Breathless (Steel Brothers Saga #10)(37)

“No shit,” he said. “I’ll take care of Brooke.”

“Talon…”

“For God’s sake, Marj. I’m not going to do anything to her. Jade is determined to have a relationship with her, and I support that. But Brooke needs to focus on her daughter for once in her life.”

“Preaching to the choir here, Tal.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“In the meantime, I feel I should tell you. Colin wants to talk to Jade. He wants me to arrange it.”

“Yeah. Not going to happen.”

“I figured that’s what you’d say. Apparently that’s why he’s in Snow Creek.”

“He could pick up a phone.”

“He seemed to want to see her in person.”

“He doesn’t have her number anyway,” Talon went on. “I plan to keep it that way.”

“Tal, you of all peo—”

“Stop right there. I’ve no love lost for Colin Morse, but I get it. I’m the only one who probably truly gets it, other than my sons.” He winced. “God.”

“Tal, don’t.”

“It’s okay. You can’t hide. Melanie taught me that. But Colin and Jade have a past, one that ended with her heartbroken and humiliated. He can stay the hell away from her.”

“I tend to agree.”

“Why did he come to you?”

“I’m not sure he meant to. He happened to come into the smoothie shop while I was there. And…”

“And what?”

“We used to be friends, Tal. He was engaged to my best friend. I thought he was a good guy. I’ve known him since freshman year of college. I was as surprised as Jade when he didn’t show up for their wedding. That wasn’t like him.”

“Well, I’m glad he didn’t show up. Or Jade and I wouldn’t have met.”

“Me too. You and Jade belong together. But still…”

“Look, he got cold feet. He’s not the first guy to be an ass on his wedding day. And now—especially now—he has regrets. Hell, he had regrets when he showed up here and I gave him a fucking black eye.”

I cleared my throat. “Not your finest moment.”

“Maybe not, but I have no regrets. He deserved it for hurting Jade.”

“That’s not why you did it, Tal.”

He chuckled. “You’re right, Sis. I did it out of jealousy. In the heat of the moment. And I got tased and locked up for it.”

“You did.”

“Why are you telling me this? Do you think Jade should talk to Colin?”

“I don’t know, honestly. I just know that at one time, Colin was a good guy, and now, after all he’s been through…”

“He doesn’t deserve mercy just because he’s been through hell. I never got a shred of mercy.”

“Talon, no one knew. You didn’t want mercy.”

“No, I didn’t. Did you think that maybe he doesn’t either?”

I scratched my head. “No. I honestly didn’t think of that.”

“Did you think maybe he’s blaming Jade for what he’s been through? If she hadn’t started a relationship with me, none of this would have happened.”

Now I felt like a dolt. “No, I guess not.”

“Don’t blame yourself. But trust me. When you go through something traumatizing, you play the ‘what if?’ game a lot. I did it for years.”

“I’m sorry, Tal.”

“Don’t be.”

“But you have an outlook that I don’t.”

“And Sis, I’m glad you don’t.”

I nodded, biting my lip. “Do you think Colin sees Jade as something from his former life, a life he’s desperate to cling to?”

“Something like that. I don’t know. I’m guessing. But it makes a certain amount of sense, don’t you think?”

I couldn’t deny it. “So rather than allow him to see Jade, who is part of his former life, he needs to deal with the life he has now.”

“Yup. And this is coming from someone who didn’t deal with his own shit for decades. That’s way too long, by the way.”

I nodded. Nothing to say to that. Poor Talon had suffered without help throughout the majority of his life, and I’d been ignorant of everything until only several short months ago.

He went on, “I don’t want anyone fucking with Jade’s emotions right now, and that’s what Colin would do. That’s what Brooke is doing. I’m putting a stop to it. Jade has enough to deal with at the moment.”

I nodded again. “I get it, and I agree. Colin won’t see Jade.”

“Or talk to her.”

“Right. I have his number.” I pulled out the card he’d given me at the smoothie shop.

“Give it to me. I’ll make sure he’s blocked on Jade’s phone, just in case he has her number.”

I handed it to him.

It was the right decision. For Jade.

But something invisible swept over the back of my neck. Colin wasn’t going to disappear. Something was going to go down.

This wasn’t over.