Page 101 of The Long Game

He didn’t know how he’d survive that. How could it be this terrifying after only a few days? How had he set himself up to be abandoned again?

Jack looked miserable but resolved. “If it means you—”

“No,” Colton yelled, cutting off what Jack was going to say and making Grady jump.

Jack closed his mouth, clearly at a loss. Hell, Grady was, too. Colton looked stricken.

Grady wanted to reassure Colton, but honest to fucking god, he was terrified if he turned his back on Jack for a second, he’d disappear.

He was horrified to feel the sting of tears in his eyes.

Forcing himself to take a deep breath, he took Jack’s hand, squeezing lightly. When Jack didn’t look at him, Grady’s heart seized and his stomach dropped, but he didn’t let go and he didn’t give in to the urge to yell that Jack wasn’t allowed to break his damn heart.

The plea slipped out before he could think better of it. Before he could keep himself from being exposed and vulnerable right in the middle of the sidewalk and in front of Colton.

But the fear was huge. The idea that he could be left,again, made his hands shake and heart race.

“Please don’t leave me, Jack.”

Jack knewthe right thing to do, but as soon as he looked into Grady’s big, brown eyes, he was lost.

And here he’d been freaking out because things had been going too well.

That would teach him.

Grady gazed at Jack like it would break him if Jack left. His grip on Jack’s hand hurt, but it was nothing compared to the knowledge he’d caused that pain and fear.

What had been a simple decision seemed a lot less so when faced with that.

Jack’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “I just want to do what’s right.”

It couldn’t be right to hurt Grady, to hurthimself, could it? How was he supposed to walk away from Colton? Or Sam?

He wanted to take Savannah’s advice. He wanted to lean in,make this work. But if it meant Colton was at risk, wasn’t that selfish?

“This family sticks together,” Grady said, his earnest gaze searching Jack’s face. “That’s the difference between where Colton and I come from and what we’re building here. We don’t throw anyone away, we have each other’s backs, and we love each other, no matter what. That’s what real families do.”

Jack didn’t know shit about what a happy, fully functional family should look like, but he knew it felt good to be considered a member of this one. He’d felt dizzy with longing when Grady had told Daphne she had to find a way to make it work because Jack’s presence wasnonnegotiable.

Hadnonnegotiableever been romantic? Because it was now, goddamn it.

He wasn’t even going to touch the whole ”love each other” thing.

Jack nodded, not sure what he was agreeing to.

Grady put an arm around Jack’s shoulders. “Come on.” He put his other arm around Colton and led them toward his SUV. “Let’s go home and see Sam. Then we can talk.”

Jack went along meekly, feeling lost. Was he a coward for not doing the obviously right thing? Or an asshole for making Colton and Grady sad?

He couldn’t win.

He felt the sudden urge to drive back out to the farmhouse and demand, “What now!?”

Then again, he didn’t think their advice would change. So, maybe that was his answer.

He left his truck parked on the street in front of the law offices, not wanting to separate from Colton or Grady any more than they seemed to want to let him out of their sight. Sam rushed to Jack and hugged him tight as soon as they entered the apartment, answering the question of who Colton had been maniacally texting on the drive.

Jack hugged Sam back. He hadn’t been certain Sam would care one way or the other, but maybe that had been unfair. Jack sure as hell cared what happened to Sam.

---