“Let her go,” Kody demanded quietly. “You’re here to visit Jamie, then visit.”
I looked at Kody gratefully before I hurried out of the room. I rushed down the hall and out of the sliding glass doors to find him. Their long legs carried them out of here fast.
Near the exit, he and Peace were standing by Peace’s car, animatedly talking, catching the attention of a few people, probably trying to determine if what they saw was really Freedom Cade. I caught the conversation that flowed in the breezy April night.
“She still thinks I’m some damn thug. All the money and everything I did, and she still sees me that way. I’m done. I can’t do this anymore.”
“She’s just upset. You know how Mamas are about their sons.”
“In her eyes, I’m that bad dude, and Kody is the good guy. No matter how much she says she loves me, she’s just like her daddy. I will never be enough for them. I can’t let anyone make me feel like that again. Not even her.”
Peace opened his mouth and caught my stunned expression. He pointed past Freedom’s shoulder, and instead of turning around, Freedom hopped into his car and sped out of the parking lot. I ran to Peace. “I didn’t mean it. I was angry…I was confused.”
His eyes were sad. “You meant it.”
I dropped my head in shame. “I love him.”
“Not the way he deserves. I’m forever Team Freedom.” He hit his chest. “I’m always going to rock with my brother. He saved me so many times.”
“I need to see him. Give me his address.”
“No. Jamie needs you.”
“I know that.” I wiped my eyes angrily. “I want to bring Jamie home to him. That’s his son, and he doesn’t need to worry if he’s okay because he’ll be in the next room.”
Tears fell down Peace’s face. “Kody won’t allow it.”
“I don’t care what he wants. That’smybaby. I have the final say, and I’m bringing his son to him. We took fatherhood away from that man all these years, and I’m not taking anything else from him.”
“Then let me bring Jamie. It’s my fault he thought he had a chance with you when his focus should’ve only been on Jamie. I can’t let you hurt my brother anymore, and he’s weak for you. Don’t you see that? When he loves hard, he loves too damn hard. Sacrificing himself and his feelings for everybody but himself, and I won’t let you hurt him anymore.”
“Peace.” I pleaded and grabbed his forearms. “I need to be the one to bring his son to him. It needs to be me. I could’ve fought harder to make sure he knew he had a son, and I let my judgment of his past behavior interfere with what I know is true about him now.”
His chest heaved up and down, and tears ran like streams over his high cheekbones. “It was true then. Anything he ever didwrong was to feed us and take care of us. Decided he would do it the right way when he fell for you and worked his ass off. And my actions negated everything positive he’d done that year.
Ibroke into the house of those people, and instead of owning up, I hid like a little bitch and let my brother take the charge. The confusion and fear on his face when the police busted through our doors and practically lifted him off his feet, though he was already standing with his arms raised. My father was yelling at the cops, demanding to know why his son was being arrested, and they hauled him away without saying why. I knew it was for me. And I did nothing. Even when I confessed to him while he waited in that courtroom, my brother stood proud and stated that he was guilty, knowing he could get up to fifteen years.”
“Oh, no…fifteen years?” Freedom, selflessly, was willing to give up fifteen years of his life to protect his little brother.
And I treated him as if Kody were the better man.
He chuckled quietly. “Maybe my mother knew when she named him ‘Freedom’ that he would never conform to what anyone expected of him and would always do exactly whatever he thought he needed to do. Can’t be any freer than that.”
My phone buzzed. Without looking, I knew it was Kody.
“Give me his address, please. We can’t change the past, but we can do better by him now. He needs to see his son. He needs to see me so he knows that I finallyseehim.” I had to get to him tonight. I couldn’t wait to touch him.
Peace wiped his cheeks with the end of his shirt. “I’ll text it to you.”
I slid under his arms and hugged him tight. “I won’t hurt him anymore.”
He resignedly nodded, and as I hurried back through the sliding doors, Peace yelled, “You might want to ask Kody where he was the night of the invasion.”
My shoulders dropped even lower.
My fatherand Kody were in the room, flanking Jamie’s bed. My father stared at the TV watching a basketball game. Kody was on his phone. Jamie’s eyes were closed, though I sensed he was awake. He loved these two men. Jamie just vibed more with his other family, and he needed to be around comfort, not just family he loved and respected. I stepped into the room and beckoned Kody to step outside. My father frowned but remained silent.
Once we were alone and out of the earshot of most people, which was hard in a busy ER in Dallas, I said, “When are they going to discharge him?”
