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Who were fragile.
It was like we’d stepped back into old roles when he took my hand in the foyer. He’d been a lifeline instantly and with no questions asked. That was just Bruno Sloane.
Bruno Sloane-Mallick now.
This was all so complicated. This was all so messed up, and I hated this. I hated it for everyone, but I hated Wolf even more. I hated that he’d done this, and that I’d contributed to it. I especially hated how I kept thinking about him, and that he was somewhere in this house too. I loathed that I wondered about what he was going through and what he was feeling while he did. I hated that I wondered if he was okay.
Like he ever, ever had the right to get that from me.
Maybe this was some residual Stockholm syndrome. Maybe I’d fallen for my bully, but I couldn’t let myself go back to that place. It broke me the first time. It broke me so bad.
I breathed into my hands. “He said he did it for you guys.”
“What?” Dorian stayed at the door after his question, like he was locked there, but that certainly hadn’t stopped his quest for answers.
I nodded. “He said he didn’t want you guys to worry about him. He wanted to show you he’d moved on and that he was okay.” I swallowed. “That he was okay after his cancer.”
Of course, this behavior was the opposite of okay, and the reaction to what I said chimed more than one curse in the air.
“That motherfucker,” rolled out of Thatcher Reed’s mouth. He wet his lips before working his jaw with his beefy hand. “He would.”
He would.
This behavior appeared to be not so crazy in this circle of guys, but that didn’t mean they were happy about it. Frustrations rang across all three of them. Especially Dorian who still hadn’t left the door. He was cracking his knuckles as he gazed away, and that was when Wells leaned forward.
“So, it was all fake, then? All of it?” he asked me, and Thatcher lifted his head. He’d been staring at the floor. Wells shook his head. “For weeks, just fake?”
I started to speak, but hesitated a beat. I think that had something to do with Dorian. I gained his attention, and the intensity of his stare could only challenge one person. Wolf was also very intense when one happened to receive his full attention. He didn’t go in weak about it. He made you feel it, and I borderline suffocated beneath it.
I had been suffocated and was so tired of the lack of air. I was tired of feeling like I was drowning all the time. I’d tried a lot of vices in my life, but none were as raw and visceral as Wolf Mallick. He was the worst fucking high, and coming down had one hundred percent killed me.
“It was fake,” I told the room, and I said that with confidence. It wasn’t possible to fall in love with something that wasn’t real, and even though Wolf had told the truth tonight, I doubted that had anything to do with me. He didn’t love me, never had.
And to that he’d been clear.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ares
“You really paraded this girl around like an object for weeks, Ares? Lying to us… What in God’s name were you thinking?”
My mom had always been the hard-ass between both of my parents. She was the one who voiced her opinions while my dad typically sat back in the supportive role. That went the same for this moment, my mom basically chewing me out in front of my siblings. Sloane couldn’t even look at me during all of it, but Bru was doing enough of it for the both of them. The kid had been giving me nothing but the stink-eye this entire time, like he had nothing to do with this moment.
He didn’t have anything to do with it.
In my mind, I knew that, but that still didn’t stop me from being pissed off at him. Was that illogical and completely fucked up? Yeah, but that was me.
The fuckup.
I was fucked up, and my entire family (and the guys) were seeing that now. Thatch, Dorian, and Wells were somewhere in the house with Fawn, and that was honestly where I wanted to be. I didn’t want to be around the guys right now. They’d be giving me just as much of a handling for what I’d done, but I did want to make sure Fawn was okay. That was illogical too, but I couldn’t help feeling that way.
She shouldn’t have been here for all of this.
I cut a look to Bru then, and he cut one right back. He had his own words to say about all this undeniably, and I was sure I’d hear them just like the boys later.
And Sloane.
Like stated, my twin couldn’t even look at me. She’d stopped looking about the same time I’d been forced to admit why I had done all of this. I told my family I hadn’t wanted them to worry about me, and a fake girlfriend had been the solution. I told them what they needed to know in that moment, and yeah, it was the truth.
