“But now I have hurt her. I hurt her all along by keeping this secret from everyone she cares about. I hurt her, I hurt you and I hurt your mother. And for that I’m deeply sorry. I ask you to forgive me. And then I’m going to go ask your mother to forgive me. After that I’m going to beg Harmony to forgive me. I’m in love with your sister, Drake. And I’m not giving up on her until she lets me back in.”

Drake breathed in, then let it out. “Man. You’re in love with my sister.”

“Yes.” He was going to stand there and take whatever Drake handed out.

“I have to own some of this because I have a rep as a Class A dick where she’s concerned. All of it has come from a place of love. I’ve felt the need to protect her since she was a baby. But Mama has finally opened my eyes to the fact that Harmony is now a grown woman. And she can make her own choices, even if those choices end up with her getting hurt. And if she ends up getting hurt, I need to learn to stand by and support her without getting involved.”

Drake’s lips ticked up. “It’s obvious she loves you, or she would have never put up with this bullshit from you, man.”

“This is not making me feel better,” Barrett said.

“Good. I respect you for coming here and laying this down with me. I love you, man. I don’t like things to be off between us.”

“I don’t, either.” Barrett took a step forward and put his arms out.

Drake hugged him, and they slapped backs.

He’d never felt more relieved.

“We’re good?” Barrett asked.

“Yeah. We’re good. Now you need to go make it right with my sister.”

“I intend to. And we need to figure out how we fucked up that game with Dallas so that shit never happens again.”

Drake nodded. “You got that. We’ll be back in the game in no time. Now that we got our personal shit settled.”

“Almost settled. I have to go get the woman I love to forgive me.”

Drake laughed. “Good luck with that, my man. Harmony’s tough.”

Yeah, he knew that. It was one of the reasons he loved her.

Thirty-Eight

Harmony had decided to paint one of the walls in her living room to give the room a pop of color. No doubt it was some form of breakup therapy.

She had tarps down, the baseboard was taped, and there she was on a Tuesday night, wearing her raggiest set of shorts and T-shirt, wielding a paintbrush.

She was halfway through when the doorbell rang.

Dammit. She laid the brush against the roller tray, grabbed the rag to wipe her hands and went to the door, shocked to see her brother there.

She hadn’t yet gotten past her anger.

“Hey,” she said.

He had the decency to look crestfallen. “Hey yourself, baby sis. Okay if I come in?”

“I guess.” She stepped aside and led him into the living room.

Drake surveyed the living room wall, then looked over at her. “Doin’ some painting?”

“A little. What brings you here, Drake?”

He turned to face her. “I’m here to apologize for acting like such an ass around you for so long. I guess I have to realize you’ve grown up, and I haven’t come to terms with that. I was wrong to attack Barrett, but more importantly, I’ve been wrong about you for a lot of years now. I need to let go and let you live the life you choose.”

Big admission coming from Drake. “I appreciate that. But words only mean so much to me, Drake. It’s actions that’ll mean more. Which means that you need to step back, let me make mistakes, let me make choices that might hurt me. Because I need to own my life.”

“I know that. And I’ll work on it, I promise. But you know that if you need me, if you’re ever in trouble, I’ll always be here for you.”

She realized then that he was afraid for her, just as he’d been afraid for her when she was a little girl and she’d crawled into his lap and cried when she’d fallen down and bloodied her elbow. He loved her and he always would.

She walked into his arms and hugged him. “I love you, Drake.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “I love you, too, Harmony.”

Tears pricked her eyes. She really did love her brother. And when he squeezed her tight, she realized how much he loved her, too.

She pulled back and he smiled at her.

“We’ll always be the devilish duo, like Mama used to call us.”

He laughed, and she saw tears in his eyes. “Hell yeah.”

“Did you and Barrett talk?”

He nodded. “Yeah. We’re good.”

“I’m glad.”

“He come talk to you yet?”

“No. I’m not sure that can be fixed.”

He reached out and took her hand. “Sure it can. Give it some time, and when he calls, listen.”

She shrugged. “We’ll see.”

“Well, I gotta go. Got a hot date tonight.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t you always?”

He grinned as she walked him to the door. “Got a rep to maintain, ya know.”

They hugged again at the door and she closed and locked it.

Okay, she felt marginally better now that she and Drake had straightened things out.

She went back and picked up the roller, attacking the wall again. Not twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang again.

What the hell now? She laid the roller down, grabbed the rag to wipe her hands and went to the door, looking out to find Barrett there.