Page 85 of Forbidden Love

“You need to talk to her,” Mac said.

Sam nodded. “And the Wilde brothers. You don’t want to lose their friendship.”

“It’s probably too late for that.” I sat on a nearby stool we used when we discussed progress and our plans. I stretched my neck, trying to ease the tension that had crept up ever since Xander confronted us.

“What’s your plan?” Mac asked.

“I don’t have one. I don’t even know where to start.” I should find Kylie and make sure she was okay, but after that? I was at a loss.

“I think you need to talk to her brothers first and get them on your side.”

I laughed and shook my head when nothing about this was funny. “There’s no chance of that happening. If they ever talk to me in a civil manner again, it would be a miracle.”

“So, you’re telling me her brothers wouldn’t be okay with your relationship if you loved each other and were serious about a future together?”

“I have no idea. They’ve always been unreasonable.” They’d been crazy about Kylie. To the point where it affected her relationship with them, and I knew it would be worse for me. I wasn’t family.

“You have to deal with this head-on,” Sam said, ever the reasonable one.

“Do you love her?” Mac asked.

I nodded. “I never told her.”

“Then that’s what you lead with. You love their sister, and you plan to take care of her forever. You’re building this house with her in mind, and you’d follow her if she got a job elsewhere. Is that about it?” Mac asked.

“I would do all those things, but what if it doesn’t matter? What if it’s not enough?” I couldn’t help voicing the questions that were racing through my head.

“What does any of this matter if she doesn’t want me?” That was the core problem, the mountain I couldn’t plan for or get around.

“You have to sit down and have a conversation. That’s what being in a relationship is all about—communication and compromise,” Mac said.

Sitting in the space that would one day be my kitchen, I remembered all the times we’d done something similar. When Mac had messed things up with Natalie. When Sam found out his girlfriend at the time, Felicia, was pregnant, and later when she said she was moving to Maryland to pursue a job. This was us. We talked in the houses we worked on. But I hadn’t had the same level of communication with the person I professed to be in love with.

“I never told her I loved her. How fucked up is that?” I just couldn’t see a way out of this.

“We’re all afraid of putting ourselves out there and not getting anything in return.” Mac had been hurt so many times in past relationships that he almost fucked things up with Natalie too.

“I need to talk to her brothers, but what if I don’t survive that conversation?”

Sam shrugged. “Eh. Worst-case scenario, you have a black eye and a bruised lip.”

“There’s a hundred percent chance that’s happening,” I said, not feeling great about the prospect.

Sam grabbed a water from a cooler he’d brought. “I don’t know. Oliver is levelheaded.”

“The others aren’t, and when they’re together…” I was just glad Killian wasn’t around. According to news reports, he used his fists before words.

“Be honest with them. You want nothing but the best for Kylie, and if she doesn’t want you, that’s not on you. That’s on her,” Mac said.

“I have been wanting to talk to them about how they treat her. They have no business in her love life.” But then Kylie had said as much, and it was like Xander hadn’t even heard her.

“I wouldn’t lead with that,” Mac said.

“I’m sick of them hanging over our heads. I’m sick of them treating Kylie like she can’t take charge of her life.” I wanted to protect her, but I also wanted her to have the freedom to make her own choices and mistakes.

“They’ve always acted like they have to stop her from falling or making a mistake,” Mac said carefully.

“That’s it exactly. They don’t see how she feels stifled. How she ran to Europe to experience freedom for the first time.”

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