False Start - Jessica Ruddick Page 0,80

long?”

“Not long. A few weeks.”

“You’re supposed to be looking out for her, not fucking… shit.” Roman unclenched his hands and ran them over his head. With one last furious look at me, he stalked to the door and exited the townhouse, slamming the door closed behind him.

Fuck. That went as badly as I’d suspected it would. I supposed I should be glad he hadn’t hit me, but I might’ve felt better if he had. Roman and I had grown apart because of distance, but I still considered him my brother. I stood and started pacing, wondering how long I should give him to cool down before I went after him. Because I sure as hell wasn’t leaving things like this.

Just as I was about to open my front door, it flung open, nearly hitting me. I stepped backward, and Roman slowly stalked toward me, his eyes narrowed. I tensed, preparing to take the punch I deserved.

Instead, Roman poked me in the chest. “You know my sister is worth more than both of our sorry asses combined.”

“Yeah.” The word came out shaky. He was putting into words what had been going through my head for weeks.

“And goddamn it, I know your track record. You don’t stay with girls.”

“This is different,” I said quietly. “I love her, Roman. Honest to God, I love that girl.”

I didn’t know what else to say to convince him of that. But he knew me, and I trusted that would be enough for him to see the truth.

He stared at me, processing my words. Closing his eyes, he hung his head. When he looked at me a moment later, he seemed calmer, more resigned. “If you hurt her, your ass is mine. You feel me? There’s no going back from that.”

“I know.”

Roman stepped away from me and put his hands on his hips. “Fuck, man. You should have warned me.”

“Would it have made a difference?”

“No.”

“I figured.” Not that it mattered. I’d been so chickenshit about telling him that I’d put it off. Hell, if he hadn’t come to visit, I wouldn’t have told him.

“Just be good to her, man.”

“I will.” I wanted nothing more than to love her and treat her well. That was the easy part. It was being enough for her that was impossible.

Though I should have felt better now that I had Roman’s grudging blessing, a ball formed in the pit of my stomach, rolling and twisting. Screwing up with Becca was inevitable because at my core, I was a fuck-up. And now the stakes were higher.

I would lose them both.

***

Becca

ROMAN SHOWED UP at my door with half a doughnut hanging out of his mouth and a big box of them in his hands. I hugged him and pulled him inside. Chewing his doughnut, he sauntered to the kitchen and put the box on the counter, but he didn’t take off his sunglasses.

“What’s with the glasses?” I asked. “You look like Tom Cruise in Top Gun.”

“My eye looks pretty bad,” he replied. “I didn’t want to freak you out.”

“Oh my God, what happened to your eye?” I had no idea what went into SEAL training, but every military-training movie sequence I’d ever seen ran through my mind.

“Your boyfriend happened.”

I gasped, and my hand clutched at my throat like I was a little old lady grabbing her pearls. “Roman, what did you do?” Damn it. I’d been so assured that Roman would be cool about Carson and me that I’d dismissed Carson’s concerns. Shit. The last thing Carson needed was to have a black eye or some other stupid injury the day of a game.

“Hey!” Roman protested, pulling off his sunglasses. “Why are you assuming it’s my fault?”

I stared at him, taking in his perfectly normal, uninjured eye. “You can be such a dick sometimes.”

He laughed. “Before you ask, the answer is no, Carson didn’t put me up to this. But I couldn’t resist.”

I wasn’t going to ask because as worried as Carson had been, I doubted he would want to tease me. “So you’re okay with everything?”

“I am now.”

Shit, what did that mean? Had he been not been okay with it at first?

I tossed my hair over my shoulder. It technically wasn’t his business anyway. Sure, Carson was his best friend, but we didn’t need Roman’s permission. Although his blessing would be nice.

“I told Carson you would be okay with it.”

Roman poked around in the box and picked out a chocolate-covered doughnut. “I am. It just took me by surprise, though it shouldn’t have.