The Day He Kissed Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake 3)

Cain opened his can and glanced between the two of them. “So who called bullshit and what’s it about?”

“Mac doesn’t think he’s good enough for Lily,” Jake said. “And that’s his excuse for bailing.”

Cain shrugged. “He’s right. He’s not.”

“See?” Mackenzie interjected. “You can’t call bullshit on that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t go that far, Draper,” Cain continued. “None of us are good enough for the women in our lives, not really. You just gotta hope that they never figure that shit out.”

“So my bullshit call stands,” Jake said.

“Whatever,” Mackenzie muttered. “It doesn’t change anything. I’m no good for her and now she knows. After the show I put on at the ballpark and the way I reacted earlier today, trust me, she’s already figured that one out.”

Cain glanced his way. “What about the baby?”

Damn. “Does everyone know?”

“No,” Jake answered. “Just us. Just the ones who count. Just the ones who know you. The ones who know that if you walk away from this woman and your child, a woman you just told me that you love, you will never forgive yourself. Sorry, Mac, but that’s a bullshit move and something your father would do.”

A shot of resentment ran through Mac, and it wasn’t because he was feeling sorry for himself or pissed off at his situation. It was because, as much as these two men were like brothers to him, closer than his family even, they didn’t know him. Not like they thought they did.

Jake and Jesse had grown up in a home with two loving parents, raised in luxury on the lake. And even though Cain’s dad had left before Mackenzie had met him, his mom was amazing, and Cain had always known that he was loved. Neither one of them had ever faced the belt or the back of a hand, or visiting the doctor with a mother who was coaching him to lie because it was his father who’d broken his arm and not a fall down the stairs.

That kind of shit never went away, and as far as Mackenzie was concerned, it would spill over into any kind of life he built for himself. So why the hell would he drag Lily down with him? Why would he tempt fate with a kid?

God, an innocent kid.

Just like he’d been at one time.

“I appreciate that you guys are looking out for me. Christ, it’s more than I deserve.”

“I hate when you do that,” Jake interrupted.

“What?” Mac said, sitting a little straighter.

“I hate when you talk as if you don’t deserve anything good. For fuck’s sake, Mac, you, more than anyone I know, deserve to be happy. You survived that house, that toxic mess that your parents created, and don’t think for one second that you survived it just to go through life alone. How is that fair? How is that not letting Ben win? Don’t let him win, Mac. Take what you deserve and live.”

“Jake, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah,” he said, leaning forward. “I do. You think that you’re going to turn into your father. You think that if you and Lily get together, you’re going to bloody her face or put her in the hospital. You think that if you accept her and this baby, that you’re going to be an asshole father like Ben was, but you’re wrong. I’ve seen you with your nephew. I’ve seen you with Lily. You’re not that guy, Mackenzie.”

Jake heaved a sigh, his dark eyes intense. “You were never that guy.”

Mac yanked on the brim of his cap, suddenly feeling exposed and wanting to disappear into the darkness.

The three of them sat together like that for a good, long while. Long enough for the dew to fall nice and heavy and soak their clothes through.

Long enough for each of them to lose themselves in their thoughts and for Mackenzie to run over the scene with Lily a hundred times.

God, he had hurt her.

With a groan, he sank his face into his hands and closed his eyes.

“Guys, I gotta go,” Cain said. “It’s nearly four in the morning, and if Maggie wakes up and finds me gone, she just may kick my ass. And that woman may be pregnant and all, but trust me, if she decides that she’s going to kick my ass all over Crystal Lake and back, she’ll do it.”

“You didn’t tell her you were heading out here?” Jake asked.

“Hell no. She was already asleep and right now sound-asleep Maggie is the nice Maggie. It’s the Maggie I hope I see when I go home.”