The Replacement Boyfriend

Chapter 15

Zayne

When I had called my brother out to come and see Tace before he went off to the military, I hadn't expected to see him standing outside the club we were drinking at. I had expected him to make his visit during the morning when the sun was shining and the rest of us weren't piss drunk, not at half-past midnight. I had also expected a different reaction from Tace. I hadn't expected her to look at me with an angry fire in her eyes which burnt more than the alcohol I had drunk earlier.

"You called him, didn't you?" she asked again when I didn't respond. "I figured since he didn't even pick up my calls or reply to my texts."

"Tace, don't be mad at him," Dane said calmly like he always did whenever the two of us fought. Only this time, I wasn't fighting. "He was just trying to fix thin-"

"Oh my God!" she almost yelled but Jax stayed put, holding her as if she was his girlfriend who he needed to take care of when his sister was just as drunk. "Stop standing up for each other. I'm so sick of it!"

"Tace, you're drunk," I told her lamely as if she didn't already know. "Your timing is off, bro."

Dane sighed, as if he was tired. "Tace, can we talk in private?"

"No," she spat back. "You want to say something, say it here."

"Fine," he said, complying to her wishes, as usual. "I'm sorry that I lied to you about going to college in Omaha. I'm sorry for hurting you before you left by telling you I was ending things because you were going away. I was wrong. I should have told you."

"So why didn't you?" she asked, her voice quieter. He could always sedate her anger in ways I couldn't figure out. "Why did you lie? Why did you tell Zayne not to tell me until you were gone? Are you scared that you won't come back?"

"For the second time, no," he told her, taking a step closer to her. "It's not like that. I didn't tell you at first because I knew you'd try to talk me out of it. I knew it would scare you."

"I'd talk you out of it?" Tace looked like Dane had slapped her or something. "Dane, when have I ever talked you out of anything? The three of us never talked each other out of anything because we knew how stubborn all of us were. Whether they were good decisions or mistakes, we never stood in each other's ways."

Dane's eyes softened as he realized that she was right and I stayed beside him but didn't open my mouth. This was good for them. They needed to fix things before he went away.

"I'm sorry-"

"No, I am," she cut him off. "Because I thought we knew each other but apparently not enough."

"Tace, I didn't want to break your heart," he told her which I thought was a stupid thing to say because I knew what was coming next.

"You already did," she told him. "You didn't have to lie to me."

"It broke my heart to lie to you, too," he said, his voice lower than before. "But I didn't want you to hold on. I wanted you to go to college without anyone holding you back. I didn't want you to wait for me and you know as well as I do that you would have if I told you this before."

Tace closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face and Dane looked at me. She knew he was right and the two of us could almost hear her heart breaking again. We both hated watching her cry but Dane had always been the one who could handle it, unlike me. But I had tried to be more like him for her, so she could lean on me but she was still leaning on someone else and this time, it was Jax. Part of me felt like I couldn't compete with that. He was older, good looking and had three sisters which made him more experienced with handling girl problems. But did our childhood friendship count for anything?