Laiken scowled at Hayes. “I like your brother. He was giving me all the warm and fuzzy vibes, but he’s currently on my shit list.”
Hayes held up both hands. “I didn’t do anything.”
Her eyes narrowed on him. “You share DNA.”
“It’s okay, Laiken. Really. Beckett has a job. He doesn’t owe me anything.”
Hayes turned his focus to me. “Addie—”
“Really, Hayes. It’s fine.”
“He’s hurting.”
I stilled at that. “What do you mean?”
Hayes’ gaze drifted towards the window as if he were searching the area where his brother had once been. “I honestly don’t know, but something’s going on. This tweaked him. It’s not that he doesn’t care about you; he just couldn’t handle it.”
I let my eyes fall closed, taking a deep breath. I had to breathe through the temptation to rebuild every wall Beckett had crashed through. This time, I wanted to build them higher and reinforce them with steel. Only that wouldn’t get me the life I dreamed of. “I’m sorry he’s hurting.”
Hayes turned back to me. “Don’t cut him off for it. I get the sense he needs you.”
I liked the idea that maybe Beckett and I were leaning on each other. That it wasn’t just me who needed him. “I’ll be here for him when he’s ready.”
Beckett was the master of giving me space to tell him things but also asserting a gentle pressure to let him in. Maybe he needed the same.
The tension in Hayes’ shoulders relaxed a fraction. “Thank you.”
My lips curved as I looked at my cousin’s fiancé. “You’re a good man, Hayes. Your family is lucky to have you. So is Everly.”
He looked taken aback by my words, shuffling his feet. I couldn’t hold in my laugh. “You look like I told you it was time for you to dye your hair pink and run naked through the streets.”
Laiken let out a snorted laugh. “She’s not wrong.”
Hayes scowled at both of us. “I did not.”
“You kind of did,” I said. “It’s okay to take a compliment now and then.”
“Thank you,” he gritted out.
Laiken laughed harder. “Someone call the EMTs. That might’ve killed him.”
Hayes shook his head, his gaze coming to me. “She’s worried about you, you know.”
I stiffened. “Everly?”
He nodded. “She loves you and wants so badly for you to be happy.”
“I am happy. The happiest I’ve ever been.” I twisted my fingers together. “I don’t need her worry.”
Hayes was quiet for a moment. “It feels like pressure?”
“In a way. It makes me feel like I have to be on guard whenever I see her.” As I spoke, I realized it was another piece of the puzzle that was that relationship. “I can’t relax when I feel like she’s constantly evaluating me.”
“I get that, but maybe if you two spent more time together, you’d get past that phase. You’d both be able to relax.”
“You might have a point.”
Hayes smiled at me. “I’ve been known to have one now and again.” He reached out, moving slowly, and I didn’t flinch when he patted my shoulder. “Come over for dinner sometime. Bring that brother of mine. It’ll be good for all of us.”