“H—he d—doesn’t d—deserve her.”
I couldn’t agree with him more, but I also wasn’t sure how to voice that out loud.
“Do you love her?”
He shook his head.
“I—I l—love L—Lindy.”
Shoulders slumping, I sighed. “She came to see you.”
“Sh—she did?”
“Yeah, she just wanted to check on you. But I scared her off.”
His eyes went back to the window. If he was lost in thought, it was hard to tell because he looked like he was losing track of everything.
“You could do better than her, Sandman.”
He remained silent.
“She doesn’t deserve you.”
More silence.
It was obvious he was done talking.
“Look, I’m sorry for scaring her off. But I was just protecting you. You’re my brother, and I’ll be damned if some woman is going to waltz in here while you were practically on your death bed with crocodile tears and shit.”
Ever so slowly, his head moved to look at me, his mouth set in a frown.
“Th—that’s n—not y—your decision t—to make.”
He was right. Who was I to prevent the woman who ruined his life for the last few years from coming in to ruin it more?
“I’m sorry.”
His hand slowly raised. “I—it’s o—okay.”
My cell phone rang, breaking up the conversation.
“Yeah?”
“Church in thirty,” was all Clash said before the line went dead.
“E—everything ok—kay?”
I shook my head. With the way Sabbath left the building and the shit he pulled in the lobby, there was no telling what was about to unfold.
“Probably not, but I’ll make sure to let you know everything when I get back, okay?”
“O—okay.”
I patted his hand as I stood, making my way toward the door.
“Jesse,” I said, looking over my shoulder.
His blank gaze met mine.