ache.

As much as he wanted to, he just couldn’t be that for me.

I’d been beside myself when it had gotten the best of me and we’d tried—a few times. But it hadn’t worked.

Because of them.

Bastian, Caleb, and Caspian.

They’d left their mark on me and no matter how hard I’d tried, I hadn’t been able to move past it, past what we’d had, what we’d been building.

All my fears about losing myself in them had seemed so ridiculous in the wake of literally not being able to have them at all, in being pulled from them so brutally and unceremoniously.

They were still with me and I was sure they always would be.

I turned my head away from Jeremy. “I care about you too. You’re my friend. You’ve been here for me when I’ve had no one and I don’t take that lightly.”

He smiled sadly and released me and stepped back. “I know you don’t. Despite everything, you have so much love and care in you. I hope those boys of yours are deserving of that, and that they know how rare and special it truly is to have that from you.”

“I doubt that they do. I held back when I had them around me. I let my fear and insecurities get in the way. Now it’s too late.”

“It won’t be.”

I arched an eyebrow. What was he getting at?

“I may live to regret this and your dad might have my head too, but I’m gonna help you.”

“You… what?”

“I’m gonna help you in this crazy-ass mission of yours. This way, not doing it alone, you’ll have a fighting chance of coming out of it unscathed. Then you can reunite with your loves and fix what’s broken. Enough regrets have been forced on you, there’s no need to allow your relationship with them to become another permanently.”

“Jer, I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not.”

“Even so, I—”

“My life has been turned upside down by the Bane brothers too. Although this is most definitely the dangerous road to travel, the potential payoff outweighs all the rest.”

“We can get back what we’ve lost. Well, most of it.”

“Exactly.”

“All right, let’s do this,” I said, holding out my hand.

“Let’s.” He took it and we shook firmly.

Here goes nothing.

8

~Caleb~

I was doing my thing, pulling up intel as Asher and his team strategized their final stand against the Infidels that would bring the crumbling empire down in its entirety and finally free them all in the process.

My phone buzzed on the table and, assuming it was one of my contacts coming through with additional information, I absently snatched it up and swiped it open.

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