Page 97 of Could Have Been Us
“It should be us both.” Stella’s voice cracks at the end.
I lean in, kissing her gently. “It should’ve been me twelve years ago. It should’ve been me, telling him the truth about how I felt about you, a hundred times after that. All this time, Stella, I’ve been putting off this conversation, and I’m going to have it, man to man.”
She sits back, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I want to argue, but honestly, I don’t have it in me. I’d like to be here though.”
That request I have no problem granting her. “Okay.”
I dial his number and wait for the video to kick on. After a few rings, Grayson’s face is there. “Hey, where are you? We got a fire call last night, and you weren’t there.”
“I had something I needed to take care of.” I’m unable to hide the strain in my voice.
“Everything all right?” Gray asks.
“Are you alone?”
He looks over and then back to me. “Jess is here, but Amelia is asleep.”
I nod. “I have to talk to you about something, Gray.”
He sits up straight before propping the phone against something so we see Jess in the screen too. “Okay? What’s wrong?”
Stella’s hand moves to my back, and her head rests on my shoulder. “Stella and I are in Georgia. We had to come down here to deal with something, and I want you to know that not telling you about this hasn’t been easy for either of us. We’ve struggled with it each day, but we both felt it wasn’t something we were ready to talk to anyone about.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” There’s an edge to his voice, and I know this isn’t going to be like when Stella told Joshua, Alexander, or Oliver.
I take Stella’s hand, grateful that he’ll be directing his anger at me even if it’ll hurt her all the same.
As I blow out a long breath of air, I begin. “Your sister and I have had feelings for each other for a long time. We weren’t going behind your back, but we were together once.”
“I figured as much. When?”
“Her eighteenth birthday. That night, we slept together. It was something that just happened, and it never happened again.” Stella’s fingers grip mine tighter. Grayson’s jaw clenches, and Jessica shifts to rest her hand on his shoulder. “We had a daughter.”
“You’re fucking kidding me.”
“No, I wish we were. Kinsley is twelve. Her mother died recently, and her father is struggling. He’s asked us to keep her for the next thirty days while he gets help. Stella and I are here now, making all the arrangements.”
Grayson’s face is frozen in anger. He doesn’t speak or move other than to draw in heavy breaths through his clenched teeth. This is exactly what I was afraid of. He hates lies. He hates deceit. It is his unforgivable sin, and we committed it twice.
“I guess no lies wasn’t the same promise I thought it was.”
“I didn’t lie to you, Grayson. I kept something that neither of us wanted to ever tell anyone else. We gave Kinsley up, she hasn’t been ours since the day she was born, and we had no intention of that changing. You didn’t need to know.”
“She’s my fucking sister. You slept with her, got her pregnant when she was a kid, and then let her give that baby away?”
I let out a long sigh. “And I’ve lived with that daily. I’ve punished myself more than you ever could have. It hasn’t been easy for anyone, and I didn’t enjoy keeping this from you.”
He runs his fingers through his hair. “It’s like I don’t even fucking know you. You’re the guy who . . . Jesus Christ.”
Stella takes the phone. “Grayson, Jack and I have had a really hard day today. If you can’t be the supportive and wonderful brother I need, then I don’t really need to hear your voice. I understand that, right now, you might feel a bit blindsided, but I don’t give a flying fuck about that. We called because we’re . . . well, we’re drowning. You think this is hard for you? Imagine how it is for the three of us. Imagine how it was to have to meet a little girl that we let go as a baby, watch her cry as her life is literally flipped. For one second, just think about how difficult it was for Jack and me to have to call Josh, Alex, and Oliver. Then to know we had to call you and face this reaction. You’re supposed to be Jack’s best friend, the one person he can rely on. Be it, and stop being a selfish ass.”
She hangs up the phone and collapses against my chest. Sobs wrack her body as her emotions release.
I hold her as tight as I can. Each shudder of her body causes my heart to break. After a few minutes, she lifts her head. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t you dare apologize,” I tell her. “I’m just as . . . done . . . as you are.”
“The hard part of telling my brothers is over. Now we can focus on the next step.”
