The Boys Down South by Abbi Glines
38
asher
Steel was standing alone outside the waiting room when I made my way back in there to give everyone an update, and to give Luke and Charlotte some time alone with Dixie. I stopped and waited for him to say what he was out here to say. This moment was coming. I knew he had things he needed to say. It was only fair. This had been hard on him, too. We both almost lost the girl we loved.
“She woke up and wanted you,” he said simply.
It wasn’t a question, just a simple statement.
“When she was taken away and we didn’t know why or what was going on.” He paused. “My first thoughts weren’t of Dixie. They weren’t of me. The first thing that ran through my head was that you wouldn’t survive this. That was it. I was terrified, sure. The idea of Dixie…the whole damn thing was scary as hell. But my first thought was that you’d not make it through this if you lost her.”
He paused and looked away from me. I watched as he swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “I loved Dixie. Hell, I’ll always care about her. But I love you more. You’re my brother. It took that moment to show me how I felt about it all. I was worried about you. If I was meant to be with Dixie, I’d have been thinking of her. Like you were. You cared about nothing else but knowing she was alive. That she was going to make it. The rest of us were scared for her, too. But we were mostly focused on being strong for you.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Instead of talking, I closed the space between us and hugged him. For forgiving me, for loving me, for understanding that Dixie was my heart. She had been for longer than even I realized.
“I want that, though. One day. What you have with her. I want to feel that way for someone. Maybe not tomorrow, or even next month. Hell, I might be good for a few years. But one day,” he grinned as he said it.
“You will,” I told him. “But expect it to be anything but easy.”
“After what I’ve seen, what I’ve been through, I don’t think love is meant to be easy. At least not the kind worth having.”
He was right. Things that came easily were rarely worth keeping.
Heels clicking against the tile floor interrupted us. We both turned to see a familiar redhead. One that had made the twins’ lives anything but easy.
“Charlotte texted me that she’s awake,” Scarlet said. She looked thinner and had dark circles under her eyes. The light that I was used to seeing in her eyes was dimmed. Dixie would hate to see that. She’d worry about her.
“Yeah, I can take you to her room,” I told her.
“Thank you.”
“No problem. I know she wants to see you.” Although I wished Scarlet looked a little less sad. For Dixie’s sake.
“I’ll go to the waiting room and, uh, manage things there,” Steel said, meaning he’d keep Brent and Bray in there and away from Scarlet.
“Good idea.”
Once he was gone, Scarlet said, “Looks like at least two of the Sutton boys have worked things out.”
“We always do,” I assured her. Because we did. We were brothers and shit may happen, but in the end, we were family.
“I want that for Brent and Bray.” She sounded broken.
“They will be fine, eventually. But they can’t get there if you’re around.” I knew that wasn’t easy for her to hear, but it was the truth and she needed to know it.
She nodded in agreement.
