Page 120 of More than Need

“God, he has just as bad taste in men as I do,” she said, cackling.

“Hey!”

They swung lightly in silence for a few minutes, just like they used to as kids. Of course, as kids they’d also gone as high as they could and then competed to see who could jump off the farthest. Not their brightest endeavour. Sadie had broken her wrist doing it. Later that year, Dawson had broken his leg when they’d decided riding a skateboard down the slide was the best idea they’d ever come up with. They’d spent hours drawing over each other’s casts.

“You really hurt me, Dawson,” Sadie said, breaking the silence.

“I know.” It hadn’t been his intention, but he’d known what direction he’d been going in. He couldn’t put the blame on anyone but himself.

“You’re my best friend, and the fact that you were keeping something so important a secret…” She looked up at the sky again. “I hated that you would do that to me, when you knew how I felt about the whole situation with Riley.”

“I’m sorry.” He would say it forever if it helped make her feel better.

“It’s kind of romantic, though,” she mused.

“What?” Dawson stopped abruptly, putting a foot down on the bark to stop his next swing.Romantic?Where the fuck had that come from?

“That you wanted him so bad you would do that. That you care about him that much.”

He decided not to mention that it’d been purely physical to start with. That Riley had been a colossal asshole, and something about that had done it for Dawson. Those kinds of white lies were okay, right? Not a truth she needed to know. Some things were better left unsaid.

“I’m glad that you got to talk to him,” he said instead.

“He wouldn’t have, would he?” Sadie said. “If you hadn’t slept with him, if you hadn’t become someone important tohim, he would have cutmeoff forever.”

Dawson tried to think of a way to make the truth gentle, but he couldn’t. “Yeah, he would have put it behind him and closed it tight. Like a vault.” One that would never open.

Sadie bit her lip sadly. “I guess I should thank you.”

“No. Fuck, no,” he said, horrified at the thought. “We could have tried again, worn him down, locked him in a room until he accepted you.” All totally plausible actions.

Sadie arched an eyebrow, looking eerily similar to Riley when he did the same thing. “I think we should leave the planning portion of our adventures to me, mate.”

“Probably.” Dawson hesitated before saying, “I met some of his family.”

“Like…?”

“His mum and two of his brothers. She was… perfect, Sadie. She was perfect. And the brothers were kind of ridiculous, but the bond between them all… He’s a good brother. They adore the fuck out of him. I’m sad for what you lost growing up, but seeing them makes me see it from a different perspective. And what he had wasn’t bad. He had an amazing childhood, and so did you. Now you get to see what your adulthood looks like together.”

“Focus on the future, you think?”

“It’s the only direction any of us should go.” Sadie’s parents had done what they thought best and set them all on a path they couldn’t have avoided. The blame couldn’t be landed on any one person. Life was just sometimes like that.

Dawson leaned over and took her hand. She smiled, a real, genuine smile that eased the last of his tension, and squeezed around his fingers.

He had to hope that they all made better choices. Fortheirfutures.

Chapter 23

Gideon looked over thepaper again and nodded, satisfied with it.

“You’re really doing it?” Ange asked, leaning over his shoulder, reading along with him. “Are you sure? Because you know I’ve got your back. We could find a new place to haunt.”

Gideon appreciated so much that she would have chosen to follow him anywhere, but she couldn’t follow him on the path he really wanted to go. She was way too good at her job to throw it all away because of him.

He stood and winked at her. “Don’t worry, I got this,” he said, more confidently than he felt. Not because he didn’t think he’d made the right decision. All changes were terrifying.

“That is themostworrying statement I have ever heard from you. You don’t have this, Gid. You’re a disaster.”

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