AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He slumps against his bed and buries his face into his hands, making a choked sound in the back of his throat. “I just want to sleep, for one fucking night. Without feeling like my leg is being ripped from my body.”
I take a step toward him. “Cole—
“I know,” he says, his voice quieter. I hear sniffles. “I know the truth, Colton.”
My body freezes, my heart dropping to the pit of my stomach. “W-what are you talking about?”
“I know what she’s doing to you.”
My breathing stutters and blood rushes between my ears with a loud roar. The floor disappears under my feet and the weight of me crashes down into the dark, never-ending abyss. I’m falling…and I don’t stop. The world spins and cold sweat covers every inch of my clammy body.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
“I hear her go to your room,” he chokes out. “And then I hear her leave after a while. She didn’t lock the door once… I saw her and you.”
He knows…
Cole knows the truth.
His words may have possibly killed me, and I stand there before him — with my lies and my truth between us. I clench my fists. “You saw…us?”
Breathe, Colton. Fucking breathe.
Cole slowly nods, without lifting his face from his hands. “You’re trying to protect me, I know that too.”
My nostrils flare as I close my eyes and try to suck in deep breaths.
“This can’t keep happening, Colton. I won’t allow it anymore. I’ll tell Dad the truth—"
“No!” I snap quickly.
His body jerks back at my loud voice, and he lifts his head, staring at me with red eyes and a tear-stained face. “Sienna is using you!” Cole hisses, getting to his feet. “She’s an abuser, who is taking advantage of you and our situation.”
“No,” I tell him again, this time having more control over my tone. But I’m still shaking from the inside. “You won’t tell Dad anything. He won’t believe you and he won’t hold Sienna responsible for her actions either. He. Does. Not. Care.”
In fact, I think my father already knows what Sienna has been up to. I wouldn’t put it past him. His wife is sleeping with his son, under his own roof, and he’s not aware of it?
No, I don’t believe that. Henry Bennett is not that stupid. He is fully aware of everything that’s happening under his roof. He has eyes and ears everywhere. I’m sure even the walls whisper their secrets to him.
My father knows…
And he doesn’t care.
“Then what are we supposed to do?” Cole bellows. He grips his hair, pulling on it. “Do I just sit here in my room, knowing what’s happening in yours?”
I march forward, standing before Cole until we’re toe to toe. Cupping the back of his neck, I tug him toward me. “Listen to me, Cole.” Our foreheads touch and I exhale a shaky breath. “We have less than two years left before we can leave. You’ll be going to Yale and I will be going to Harvard, just like we planned. We will be in different states, far away from our father and Sienna.”
“Two years is too long.” Cole shakes his head. “I refuse to continue watching her do this to you. To know that is what’s happening behind closed doors and to willingly turn a blind eye to it. That destroys me, Colton. You are my brother.”
My heart hiccups in my chest. “Less than two years.”
“Sienna—
“She’ll eventually grow bored of me and find someone else.”
