Page 236 of Ignite

I shrug and head for the couch, slumping down and kicking my feet up on the coffee table.

My brothers follow and sit on the chairs opposite me. Like a damn intervention.

“Look. I’m in mourning. Let me have one more day.”

Declan chuckles.

“Not happening. Now, why are you giving up? Conan, we’ve seen you cave in men’s skulls in a cage. Fighting is in your blood. This ain’t you.”

I swallow the lump in my throat.

“This is different. Everything was with her. I’m just fucking empty.” I run a hand over my face.

“So don’t give up,” Finn says, his voice low.

“I promised her I’d stop. That I’d leave her alone.”

Finn screws up his face.

“She clearly still feels something for you if she came back with you after the club. Women don’t do that otherwise.”

“She wanted a hate fuck,” I say, deadpan.

Declan’s face twists.

“If you love her, you gotta fight, Conan. Dig fucking deep. Sort your shit out. Get back in the cage. Let off some steam. Then focus. We can help you make a plan. You can win her back. You always go after what you want,” Declan tells me.

“She’s not a prize, Dec. She’s the love of my life. The one I hate fucked and made love to in the same night—and still gotrejected. I’ve got a whole ass future planned with her that I’m still working on, one that might just haunt me for the rest of my life. I don’t know what to do. I can’t take back what happened. And all she can see is a monster. Which I am.”

Declan shakes his head.

“She doesn’t think that. She wouldn’t even speak to you if that were true. But if you keep going down this road, she won’t ever come back. Show her you’re serious. Don’t give up.”

I sigh and close my eyes.

“Why does love have to hurt so damn bad?” I mutter, rubbing at my eyes.

I’m exhausted.

“That’s how you know it’s the real deal, brother. Remember how much I hated Charlotte? For years? And now look. It’s worth the risk. Take it.”

That does give me a flicker of hope.

I’ve seen hatred turn to something real with Declan and Charlotte.

“You’ve got your grand plan in motion, right? Get to work on it. That future you wanted—take her to it.”

“You think?”

They both nod.

Just having my brothers here makes the load feel ten times lighter.

“Thank you,” I say quietly.

“That’s what we’re for. We couldn’t sit back and watch you beat yourself up anymore. We want you back, little bro,” Declan tells me.

“I really am a mess, aren’t I?” I laugh, though it sounds hollow.

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