Page 27 of Imperfection is Beauty

I opened one eye and narrowed it on him, and I swear to Christ, if I had a spare pillow to chuck at his smiling face, I would have. “Because they kept the same players as last year and they were the third-best team overall in the NFL. And at the draft, they got the fourth overall pick in the first round. The kid is a beast on the field. They won’t be able to catch him.”

“That makes sense.” I closed my eye but knew I would be opening it again, along with the next one, and then I’d want to beat the ever-loving shit out of my brother.

To which he proved true when he asked, “Do you think Roc, Griff, and Castian will be able to kick y’all’s asses? Because they are looking like they just might be able to.”

Before I could scoff at his insane thoughts and get up and pound my fist into his face, there was a knock on the door.

Turning my head slightly, I said, “Enter.”

And then, as I watched the light brown door move open ever so slowly, had I not been lying down, I was sure my knees would have given out.

If this wasn’t my eye-opener, I didn’t know what it fucking was.

Because I promise you, had Tonya not done what she did last night, then for this woman, I would have gone straight to my lawyer and paid out every penny I needed in order to end my marriage. Because. Holy. Fucking. Shit.

Cue an immediate stutter step in my heart, sweaty palms… and hello, fucking hell, please for the love of God please don’t get fully hard with the thin blanket unable to do a damn thing to concealhim.

Yes, she was older now, but that hair, those eyes, those cute as fuck freckles across the bridge of her nose? Like hell I could ever not remember what she looks like.

Especially because when I close my eyes at night, it’s her that I see.

And then… without missing a beat, the moment her eyes skated to mine, I asked, “You still have my hoodie?”

I watched, fucking adorable, as her cheeks heated. Then she said in that husky tone, I only heard that one time in the bathroom, yet heard it all the time in my dreams, and I was right, my memories had nothing on the real thing. Fucking nothing.

She wrinkled her nose, “I might.”

And yeah, that was adorable as hell, which caused me to chuckle.

And yes, I held in the wince that immediately followed because I wasn’t going to waste a single second of my time with her.

Therefore, I asked, “How have you been?”

However, before she could answer me, something moved in the corner of the room. Then I watched as something crossed her beautiful face.

Panic.

Fear.

I was this close to getting out of bed, telling my pain to go fuck itself and putting my body in front of hers to fight off whatever caused that look I saw clear as fucking day when my eyes settled on my brother.

He had simply moved around in his chair.

I looked back at her and saw she had moved her body closer to the bed and away from him.

I looked over at Van and knew he saw what I did.

The fear, the panic, how timid she was, and how she stayed at my side.

My big bro hunched his shoulders and then looked at her, “You don’t have to worry. I will stay over here far away from you.”

I nodded at him gratefully, but what I asked him to do next, I knew I would never be regretting it, “Do me a solid?”

He gave me a chin lift, “Name it.”

I grunted, “Disappear for a bit.”

Van didn’t say a word, he simply nodded, stood, and then said, “Darlin’ see you’re afraid of me. It’s okay. How about you move closer to Marcus, seems you know him, also seems you’re comfortable near him. Promise you, darlin’, never do a thing to hurt you.”

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