“You could just tell her how you feel, stop running circles around each other.” I turned to him, not missing the shocked expression that appeared on his face.

“Let me tell you something, brother, when it comes to advice…” he leaned into my face, “let me be the one that gives it. I’m not going to fuck up the good with something more.” I knew he meant every word he said. Even if there was a part of me that wanted to see him happy with Taylor, I wasn’t sure he would ever change his mind.

Once Chance made a decision, it usually stuck.

“Dad?” I bellowed as soon as I entered the house. Family pictures greeted me in the foyer, the same welcoming feel I always got when I was home, surrounded me in the most comforting ways.

“In here, Chase!” he yelled back from the direction of the kitchen, and I followed his voice. It was pure luck that I needed to come home and pick up my mail and things Mom found, but that wasn’t the only thing I needed to come home for. I needed to talk to my dad. I needed to know that I was making the right choice. Not just that, but I wanted to know that I wasn’t alone in what I was going through.

“Chance said you tried calling me, but couldn’t get me on my cell. What’s up?” I acted casual as I walked in on him mixing a large pot of something that smelled like vegetable beef soup on the stove.

When did he become Betty Crocker?

“Yeah, you have some mail here and of course, your mother found some more of your clothes.” He smiled. “You know how she is, finding whatever she can to get you guys to come home and visit.”

“As if we need a reason to come home or something?” I rolled my eyes as my dad’s deep laughter filled the room, but just as fast as it surrounded us it disappeared and a look of remorse flashed in his eyes.

“Actually, Chance called me and told me you were going through some shit with a girl, who happens to be one of your new roommates.”

Without thought, my teeth were clenched together and I was a second away from heading out the front door to kick my brother’s teeth down his throat. He had absolutely no fucking room to talk.

“It’s not like there is an issue per say,” I stated firmly. I didn’t plan on having to give my dad the complete play by play. I mean we hadn't talked about girls since I was thirteen when he had the talk with us.

“Nonsense, Chase, you’re my son. You should’ve come to me at the first sight of something going down.” He headed towards the fridge grabbing two beers. I watched him, wondering how my mother and he had stayed in love for so many years. Maybe it was the playfulness they had in their relationship. The sarcasm, jabs, and bantering.

No wonder I would fall for the first girl who put me in my place, I grew up with Mimi as my mother and Corey as my father.

“I wasn’t hiding anything. In fact I was going to come and get some advice, make sure that I’m making the right choice. Now, all I’m concerned about is how I’m going to pay Chance back for setting me up.” I popped the top on my beer and took a swig, letting the coldness of the beverage cool my temper.

“He’s your brother, as if you could expect any less of him. Plus, his time will come soon enough,” he added, taking a drink of his beer and I nodded my head in agreement.

Silence settled over us and I knew that I needed to confide in him, tell him what had happened between Gia and me.

“It started out casual, as everything does. She was different though, the way her eyes ate up the distance between us. The way her teeth sank into her bottom lip every time I caught her staring at me. She wanted me, and I’m not the type of man to not give a woman a taste when I see them on the prowl.” I smirked, laughing to myself. How big of a lie that all truly was. We both should’ve known that there was no tearing us apart once we came together. We were toxic, but at the same time exhilarating. It was like watching yourself come back to life after every kiss.

“Basically she eye fucked you and you gave her what she wanted?” I nodded, answering his question.

“Then shit changed. My heart started to pound when she came around, and I questioned all my actions, because for the first time in my life I wanted it to just be her and her alone.” My heart clenched with every word, as if it knew I was talking about her.

“Obviously that’s not what happened,” Dad mockingly said. Chance and I both looked like him with the same body stature and smile, but I had his eyes where Chance had Mom’s. We favored her just as much, though, the perfect blend of both of them.

“Of course not. She pushed me away and ran at every chance. Then a lie was told. I felt used, so I pushed her away. Plus, the road I was on before I clashed with her isn’t exactly a clear path. She’s scared of my past, of what I’ve done and what it could mean for her. For us. Like most people say, a leopard never changes its spots. In this scenario, I’m the leopard. I can’t change my spots, and she’s having a hard time seeing past them to believe that she is different to me.”

“Let me tell you something.” He closed his eyes and then blinked them open real fast as if he was reliving something from the past. “I made some really bad choices when your mom found out she was pregnant with you and your brother. I was scared, hell I was terrified, ready to drink a whole bottle of liquor and waste away in an alley somewhere.” I laughed because it sounded like something he really would do and a lot like something I have done.

“And don’t even get me started on our ‘I hate you’ relationship. I gave her shit all the time, she busted my balls every chance she got. We pushed each other past one another’s limits. That’s what we did. We hated each other. I was an angry boy and she was just looking out for her best friend. I remember this one time, her and your cousin Jenna showed up to one of my parties and pulled a prank on me for being a dick. I’ll let her tell you all about that one day, but the bottom line is no one could compare to her because none of them held my heart. They simply weren’t your mom. I couldn’t walk away from her, even though I tried, even when she tried. She fought against us while I fought for her. For you and your brother, for us and our family.”

“And then this is where you tell me you had the happily ever after bullshit with the ride off into the sunset, right?” I asked as I raised an eyebrow.

He pursed his lips in annoyance. “No, son, relationships take work. It doesn’t matter if it’s love or friendship. To keep the boat moving you have to make sure both people are rowing. If one person stops, the whole boat stops.”

I gripped the beer in my hand at his words of wisdom. I had been the reason Gia and I’s boat stopped rowing. I had pushed her away when she was standing there trying to be more than what we were.

“Stop over thinking it, Chase.” My father’s hand landed heavily on my shoulder. “What’s meant to be, will always be. If you care for her, go to her. If she wants you and she’s running from it, remind her why she should want you above everyone else.” My head was pounding from all the information that he had shoved at me, but I had a much clearer understanding of not only how my parents had managed to stay together this long, but how I could manage the same thing with Gia.

The same way he fought for us, I needed to fight for her.

Thoughts of Chase filtered in and out of my mind over the next week. I wanted to go to him and tell him that he was it for me. That he had been since the moment he smirked at me and opened his cocky mouth, yet I was still afraid all of this was just a figment of my imagination and the second I admitted my true feelings to him he would take his right back. I spent my time away from him, in my room every chance I got. I didn’t want to make a rash decision, one that would come back to bite me in the ass.