Fighting for Us (Bailey Brothers, #2)

by Claire Kingsley

She pressed her lips together for a second. “What if he isn’t wrong?” “Not wrong about what? You just said we’re soulmates.” “Yeah, and in a perfect world you would have become Grace Bailey a long time ago. But he’d still be the old Asher. The reality is, he’s not. He’s all kinds of fucked up and we both know it. His brothers know it, too. We’ve all been watching him like a hawk lately, waiting for him to self-destruct. If he doesn’t get that under control, maybe he’s right. Maybe he shouldn’t be a husband and father.” Glancing away, I chewed on my lower lip. “I don’t want that to be true any more than you do. I know how much you want him, and I want you to have him just as much. But what if you want something that’s not good for you because you’ve wanted it for so long you don’t question it anymore?” I felt like crumpling into a ball and falling apart. I didn’t want her to be right. But I knew she might be. And I hated it. “Maybe I should have listened to him the first time,” I said, my voice deceptively quiet, a stark contrast to the torrent of grief clawing at my chest. “He told me it was over, but I refused to listen. If I’d accepted it then, none of this would have happened. The worst would have been over a long time ago.” He wouldn’t have had to break my heart a second time.