Page 128 of Love Not Qualified

Haelyn’s eyes dropped as she released a sigh. “You know, I always saw men as the ones ruining a marriage, but that was because that’s how my family broke apart. I’m sorry about what happened to you and your brothers.”

I nodded. “We’re better off without her and we’re learning to live without our father,” I said, glancing at the ceiling above us.

“Yeah…I get that.”

“Did you visit your father in prison?” I didn’t know where the question came from, but I couldn’t stop it from escaping my mouth.

She froze, her fingers unintentionally squeezing the skin on my chest. Haelyn threw me a squint.

“I know your mother’s story from when I anonymously donated for her health care,” I explained.

Haelyn bit her bottom lip, nodding her head. “No, I didn’t visit him and I don’t think I ever will. If you know he’s in prison, that also means you know why he’s in there.”

Yes, I knew he killed her brother in a rage after drinking his ass off for an entire week. He left the kid alone for that whole time—to cook for himself, prepare for school, go to school—and when he came back, he beat him to death.

I didn’t know what to say. “Sorry” wasn’t enough for what she’d been through.

“I tried,” she croaked out. “I tried to get him back. At first, I tried to steal him from home, but it was like Dad knew every single time. Then I had no other choice but to work three jobs at once, pay for my mother’s health care, and also gather some money for a lawyer. But until that happened… it was too late.” Her voice was now a whisper.

My hands moved on her cheeks and I forced her to look me in my eyes. “It’s not your fault.” When she shook her head, I repeated. “It’s not your fault.”

Tears slid down her face and I pushed her face into the crook of my neck, twitching my jaw. This woman had been through so much and still was. If the fucker who’s her father would’ve still been free, I would’ve killed him with my own bare hands.

“Before I knew it, I was in a swordfight with food. I was used to it since I was a child, but it got progressively worse when all my money went to my mother or the lawyer.”

I grew up having anything I wanted, we always had food on the table and threw the leftovers because we never felt how it was to have nothing. I never learned to appreciate the things I had because how could I when I thought it was normal?

Now that I heard Haelyn tell me about her life, I had an immense urge to make it better. To delete her past from her memory, to make her mother better, to protect her.

And there was only one way I could do that.

“Move in with me,” I said all of a sudden.

She took some distance between us, wiping her wet cheeks with her palm. Haelyn almost laughed. “Are you insane? We justsettled that I was your girlfriend ten minutes ago, we can’t move in together.”

“Why not?” I asked, pushing onto my butt so I could see her better. “Give me a proper reason and I won’t insist.”

“Well.” She opened her mouth, looking at the ceiling as if it was going to give her an answer. “We’ve been together for like… a night?”

I shook my head. “Not solid.”

She gasped, hitting me with her hand. “What do you mean? We don’t even know each other that well enough to live together. What if I don’t like that you throw your clothes all over the room? What if I don’t like that you don’t put the toilet seat back down? What if your brother hates me?”

I smiled and took her by the arm, making her land back into my chest. “Then I’ll learn to put them in the laundry basket, I’ll put the toilet seat down and my brother is a complicated guy. It might take him a while to get used to you, but I don’t think he’ll hate you.”

“Tristan, you can’t be serious about this,” she said, looking up at me. I had my legs open and she stood between them, her head resting on my torso.

“I’m more than serious. I can’t let you live there.” I pushed, and she scrunched her nose. I pinched it. “The weather is only going to get worse.”

Her mouth parted open and she looked like she was ready to put up more of a fight, but she changed her mind. “I’m not fighting with you about this. We’re not moving in together, period.”

“No matter what you say, you’re no longer living in that shithole.”

She frowned. “What does that mean?”

FIFTY

HAELYN

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