One Chance (Hogan Brothers 1)

Standing again, she pushed him away. Feeling like a complete jerk, she told him, “I need to be alone,” and walked from the room. He called her name, but she couldn’t respond. She just needed time to think. To come to grips with everything she’d found out.

Walking out the front door, she was unsurprised when Braxton fell into step beside her. “Go away,” she mumbled to him, not bothering to look at him as she walked.

“Not happening,” he responded while texting someone. Chancing a look over, she saw Nox’s name at the top of the screen. “Don’t worry, I told him I’ve got you.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

As much of a pain in the ass as Braxton could be, she knew he’d leave her alone to stew in her thoughts. Nox wanted to fix things. He wanted to conquer the world for her, and she loved that, she honestly did. But this was one thing he couldn’t fix. She had to find out on her own what it all meant to her. How to work through her emotions and decide on what to do about her sister.

Sister.

Elianna.

She had a sister. Her entire life she’d wanted a sibling. She had wanted someone to share things with, to make her feel like she wasn’t alone in her cold home. Now she had one, and she felt nothing but betrayal.

“Don’t close him off,” Braxton warned her after a while.

“I’m not,” she mumbled, not up for talking.

“You kind of are,” he pointed out.

“Go away.” She repeated her earlier statement.

Gripping one arm, he pulled her to a stop on a street she didn’t even recognize. “Not happening, Sophia. Now listen to me. He’s a man. We naturally want to fix things for the girls we fall for. Let him.”

“How exactly is he supposed to fix this, Braxton? In a matter of days, I’ve found out my torturous mother isn’t actually my mother, and my father fell in love with my real mother, but she died, so he stayed with a woman who hates us both. Now, I find out I have a sister! A fucking sister. Someone who could have alleviated the pain of being in that house. And God only knows where she’s been since our mother died. Do you know, Braxton? Have you met her?” She was yelling, and she couldn’t help it.

“You said fuck,” he pointed out, and she wanted to kick him.

“That’s what you took out of that?” she barked at him.

“What I took out of that is that you’re scared as hell. Your entire world is changing, and you don’t know how to process it all. Can’t say I blame you there, kid, but let me ask you this. Are you more afraid of the revelations with your family, or what Nox makes you feel?” His words were a slap in her face.

“What?” she whispered, perplexed.

“Through all of this, with every secret revealed, you’ve run to Nox. Now, when there’s this, a sister, you’re running from him, Soph. That man fucking worships the ground you walk on, and you’re running.”

The wind got knocked from her as the truth of his words sank in. She was running. She didn’t mean to. Subconsciously, the thought of her parents lying to her for so long and so deeply must have had her thinking Nox could, too.

“I didn’t realize.” She heard how horrified she sounded to her own ears.

“Soph?” Lennox’s voice penetrated her fogged mind. Looking around Braxton, he was there, watching, waiting.

Strong.

Solid.

Hers.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, her voice cracking slightly.

He opened his arms for her, and she ran to him. Uncaring of the stitches in her leg pulling or the pain in her wrist throbbing, she swung her arms around his neck.

“I’ve got you, Sophia.”

Did he ever. She never had a doubt about that, but she had doubts about her own worth when it came to loyalty and love. Because if her parents could burn her so deeply, how could someone else not? It was something she would struggle with for a while.

“I need to see her,” she murmured in his ear.