Page 120 of Give Me Redemption

My heart is bruised, like she reached inside my chest and squeezed the muscle herself.

“And yet you’re defending her?” she asks coldly.

“Don’t do that,” I say, shaking my head, removing the smoke between my lips. “Don’t stand there and fucking judge me when you and my brother can’t get your shit straight to save both of you.” I don’t want to be mean to Harrison, but she has no right to criticize me. She and Bryce have had their fair share of problems, and I’ve always butted out.

Even when my brother beat the shit out of a guy at Red one night because he touched Harrison. When he was a dick to her at the hospital, I helped the fucking situation by going and talking to her for him. I helped find Bryce in that party house and got him home so they could work on their crap.

I helped.

I didn’t condemn them and demand they stay away from each other.

But then again, how can I be mad at them for not knowing how serious this all is?

Once again, it’s my fault.

Before I can blink, Harrison has tossed the glass into the brick wall. Liquor rivers down, puddling on the floor. I don’t move.

Her anger is justified.

Just like mine is.

She loves Bryce, and he’s probably going to prison because of my girl and me.

I love Dalton, and there’s nothing I can do about it—just like there’s nothing Harrison can do about the fact her man might choose Red over his freedom.

And essentially her.

“Fuck you.” She points toward me. “What Bryce and I do… The shit that’s between him and me, it doesn’t hurt other people. This relationship of yours did.”

Thatfuck youcomment doesn’t sit right with me. She’s pissing me off. I lift my chin. “Harrison, I don’t give a shit if you’re the girl who stole my brother’s heart. You don’t get to tell me how to live my life. You’re standing by a felon,” I say calmer than I feel.

“That felon is your brother!” she yells.

“Yeah. Fuckery, ain’t it?” I narrow my eyes. “My brother is sitting in jail with a possible prison sentence, and I’m in love with the woman who took him down.” I walk over to the fridge and grab two beers.

She shakes her head, looking at me with pity.

I ignore it, sliding a beer across the counter for her before twisting the top off mine. My eyes go down to the counter, and anger decimates.

That familiar ache I’ve become accustomed to settles in. “I’ll hurt no matter what I do. So, what the fuck do I do?”

She twists the cap off her bottle, chugging it before slamming it down onto the counter. She wipes her mouth and grabs her keys from her pocket.

“I guess you’ve got some thinking to do, huh? I’ve got to get to the courthouse,” she says.

I lean back on the fridge as she walks out, exhaling slowly through the pain.

Chapter Forty-Nine

Harlow

I step out of the shower and swipe my hand across the mirror, looking over my reflection.

Brown eyelashes fan over my pale skin, my freckles stand out, and my eyes are tired and black-rimmed. I keep looking at my phone, hoping he’ll call me again. Praying he’ll call me again.

Even after he did what he did, I can’t stop thinking about him.

I should hate him for the way he used me, but, how can I?

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