He winces at my stepdad’s name, and I get it because sometimes, so do I. But his expression gives way to something like confusion. “Wait. How didyoufuck up?”
“I should have moved faster. I should have gone out there sooner. Maybe if I had, you wouldn’t?—”
“No. Don’t.” He sounds a little angry, and he puffs out a hard sigh. “You were what, seventeen?”
“Almost a grown man?—”
“A fucking teenager,” he snaps. “It wasn’t your job to stop him. He was twice your size and high as fuck on uppers. What did you think you were going to do?”
I swallow heavily. “I don’t know, but?—”
“Is this why you’ve hated me for all these years? For being in the wrong place at the wrong time?”
I want the earth to swallow me up because this is my fault. My inability to meet his gaze has given him and Westin all the wrong ideas. “I never hated you.”
He scoffs. “Look. You’ve made it pretty obvious how you feel. You never come to our house. You never agree to hang out if I’m going to be there. I can learn to live with it, you know? But I don’t want West to lose you if she chooses to marry me.”
“Fuck,” I breathe out, shaking my head. I force myself to look into his eyes. “I swear to god I don’t hate you. I have tormented myself with guilt since all of that happened, and…I don’t know. I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to handle you blaming me for what happened.”
He stares for a moment, then snorts. “I don’t blame you. I never did. I fucking hate his guts, and sometimes I wish I could win the lottery so I could pay someone in prison to beat the fuck out of him until he can’t see straight…” He trails off, his voice shaking, but there’s a tiny smile playing at the left side of his mouth. “But I fantasize about that a lot less now that West and I are building a life together.” He stops and takes a breath. “But I never blamed you. Or anyone in your family. That fucker made his choices, and now he’s paying for them.”
My brow furrows. “If you didn’t blame any of us, why did you stop West from spending time with you in rehab?”
Henry’s eyes go heavy-lidded. “I didn’t want her to see me like that. I was so pissed off—and so much worse off than I am now. And she was so young, and her heart was broken. I think she knew her dad wasn’t a good guy, but I have a feeling that because of you—because of the way you protected her—she had no idea what he was capable of until he went after me. I didn’t want to be the reason she was in more pain.”
God, this man is too good for any of us, and he probably knows that. But if anyone deserves his love, it’s my sister.
I take in a deep breath and let it out. “I’m happy for you two. And I couldn’t ask for a better brother-in-law.”
When I meet his gaze, he looks lighter. He’s smiling, his eyes bright with his joy, which dims after a second. “I thought you blamed me,” he says. “I thought you blamed me because I got involved. I told him to stop screaming at your mom and threatened to call the cops, and that was when he lost it. And when I was in the hospital, I heard he was going to jail, and the girls got sent away, and your mom disappeared. That was all my fault too, all because I thought I was a big man at fifteen and wanted to run my mouth.”
I burst into laughter. I can’t help it. “Henry, fuck’s sake. You stood up to a fucking sociopath who was hurting his wife when no one else did, and—Christ, you were a kid too!”
He huffs and shrugs. “I guess we’ve both been wrong for a long time.”
“Oh god.” I fall back, covering my face. “We are morons. We could have been friends this entire time.”
He laughs softly. “We can be friends now.”
I kind of want to cry. I swallow heavily, then nod. “Yeah. That would be good.”
“So, uh…” He’s so quiet that I drop my hands and look at him. “Maybe you’d also want to be my best man?”
I stare, my mouth half-open. “Wait.Me? You want me?”
He laughs again. “I mean, yeah. Well, unless you don’t want to. Which I get. You have a lot going on, and weddings are kind of?—”
“No,” I interrupt a little too quickly. “I mean, yes, but…really? Me? Are you sure? I know you have a brother.”
He shrugs and glances away. “Andy and I don’t talk much. He kind of cut me off when I came out as bi.”
“Oh, I didn’t—wow. Okay. I didn’t know that.”
He suddenly looks worried. “If that bothers you?—”
“I’m gay,” I blurt. I came out years ago, so I’m surprised he doesn’t know. But maybe he forgot. Or maybe Westin forgot to mention it. It’s not like I ever had a boyfriend to remind people anyway. “I’m definitely cool with it. I’m just sorry. That sucks.”
He lets out a sigh and shrugs. “Yeah. And I have friends, but sometimes I feel like they only kept in touch because they felt sorry for me, you know? After my brain injury, they started treating me like I was a kid, and…” He trails off, twisting his fingers together. “Anyway, West and I want to keep this thing small, and you were the only person I could think of that I’d want standing with me.”
