Page 8 of Contentious

He was impressed by her astute summary of the situation. “It’s got nothing to do with her. I’m sure she’s a lovely person.”

“They seem really happy together.”

“Yeah.”

“And that annoys you?”

“If I say yes, I sound like an asshole or like I’m envious because my brother has found someone he obviously cares about, but that’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

Carson chose his words carefully because he didn’t want her to think he was a total jerk. “It’s so far out of character for him that it’s concerning to see him completely gone over a woman with little kids, who he also claims to adore. My brother doesn’t love kids. As far as I knew, he didn’t even like them.” He took a sip of his water. “A few months ago, we were out to dinner, and he was so pissed off at the kids raising a ruckus at the next table. He said something like, ‘Why do people bring their kids out to eat if they can’t freaking behave?’ That’s the Julian I know and love.”

“Can you still love the Julian who’s in love with Isla?”

“I don’t recognize him as the brother I’ve known all my life, the same one who’s spent years saying he never wanted the things he now seems to want more than anything. It makes no sense to me.”

“People change. They learn and grow and evolve.”

“Not him. I’m sure it sounds like I’m bitter or jealous or whatever, but I swear that’s not it. If anything, I’m worried about him.”

“You’re actually worried?”

Carson nodded as he said the words out loud for the first time since he’d realized the full extent of what was happening between him and Isla. “Imagine if Ty suddenly stopped being interested in sports. Wouldn’t you fear something was wrong?” Every inch of wall space in Ty’s room was devoted to one LA team or another, along with posters of his favorite players. He’d proudly shown Carson his bedroom after Carson had assisted him and his mother during a confrontation with Ty’s father, Marlon Beckett.

“I suppose I would.”

“It’s like that for me and the others with Jules. He’s been this one guy all his life, and it’s like he woke up as someone completely different, and we’re not sure how to reconcile the new guy with the one we’ve always known.”

“That’s fair.”

“I swear it’s not about her or her kids, who are, by all accounts, adorable and well-behaved. The whole office was talking about how cute they were when they first came in to meet with him about her divorce. My ire, such as it is, is focused squarely on him.”

“You wouldn’t let it come between the two of you, would you?”

The question hit him like a throat punch. Would he let it come between him and Julian? “I don’t think so,” he said with less conviction than he should’ve had about such a thing. His siblings were the most important people in his life and always had been. The thought of being on the outs with any of them was too painful to contemplate.

“You want to know what I think?”

“Yeah, I do.” Her opinion truly mattered to him, which surprised him. He’d known her for only a couple of weeks and had spent much of that time following either her or Marlon around to make sure he wasn’t hassling her or Ty.

“Your brother has presented you with a done deal. He loves her. He loves her kids. Is it what you want for him? Not at all, but it’s what he wants for himself. If you force him to choose between you and them, you may be unpleasantly surprised by who he picks.”

Carson’s heart sank as he realized that she was one hundred percent right. He let his deep sigh speak for him.

“Are you okay?” she asked softly.

He began to wish he hadn’t told her earlier that it wasn’t going to happen between them, because having her there during this difficult moment had been… comforting. He shook off that thought as soon as he had it. He didn’t need comfort so badly that he’d risk hurting her or her precious son with his many hang-ups. “It’s true. What you said. I’d like to think that no one will ever be more important to any of us than each other, but I suppose that’s not realistic.”

“It’s disappointing to the rest of you that he changed the rules you live by without consulting with you.”

Carson looked at her with true respect. “I’m impressed by your astounding insight into people you’ve only recently met.”

She smiled, and holy moly… If you wanted to know why she was an international sensation, all you needed was to see that smile. “I’m a bit of an empath. I pick up on vibes, and what I got from your family was a group that sticks together through thick and thin, even when you don’t always agree on the path forward.”

“That about sums us up.”

“So it’s deeply upsetting to see one of them doing something that could get them hurt like they’ve never been before.”