Page 78 of Bad Boy for Hire
“I’m leaving!”
“Don’t dump me over a misunderstanding. Can’t we talk about it?”
“Aren’t you too busy to talk?” she shot back. In front of his house, she paused in the grass, her fists clenched at her sides. “How can I dump you if we’re not together?”
“We are.”
“We’re not.”
She was pregnant with their baby, but that hadn’t linked them as a couple. She’d made decisions and he’d made decisions, but they hadn’t included each other in them. They were very much operating as solopreneurs in the business that was them. A twinge of guilt shocked her ribcage, but she was too angry to admit it.
“I’ve never done this before.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and watched his shoes, his posture reminding her of Lynx’s. “I’ve screwed up before. Bad. I don’t want to screw this up. What we have feels way too big to get wrong.”
The sincerity in his eyes hit her hard. She shored up, not wanting to lose the justified amount of anger she still held.
“Before I moved here, I was just a guy who got cheated on. I moved to a new town and started a new job, both to avoid dealing with the fallout of a relationship that had imploded. I was running from the biggest failure of my life.”
“And I had a mom who was alive and a father who was involved in my life,” she said softly. “We were individuals before we made a baby together, Xavier. But I need to be in this with you. I’m not a catalyst for your personal growth. I’m not here for you to prove that you’re a protector or that you can succeed. I want to partner with you on the hard stuff, not be shielded from it.”
The silence around them was heavy, which might have been why the sound of the door squeaking was so loud. She turned her head to find Lynx leaning on the door frame, a half-eaten sandwich in one hand.
He straightened from his lean. “I, uh…came outside to offer May the other sandwich you made me. Too full to eat it myself.” His nervous smile said what he didn’t—he’d overheard everything. “He makes good sandwiches.”
Xavier regarded his brother with a glare of pure steel.
Lynx pointed over his shoulder. “I’m going to go in now.”
“Good idea.” After he’d gone, Xavier rubbed his forehead. “Goddammit.”
“It’s not his fault.” She wasn’t reeling that Lynx knew the truth. She was too busy noticing the dynamic between the two brothers. Xavier was committed and dependable, the one who rushed in when things went sideways. He poured himself into Salty Dog the same way—into everyone and everything around him that was falling apart. Taking care of people was a role he wore like a second skin. And that personality trait smacked of familiarity.
Prescott had also been committed to taking care of the people around him. Of his sisters, his mother and father, even his future partners at work. And when May’s mom had passed, he’d stepped up for her as well. Even when their relationship deteriorated and his heart hadn’t been in it, he’d been there. Steady. Stable.
Because it was his duty.
Their relationship had been more about obligation, and she’d been the last to know. He’d stayed because it had been the right thing to do, not because he’d loved her.
Xavier wasn’t Prescott—not even close, but they overlapped. Xavier was responsible, driven, and took care of everyone. From his business to his brother, and now May, who happened to be carrying his baby.
She’d gone from being his friend to sharing his bed to becoming someone to manage. A line item. A task.
Ugh.
She wanted to be in this relationship with him. Because they’d uncovered something special, not because he was dutybound. She wasn’t his business, and she refused to be handled like one.
“I’m going to leave.” She nodded to remind herself she was doing the right thing. Leaving now would be hard, but walking away after years together—after raising a child together—would be harder.
“May. May, wait.” He followed her to her car. “We can fix this. It’s fixable. Right?”
His hesitant smile put a dent in the armor of her heart. But she couldn’t escape the idea that her past was repeating itself—this time with a baby on the way.
“That’s exactly what I don’t want. To be fixed. To be a project on your to-do list.”
“May—”
“Goodbye.” She shut herself into the car. Before she reversed out of the driveway, she stole a glance at Xavier through the windshield. His shoulders were sagging, his eyebrows bent, his fists curled at his sides. He looked like a man who’d finally understood the damage he’d caused and had no clue how to undo it.
That made two of them.
