Page 54 of Hard to Forgive

He flinched at the contact, looked at my hands with narrowed eyes, but his shoulders loosened ever so slightly. “What can I do?” I asked him again. “Do you—Is there anything you need?”

I figured it was some kind of anxiety reaction. He’d told me that this was an issue for him, so I figured it was probably the safest bet. Either that or I was barking up the wrong tree and he was just pissed off at whoever had called him. If I was going just off the sound of voice during that call, it would be a pretty safe bet.

“Just go,” he whispered again.

“No,” I argued stubbornly. I was not just going to go. For one thing, it was my apartment, and people didn’t get to tell me what to do in my apartment. For another, he looked seriously distressed. I wanted to help him through whatever this was. “If we’re trying this thing, then that means we have to lean on each other. You have to talk to me,” I reminded him.

“Can’t.”

I flinched at the one harsh word. He couldn’t talk to me. “Why? Are you in some kind of trouble? What—”

“Fuck, Si, I just need a few fucking minutes. Okay? Just give me a few fucking minutes. If you want to do something, go get my bag from your living room. Just leave me the fuck alone for a few minutes,” he snapped. My hands dropped from his shoulder,and I started to back up. He heaved a pained sigh. “I’m sorry. I just—” His voice caught and he swallowed hard. When he spoke again, his words were softer. “I just need a minute. Then I’ll talk to you, okay?”

“Okay.” I didn’t know if it was okay. I guessed that would depend on what he actually ended up saying.

I left the bathroom and went to get his bag. As much as I wanted to go back to the bathroom and try again, I didn’t. I just sat on my bed with the overnight bag in front of me. I thought about getting dressed, because if he was about to call this thing between us off, then maybe I shouldn’t be naked while he did it. I was still contemplating it when the bathroom door opened and Jonas stepped back into the bedroom.

I looked over at him, but I said nothing. He leaned against the door frame, his eyes still haunted and his shoulders slouched in on themselves. “It was my dad,” he explained softly.

“I take it you’re not a fan?” I didn’t exactly know what else to ask in this situation.

He took a few tentative steps toward me. “He—uh—we have some issues.”

I watched his slow trek across my bedroom. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” he sighed, “but I probably should. Seb would tell me that I needed to if it was going to send me into a spiral like this.”

“Seb sounds smart, but if you’re not ready…” I thought for a moment. “Would it help you if I went first?”

One eyebrow quirked. “Are we about to share our childhood traumas?”

“If you think it’ll help. Pretty sure that’s what couples do.”

“Just pretty sure?” He sat down on the edge of the bed and started to unzip his bag.

“I don’t exactly have a lot of experience in this,” I admitted. “I mean, I dated Mariah, but we’d grown up together. She knew all about my family. The few people I dated in college? Never really talked about our families. The relationships didn’t last long enough.”

He ruffled through his bag, looking for something. “Okay,” he agreed, not looking up from his search. “If you tell me a bit about your dad, I’ll tell you a bit about mine.”

I smiled at the concession. “My dad was always a bit difficult,” I told him. “He’s the kind that has a thousand ideas of what his son should be, and then makes sure that I know when I don’t reach them. He says he’s trying to be helpful, point me in the right direction, things like that.”

“That sounds really shitty,” Jonas muttered as he pulled out a small pill bottle. He opened it and took a single pill out, swallowing it dry. “My dad left my mom and me when I was a kid. Mom struggled a lot, but she always made sure I knew that I was good enough. She was always on my side.”

“My mom wasn’t like that. She stood by her husband and his opinions, voiced a few of her own. Mainly when I’d mess up. Then when I went into computer science, both of my parents were proud of me for the first time. Figured it’d set me up nice, especially if I started working for my uncle’s company.”

“Your uncle?”

“Uncle Jacob.” I rubbed at the back of my neck. Now was the moment of truth. I’d managed to keep the fact that I was related to Jacob Brighton from all of my colleagues this whole time, except for Yvette. I hadn’t even told Isabel. I didn’t want the accusations of nepotism, but by now, I thought I’d proved myself. “Jacob Brighton.”

It took a moment before he connected the very large dots I put out for him. Then he nodded. “So that’s how you got on the team?”

“Uncle Jacob tried recruiting me for a few other projects after college, but I usually said no. This time, I said yes. He was offering a good salary, and I was bored as hell at my last job. No job satisfaction. I just made him promise he’d treat me like everyone else, and except for the occasional lunch in his office, he has.” I grinned. “But then I don’t think he’d be where he is today if he ran the company on nepotism.” Jonas nodded, still looking a little struck by my confession. “But yeah, they thought that computer science would be great. I could join Brighton Tech and one day, take over since my cousin had no interest in tech. Set me up nicely for life. When I didn’t follow that path at first? They made it pretty clear what they thought about the whole thing.”

“So, are they happier with you now that you’re working for Brighton?”

“Not really. They’re now annoyed that I don’t come home enough.” He snorted. “Your turn. What did your dad say?”

He groaned. Surely he didn’t think he was going to get out of telling me whatever it was that was eating him up inside, right? Because that wasn’t going to happen. I gave him a pointed look and motioned for him to get on with it.

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