He gave me a side-eyed look. “My wife gets what she wants.”
“But I’ll NEVER know if I deserved it now! And I’m not your WIFE!”
“Yet. You’re not my wife yet,” he said. “And you do deserve it. You’re good. I watched before I interfered. It was between you and another girl who couldn’t act worth a shit, but her uncle’s some deep-pocket dick who pulled some strings. I have a deeper pocket, deeper connections, and of course, the bigger dick, so you got the part instead.”
“Hold on. Hold on.” I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to stop the raging headache that was about to sendmeto the ER. “My brother’s new place?”
“Talk to Harrison.” He nodded toward the door. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Wow!” I said, feigning excitement. “You’re such a charmer! Man, what a winner I picked to get married to! Oh wait, I’m beingforced.”
“Keely.”
“Yeah?”
“Get out of my fucking car.”
“Sure,” I said. “But let me tell you one thing before I do. I might be marrying you, but what you’re really doing is binding yourself to me. You steal my heart, and yours won’t be able to live without mine. It’s like a spell. The one who casts it is always connected to the one who’s under the spell. Being connected to you in this life—in this way—is enough. I don’t need you tagging along with me forever.”
I opened the door to hisfucking carand then slammed it. I marched over to Harrison after, who was leaning against his car, waiting for me. “What’s this about a new place?”
“Keely—”
“I just swapped my life for yours, Harrison. The truth.”
He wiped a bubble of sweat from his upper lip. I could tell he was in pain, and not just physically. “I bought it for Mari, all right? I fucking bought the house she loves on Staten Island! The one next to our parents’ old place. The one she grew up in. The one she still visits when her life gets rough. I want her to feel safe. To…I don’t know. Feel loved for once in her life! And I want to give her something without her feeling like she owes me her soul! I want to marry her, Kee.”
“All right,” I said, my voice lower than I expected it to be. I held my hand out. My brother put his in mine and I smiled. “Give me your keys, lover boy. I’m going to drive you home and take care of you for a while.”
He refused to let my hand go. It trembled. “Don’t do this, Keely. Run. The boys and I—”
I squeezed his hand, hard. “This is between you and I, Harrison. Your word. If you tell them, or anyone, including Mari, and one of them dies because of me—I couldn’t live with that. Roisin—”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“Tell that to five-year-old me, okay? Don’t meddle in this. I’ll get out of it. Sooner or later, I will. He doesn’t really want me. This is not about me. I believe him when he says it. So let’s figure out his angle. I’ll play my part, and once it’s done, he’ll have no use for me.”
“Stone?”
I blew out a warm breath. “This is not about him. He’ll have to understand. My family comes first. End of story.”
“I did this to you. I’ll never be able—”
“Shut up, Grumpy Jones. I’ve already forgiven you. But only because of one thing.”
“Grumpy Jones?”
I waved him off with my free hand. He still hadn’t let the other go. “I’m forgiving you because you did this for love. And if anyone deserves love, it’s Mari. If she decides she loves you back, you better name a kid after me!”
Harrison grinned. “I’m going to tell her soon, Kee. It’s time.”
“Agreed,” I muttered, pulling my hand from his. I opened my palm and he set the keys into it. Then he walked to the other side and got in.
I’d totally forgotten about the text I’d sent to Mari the same night Sierra was killed, telling her how I thought Harrison was in love with her, until that moment. What worried me, beside my own problems, was the fact that she had said nothing back.
If Harrison was wrong about Mam and her tea leaves? Where did that leave me?
Fucked.
