A Bad Boy's Brother (Book #2)

22. Yes

I stared down at Corey. "What?" Kelsey and I yelped at the same time.

He hesitated again. "I, uh...I'm serious about this, Ryder. You're scared I'll leave again, right? You think I'll just up and leave? I'm...I'm offering you proof that I won't. If you say yes I'll marry you, and I'll never leave again, I swear to you."

I stared at him. Would it be wrong to hit him? I kind of wanted to hit him. My eyes locked on a box in his hand.

"Cain...gave me the money to buy you a ring. Can you answer me?"

"Hell no!" I finally managed. "I'm not ready to get married! You completely broke me, Kelsey is about to get married, I just blew myself up to save your sister, I haven't seen you in a month, and I kind of want to hit you!"

He nodded and stood up slowly.

I stared up at him. How could he even ask me that?

There was the sound of someone opening a door and Aiden appeared in the doorway. He raised his eyebrows very slowly. "I feel like I walked in on something."

"Corey proposed!" Kelsey managed to squeak.

"Huh. Cool." Aiden looked at me. "You say yes?"

"No!" Kelsey, her father, and I all said in unison.

Aiden's eyes widened and he held up his hands defensively. "Okay."

I looked up at Corey. "How can you even ask that?"

"I knew you wouldn't say yes right now, Ryder, but that didn't stop me." His intense green eyes focused on me. "I love you, and I know you love me. I want to spend every second of every day proving to you that I will never hurt you again no matter what happens. There is no limit as to what I will do to make you happy from this moment on. Please," he murmured, stepping closer to me and cupping my cheek. "I just want you to know that I won't hurt you again. I truly am in love with you, Ryder, and I always will be. Even if you don't say yes now, I want you to know that I won't stop until you say yes someday."

Anger rose in my throat, then sadness, then confusion, and a small tinge of...happiness? I grabbed his other wrist and towed him outside. "We're going outside, now, and you're coming to my house, we are going to talk about this."

He followed me wordlessly and we got in the car.

I sat there in silence for a few moments then turned to look at him. "Why did you leave?"

Corey took a deep breath. "An ex girlfriend called me to tell me I have a kid."

Pure shock radiated through my body. That wasn't what I expected at all. "You...have a kid?"

"No. He...isn't mine. I had a DNA test done, and I worked through it. I left because I had to be there for him if he was mine. I would never abandon a kid like my parents abandoned Cain and I. And knowing what it was like for you to grow up without a dad, I thought that if I was there for him even a little, it was worth whatever it cost."

"You were gone for more than a year, Corey. Were...you with her?"

"No. I found out he wasn't mine after a few weeks. I stayed because I was too afraid to face you again, Ryder. When I realized that I'd left you, the most important thing that will ever be in my life, I was so ashamed that I couldn't even look at myself, let alone you. I stayed away because I needed to. But I'm back, and I'm here now, and I never stopped loving you."

"You never called me."

Corey closed his eyes.

"You never tried to contact me. For all I know, you do have a kid, and you were with her. How do you expect me to trust you, Corey?"

"I offered to marry you, Ryder, if that isn't commitment I don't know what is."

"It's going to take a lot more time before I can consider that."

He nodded.

"I'm...I'm gonna go home, okay? You just..." I took a deep breath. I didn't want to send him away with nothing, but I sure as fuck wasn't going to kiss him or anything. "Come by my house tomorrow, okay? I'm..." His eyes snapped open and immediately their intense green depths stared in to me. "I will...give us a shot. But you are going to have to try damn hard, and I'm not making it easy for you, do you understand?"

"You don't understand how happy I am right now," he breathed. "Thank you Ryder."

"We're starting over," I muttered. "And it's the last chance I'll ever give you. Understood?"

"Yes, of course. Anything. I'll come by your house tomorrow. I just." He leaned toward me then hesitated and leaned away from me. "Starting over. Which means I have to make our first kiss special. I'll see you tomorrow, Ryder."

I nodded.

Well this was going to be fun to explain to Devon.

* * * * *

"You're what?"

"I'm giving him another chance, Devon."

"I can't believe it," he breathed. "Ryder is giving someone a second chance. You. You must seriously be in love with this boy. I can't believe this." He took a deep breath. "Okay. You know what? I'm not going to get worked up right now. A lot has happened today. Oh and let Kelsey know that I'll be doing her hair and makeup on her wedding day because no one less talented than me is allowed anywhere near that precious face of hers. Corey can eat half a bag of dicks for all I care, but I'm ignoring that part for now because I want to remain sane. Okay. Let me just." He took another deep breath.

"You're acting like this is happening to you."

"It's happening to you, and that makes it twice as stressful. It's okay. We'll figure this out." He beamed at me and hugged me closely. "Whatever makes you happy, okay sweetie? No matter what you decide, I trust you know what's best for you. You always have."

I smiled and hugged him back.

Devon stood up from my bed and started walking toward the door. He looked back at me after a moment and hesitated. "I just want to make sure...you know what you're doing, don't you?"

"Yes."

"Do you think this will work?"

Once more, a smile tugged at my lips. "Yes."

Hah bet I got you fooled with the chapter name. XD So she's not gonna marry Corey right now. Buuuttttt...she's giving him another chance starting in the next chapter. Thoughts? Ideas? Concerns? Lol make sure to tell me what you think, thank you so much for watching <3 Also, this book may turn out a lot longer than I think XD