even that will do any good.” He placed a finger under my chin and tipped it up. “She’s seriously ill, Thea. You told me, and I didn’t listen.”
Tears gathered in my eyes. Not because he hadn’t believed me, but because part of me hoped he would never experience anything like what he had today. “It’s okay. You needed to see it for yourself. I get that.”
“I take back what I said before. If you want to go to the authorities, I support you. Hell, I’ll do it myself and leave you out of it so Dad can’t blame you.”
“No. I would never ask that of you.”
“You’re not asking. I’m offering.” He brushed his cold nose lightly over mine. “I’m not putting my parents first anymore. Not when I have you and Tristin and Leo by my side.”
“And I love you for that.”
His eyes widened, and I replayed what I’d just said. Oh, shit. I hadn’t mean to just drop that into conversation. But, at the same time, I knew I meant it. I loved Hayle for being the kind of guy who had done his level best to make his mother happy for all of these years. Yet, when push came to shove, he chose what was best for me over her. That meant more to me than I could possibly say.
I kissed the tip of his chin. “But I don’t want you to turn your mother in. I’d rather see her getting help than behind bars.”
As soon as the words fell from my mouth, I realized they were true. Hayle had hit the nail on the head. Lily wasn’t just a little ill—she was seriously ill. That fact didn’t negate everything she’d done. Not by a long shot. But it also meant that she probably wasn’t the wicked witch a prosecutor would make her out to be.
There was more than one way for her to pay for her crimes, and I had to trust that finally facing them was a start.
He lifted a hand to caress my jaw. “And I love you for that, Thea Gale. Hell, I just love you.”
“You do?”
His eyes shimmered with a combination of tears and adoration. “Can’t you tell? I’ve fucked up. I know that. But, since the moment I walked into the kitchen months ago and saw you sitting there, it was like everything was right in the world again. I need you in my life, and I get that I’m not the catch that my brothers are, but I’m hoping you need me in your life too. Even if just for help with your classes.” He gave me a crooked smile. “And maybe some kissing, if you’re willing.”
I laughed around the emotion clogging my throat. “Only kissing?”
Hayle skimmed his mouth over mine. “Even if it’s only ever kissing, it’ll be better than anything I’ve done with anyone else. I can promise you that.”
“Well, how about we start there and see where it leads us?”
The smile he gave me lit him up from the inside, warming me all over. I liked seeing Hayle happy, and if I could give him even a moment of it on a day like today, I was going to be right there with him.
Wrapping my arms around his neck, I leaned into him and initiated the kind of kiss I’d been longing for. It was slow and full of all the emotions we’d been holding back for these past few months. It told the story that was impossible to put into words. That we’d had and then lost a friendship years ago, but that loss made what we’d found again so much more meaningful.
Hayle breathed me in as he devoured not only my mouth but my soul. With every touch, I gave him a piece of me, and I took a piece of him. It was an even exchange. A willing one. A necessary one, even.
There would always be a give and take between Hayle and me. We had too much complicated history to believe otherwise.
And I was here for it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Thea
Christmas Eve breakfast three days later had been strained, which was an improvement over the downright hostile environment I’d been expecting. At first, Hayle had refused to go. To say that he was angry with his father over keeping Lily’s suicidal threats a secret for all this time was a dramatic understatement.
But, eventually, he’d given in. We all knew that the best way to keep the Sharpe patriarch “happy” was to go along with his plans. None