Page 102 of I Choose You

“No. No, you’re not,” she gently scolded as she rubbed my back. “Just take a deep breath.” Her hand didn’t stop. “Deep, deep breaths.”

Nausea mixed with the sinking pool of dread I couldn’t escape. My head throbbed, but in my heart, I ached. I shook my head.

“Deep breaths,” she preached patiently.

“I deserved that.”

She smacked my back. “Shut up. You did not.” She spun my chair to face me, and the topsy-turvy threat of puking returned. “You did not deserve a single second of that bullshit.”

I swallowed and frowned at her.

“You are not letting that asshole send you spiraling backward. He doesn’t have that power over you.”

I shook my head. He didn’t. I knew that. Now, as an adult and wiser than I was in high school, I knew that deep down. But I had the power to hurt Kaden. That was on me.

I was the one who’d so stupidly schemed and plotted against him for a stupid thing like revenge.

It would be my fault when he was hurt because of it. I did deserve a scolding for trying to wound Kaden. That was my fault, not Kody’s. Only mine.

And there wasn’t a single thing I could do to take it back.

I’d ruined it all.

35

KADEN

My concentration was shot. It didn’t matter how packed my day was or how many people I spoke to—I wasn’t focused. I made sure I didn’t snap at anyone, but I sure as fuck didn’t put one hundred percent into anything I had to do at the office.

After dropping off Brooke and scaring her into running away, I struggled. I was distracted, which aggravated me, and then that drove me back to thinking about her. It was a vicious cycle that wouldn’t stop.

I understood now why Dad was always adamant to keep his personal problems just that. Personal, to be dealt with off the clock so he could tend to work issues here.

That didn’t mean shit when the image of Brooke running away repeated. It was seared into my mind, rendering me useless.

“I’m not sure where Kody is. He hasn’t been himself,” Pamela said toward the end of the day. “He came back from lunch pretty upset about something.”

I scoffed, taking the papers from her. Probably another scorned woman. We hadn’t talked since I fought with him, but I wasn’t in the mood to deal with him today.

“I just need this signed.” Pamela straightened, glancing down the hall.

Speak of the devil.

He scowled, but the expression faded just a bit as he saw us. I could have sworn he stared at me for a moment too long. Maybe it was on the tip of his tongue to apologize and he didn’t want Pamela to see him groveling and so vulnerable.

Yeah, right. I rolled my eyes. I didn’t have it in me to deal with him and his attitude.

“Can you sign this, please?” Pamela took the papers back from me to hand to him. She had only sought me out because one of us had to sign it. Dad had gone home already. It was Kody’s department anyway.

Pamela volleyed her gaze between me and my brother. She raised her brows and held up the paper to snap him out of the staring contest he’d initiated with me. “Before five o’clock, if you don’t mind?”

He snatched the papers and scribbled his signature.

I turned away to leave. “See you tomorrow,” I called out to whoever was listening. I didn’t intend to hold a grudge against my twin, but I wasn’t ready to try to mend things with him today.

When I got home, I changed and debated between going for a run and drinking. Dinner was a better choice, though. Being hungry never helped anyone, and I felt somewhat more clear-headed when I sat at the island and finished the simple stir-fry I’d made.

Sitting in the chair Brooke had sat in last night brought back too many memories.