Hope for Him (Hope Series Book #2) by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle Page A

Carrington. She was going to find out anyway.
    I turned my back to her and blurted it out. "Carrington's here."
    I waited for the fallout. I faced her. She sat with her hands on her lap. She wasn't crying. She rubbed her chin and frowned. She shook her head and collapsed against the back of the couch.
    "Um ... what do you mean, she's here?"
    "She came back to FSU."
    "She's going to school here." Tiffany crossed her arms over her chest. "Why?"
    "What do you mean why? I don't know why!"
    "Why didn't you tell me this before?"
    "I didn't know."
    "Right, you didn't know. Your best friend," she applied air quotes, "didn't tell you she was returning to FSU."
    "She wanted to surprise me."
    "What did she do with the kid?"
    "You know his name. Jack's here, too."
    "Oh, great. Now you three can be one big happy family."
    "Tiffany." I kneeled next to her, but she stood up and walked toward the door.
    She had stopped before she reached it.
    "It's okay. I know what she means to you. You can break up with me if you want to."
    She gave me an out. How selfless of her? It wasn't like her. I didn't speak. I wanted her to walk out the door, and it would be done. I would be free, and Carrington and I could be together.
    But she didn't leave. She stood there. She waited for me to say something.
    A whimper escaped her lips, and she held her hand over her mouth. Her shoulders shook, and I knew she was about to lose control. I debated whether to go to her. It was the good guy in me who felt the need to comfort crying women. I blamed it on my dad. He instilled in my brothers and me the skill or the burden—depending on how you look at it—of being thoughtful and caring men. It was a trait that made me a good leader. If my teammates were happy, I was happy.
    I went to her and wrapped my arms around her from behind. She whimpered at my touch and stepped away, but I didn't let her get away. I pulled her to me and she let out a sigh that reached through my chest and punched me in the heart. I didn't want to hurt her. I surprised myself. Maybe I did care a little.
    "Tiffany, shhh. Don't cry."
    I turned her around, and she hid her face from me. I touched her face, and she sighed. I pulled her to me and she cried, but not hysterical sobs. It was all quite dignified.
    "I don't want to lose you," she whispered, and she wrapped her arms around me, one hand snuck under my shirt and up my spine.
    "You're not losing me." I led her over to the couch and sat her down. I pushed her hair out of her face and wiped the tears. I couldn't do it. I couldn't cut her off.
    Dammit. Why can't I be an asshole like other guys?
    Tiffany meant a lot to me. She'd helped me move on with my life. The last three months, it'd been her and I. And while Carrington was on my mind, I’d developed feelings for Tiffany. I just hadn't realized how much.
    Bottom line, it was hard to let her go.
    If Carrington had told me at the beginning of the summer that she was coming back to school, things would be different. I could have made a clean break with Tiffany. If I had known, I would never have gotten more involved with Tiffany.
    Why didn't she tell me sooner?
    I held Tiffany, and she relaxed and clung to me. I held her tight.
    We sat there holding each other, afraid to speak. I didn't trust myself to say the right thing. I didn't know what the right thing was. My feelings for Carrington had not changed, but maybe my feelings for Tiffany had grown.
    Richard had a point. Tiffany and I made sense on so many levels and Carrington came with baggage. A seven-forty-seven size airplane full of it. With everything going on in my life, why make it even more complicated?
    "Why did she come back?" Tiffany asked.
    "I don't really know."
    "Did she come back to be with you?"
    I could speculate why she came back, but I didn't want Tiffany to feel any more insecure.
    "No. She said she wanted to finish what she started. She doesn't want what happened to her last year to keep her from her original