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I had to stand up for myself.
I was doing that by getting in his face, and even though he smelled like literal heaven, I didn’t back down. I wouldn’t. I wet my lips. “You’re completely and ridiculously unbelievable. Do you know that?” The audacity he had for coming at me. The audacity he had for getting mad at me, all things considered. “I owe you nothing. Nothing, do you understand that?”
I really hadn’t wanted to come here today. I’d wanted to go home, but something happened when I saw Bruno at the airport.
Bru…
He looked so different now, completely different. For starters, he was like two Brunos with his size. He had arms nearly as big as Thatcher Reed’s beneath his jacket, which he’d put on after I ran into him in the airport. Thatcher was Wolf’s childhood friend, and the guy was huge, just like Bruno.
I guessed it was Bru now. He’d asked me to call him that when he’d seen me at the airport, and how crazy that had been. I hadn’t seen him in years, and even though I hadn’t, it’d been like no time had passed seeing him. He’d been a rock for me back then, a kind face in the midst of so much trauma.
But then you left.
I had to after what I did to Cissy Armstrong. She’d locked me in a car knowing I was afraid of them after my dad died. He’d died in a car crash, and I’d been at the wheel.
She knew that.
I didn’t regret standing up for myself, but I did regret what I’d done in retaliation. I hurt her physically, badly. It’d been so bad and completely out of character for me. I had to leave school after, leave Bruno, and things got so much worse after that. I got worse.
Bru stood there, and I couldn’t forget the look on his face after I told him what his brother did to me. How confused he’d been…
How angry.
I’d never really seen Bru’s angry side when we’d gone to school together. He’d always been that comfort for me, but the moment he found out about Wolf, he’d been furious. Immediately, he’d wanted to confront Ares, and I should have just let him.
But for some reason, I came with him.
For some reason, I wanted to step in and retract everything I said. I wanted to go to Ares himself and stop Bru from confronting him. I wanted to stop this like I wanted to protect Wolf or something, and that didn’t make any fucking sense.
But doesn’t it?
No, it didn’t. He’d hurt me, and regardless, I didn’t end up doing anything anyway when I saw him. It was like just being in front of him locked me up. It always locked me up, and I was tired of this shit.
Wolf started to open his mouth, but I wasn’t going to let him talk. He’d done enough talking, and it was my turn now.
“Red…”
But then he said that, Red, and he looked at me in a way that made me feel seen. It made my entire being blaze like I was bathed in fire and not given the courtesy of an easy death. A bullet to the heart would have been easier.
It was easier.
I backed away, unable to do this. Bru started to reach for me, go to me. I had to put up that barrier too because he had a way of making me feel seen as well. He gave me support in some of the worst moments of my life. He gave me his friendship, and even though it hadn’t been for long, that meant something to me. It made me stronger, and I didn’t want him to see how weak his brother made me. Bru had seen too many instances of me being weak in the past, and I refused to let him see that side of me again.
Ashamed, I ran off, and even left my bag. Bru had gotten both mine and his inside before we’d seen Wolf.
“Fawn!”
I think it was a combination of them both that called me, but I wasn’t able to identify if that were true. I opened the door, but stopped when I physically couldn’t go any farther.
I think three guys the size of literal marines had something to do with that.
CHAPTER TWO
Ares
The wrong time for the guys to come over. The wrong fucking time even if I had asked them. I’d wanted to tell them something and planned to do so tonight.
I’d planned to tell everyone really, and I’d planned for the kid, aka my little brother, Bru, to be part of that.
