AllFreeNovel
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I smirked. “I thought we already established he is?”
“Oh for the love of—” Donovan squeezed the bridge of his nose. “This is payback, isn’t it?”
“No. Payback would be you having to watch.”
I wasn’t sure if it was the lighting or what, but Donovan turned visibly green.
“Shit, I’m sorry.” He blew out a breath. “I swear to God, if I could turn back time, I would’ve just told you so you didn’t have to see all that.”
And bythat, he meant the porn scenes he’d secretly shot with Kelly that all our friends had watched in our apartment one day. No one had caught on because he was always in a mask, but there was a distinguishable birthmark I’d seen that day…
I shuddered, not wanting to relivethatparticular memory. I’d lost my shit on Donovan about it, because hello, how could I not want to stab my eyeballs out after that?
“And,” Donovan continued, “I’m also sorry that you felt you needed to move out. That was never my intention.”
“You thought we’d all be happy roomies after that? When we shared a wall and not even noise-canceling headphones could block you two out?”
Donovan had the sense to at least look apologetic. But hell, it wasn’t his fault his romantic life had been thriving when my own had been in the shitter.
“Look, it wasn’t all your fault,” I said. “Things weren’t good with Joey back then, and maybe I was a little…”
“Jealous?”
“Resentful.” I twisted the tab of my soda back and forth until it snapped off. “It’s not like I didn’t want you to be happy. But seeing it made me realize my own relationship wasn’t great, and it sucked.”
“Yeah, you were a shithead for a while there,” he agreed, but then his expression turned dark. “About that… What don’t I know?”
“Meaning?”
“With you and Joey. He shows up with a black eye after you break up, and so does Daire. Why? And don’t tell me nothing. Daire’s fucking crazy, but he wouldn’t do something like that without a reason.”
Damn, I’d forgotten he only knew about the bullyingafterwe broke up. Daire was the only one who knew there was more toit, and it made me feel good to know I could trust him with my deepest, darkest secrets.
Well, even if he did retaliate against that asshole—but looking back, I couldn’t blame him for doing it. No point in protecting Joey now.
“He put his hands on me. Daire saw the bruises.”
I didn’t know my brother could look as murderous as he did right then.
“No,” he said, more to himself than me. He ran his fingers through his hair and gripped the ends tight. “What the fuck? Why? Why didn’t you tell me? Tellsomeone.”
“I left him. That was enough.”
“Bullshit.” Donovan jumped up and paced the trailer. “That’s not nearly enough. He hurt you.”
“And you guys did a stellar job of rectifying that wrong,” I said. “So thank you.”
“If I’d known that, I would’ve let Daire castrate him the way he wanted to.”
“What?”
“That fucking bastard. If he shows back up at Astor, I’ll kill him.”
“No, you won’t. It’s over. He’s not messing with me or anyone anymore. You all made your point more than well, and I appreciate it, but don’t go jump him in the hall.”
Donovan scoffed as he continued to pace. “Well, it won’t be in the hall. I heard he just transferred. Him and his dick followers.”
My mouth parted in surprise that was quickly followed by relief that I wouldn’t even have to look at Joey anymore. “Seriously?”
