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“Watch it,” Alec interrupts, low and calm.
We both ignore him.
“You wouldn’t be so upset.” Rowan steps closer to me, and my spine straightens. “If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be about to cry. Oakley …”
“Rowan,” Alec warns.
But Rowan takes another step toward me. “I am sorry that I hurt you. I’m sorry I took what you were offering me for granted, but most of all, I’m sorry it took all this for me to realize—”
My breath locks in my throat in the same moment Alec’s hand locks on Rowan’s shoulder.
Rowan’s eyes bore into mine, making me shake my head back at him. He stands tall, ready to say whatever is on the tip of his tongue. But Alec sees it, too, and when Rowan’s chin lifts, so does Alec’s fist.
He barely gets, “I,” past his lips before it’s split open.
I gasp and go to rush forward, but Alec’s arm wraps around my waist, and I’m deposited behind him in the same move when he spins and shifts away from me, just in time for Rowan to tackle him to the floor.
“Alec, Rowan, stop!”
When they both pay me no mind, I throw my hands up, turn, and walk away.
They wanna act like little boys? Fine. Let ’em go at it.
I’ve got something to do anyway. Better Alec is occupied with this.AlecI toss Rowan off the minute Oakley exits, hopping to my feet, and Rowan’s on his just as quick.
He wastes no time in stepping in and throws his fist as hard as he can, nailing me in the jaw.
My head jerks back, and blood spills from my mouth.
“I’m sick of your bullshit, Alec!” he screams.
He charges me, but I’m faster to sidestep and jam my elbow between his shoulder blades, making him fall to one knee with a wail before he’s back up and spinning to face me again.
His eyes flare. “You walk around here like you belong, guard-doggin’ her as if she wants you to, not giving a damn that you have a woman waiting on you at home! Oakley’s fucking home that you refuse to leave!” He shoves me back an inch, his left hand coming up for a swift jab.
I grip his wrist and spin him, catching him in a headlock, but he elbows me in the stomach, making my grip loosen just enough for him to twist and spit in my face.
I shove him off, and he comes right back.
“Just get the fuck out of here. Why did you even come back?”
“I never planned to stay away!”
“That’s a damn lie!”
“It’s not.”
“No? You just upped and fucking left the minute you started acting like my brother for fucking once without even telling me you were going! I had to hear it from Mom the same fucking minute Oakley heard. I had to lie and pretend like I knew my brother had left because what kind of brother takes off without caring to share with the other?”
Fuck. “I’m—”
He growls, leaping forward, and catches me with a heavy hand below the eye before I see it coming.
“Goddamn it, Rowan.” I spit on the floor, my eyes narrowing in on him. “One fucking more, and I’ll lay your ass out.”
He laughs humorlessly. “Fuck you! Standing there, trying to prove yet again that you’re better. I’d never fucking abandon my family, but maybe you never considered me your family after all.”
“For fuck’s sake, we are family. And I was on a damn job. I was going to come back regardless.”
“Yeah, for who?” He tilts his head, his breathing heavy. “For Mom? For me? Or for Oakley?”
When I don’t say a word, his eyes harden.
“You had no problem with treating me like I was beneath you, taking off without a word, and then coming back and stealing Oakley right from under me—”
“She’d have had to be yours for me to steal. She wasn’t.”
“She was mine. You might not have seen it, but when I was with her, I felt it!” he shouts, taking a deep breath, stabbing his chest with his fingers. “I feel it! I’m in love with—”
I dart forward, gripping his throat before he can continue.
His eyes bulge, his hands coming up to grasp my wrists.
“No, you’re not,” I force through clenched teeth. “You know as well as I fucking do, you do not love her.”
I shove him off, and he jerks back, his fists clenching at his sides.
Our gazes stay locked a moment before he focuses his stare on the padded gym wall.
“As much as you wish you were, you’re not in love with her, man.”
“But I-I …” Rowan stutters, his tortured eyes sliding back to mine. His hands come up before slapping down against his sides, a deep crease taking over his forehead. “I’m supposed to be, aren’t I?” he asks, but he’s not looking for me to answer. “I mean, she’s been there for me since forever and loved me when I didn’t even know it. And, even when I did, I ignored it. And she’s still here.”
