Page 20 of Needing Her

“Admit it,” I began, leveling her with a dry look, “you only love me because of my brothers.”

She shrugged and offered an unapologetic look. “It’s true.”

I laughed and cautiously put another piece of the muffin in my mouth, speaking around it as I did. “Bitch.”

“Your favorite bitch,” she said matter-of-factly. “And don’t be all lame just because you won’t make a move with the neighbor dude.”

I paused from grabbing my coffee again and laughed uneasily. “Yeah, well, like I said...that won’t be happening.”

Pulling out my phone, I tapped out a text to Connor and vowed to get it through my head that he was just my older brothers’ friend, and my neighbor. Nothing more. Swore the girls he brought to his apartment wouldn’t bother me. Not anymore. Nothing was about to bring down my mood today.

* * *

CONNOR

“Oh God.” I stopped army-crawling after my nephew and scrambled away when he paused to make good use of his diaper the next morning. “That’s—” My stomach lurched and I hurried to cover the bottom half of my face with my shirt. “How do you deal with that?”

A loud laugh burst from my sister, but she looked totally unfazed as she waited until my nephew began crawling again before leaving her spot on my couch. “When it’s your kid, it’s different. You do it because it needs to be done.”

“No, no—Jesus, Amy,” I stammered when she scooped up little Ben and started my way. “Wait until I’m out of the room before you start changing him. You could kill someone with that thing.”

“So dramatic,” she said with an eye roll when I went to the kitchen to get far from what was about to happen. “It is good to see you though, Connor.”

I lifted a brow at the confusing comment. “Unless I’m working, I see you every Saturday morning,” I reminded her.

“I know, but ever since that girl who—”

“Amy...”

“Ever since that girl who went back to Texas, you haven’t been the same,” she said over me, ignoring the blatant warning. “I don’t know what happened in the last week, but you’re a totally different person. You’re back to my little brother. Well...almost.”

I shrugged, one of my hands lifting to the side before falling. “I’m always me.”

“No, and you know what I’m talking about,” she gently challenged and eyed me as if daring me to deny it. “And there’s still something...you’re not fully back yet. But the difference between the Connor I saw last week and the one I’m seeing right now is huge.”

I nodded, not knowing what to say as a sliver of regret twisted through me.

Amy had spent so much time protecting me from our father when we were little that I’d made it my job to protect her from any and everything ever since we’d been adopted from him—including my own struggles.

She’d known about Cassidy, but I hadn’t thought she’d known how difficult it’d been for me after. I’d tried hiding it from her because she didn’t need my bullshit on her shoulders. And now? How the hell was I supposed to tell her the change she was seeing was because of the girl next door?

The girl I couldn’t feel this way about.

The girl whose god-awful singing as she’d blasted the Christmas music she loved so much had Amy and me cracking up just half an hour before.

The same girl who, just last night, might’ve gotten engaged to that fucking asshole who did nothing but degrade her.

My phone chimed in my pocket, pulling me out of the Maci spiral that was sure to piss me off all over again. But when I grabbed it, my pulse faltered before continuing at a rapid pace when I saw I had a message from the current source of my torment.

And then I read it...

Maci Price

All things considered, it’s not your place to tell me who I should and shouldn’t be with...or to give an opinion on my life at all. Watch yourself, Detective. We wouldn’t want people thinking you’re jealous or give a shit.

I tightly gripped my phone and started storming out of my apartment, grabbing my keys on the way.

“Where are you going?” Amy asked, sitting back on her heels from where she was changing Ben.

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