AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hey,” I said, pretending to be absorbed with writing an email.
“So, I’ve heard you and Natalie are…more than friends,” he said. Fuck.
“Yes,” I said, gritting my teeth and waiting for his judgment.
I looked up when he didn’t say anything.
“Yes?” I asked.
“No, no, I’m just surprised. After all that shit she put you through, you’re just going to turn around and forget about it.” His smirk deepened.
“I haven’t forgotten about it,” I snapped. “It’s none of your business.”
“I mean, I’m your brother and I’m just looking out for you,” he said.
“We both know that’s a lie,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Did you come in here just to pester me? How’s Gretchen?”
His cocky smile went away at the mention of her.
“She’s fine,” he said. Oh, I guess that was the wrong question to ask.
“And the baby?” I asked. I refused to participate in their gender nonsense.
“Fine,” he said. A vein pulsed in his forehead.
“And the wedding planning?”
He just walked away without saying anything.
Score one for the little sister.
* * *
Of course,Wyatt couldn’t let things go, and on his way out a few minutes later, he interrupted me again.
“You should tell Mom and Dad. Don’t want them finding out from someone else. They’d be so disappointed.”
I really wanted to tell him to fuck off.
“Don’t tell them. I will,” I said. “You just deal with your own shit.”
“I’m sorry for looking out for you. I guess I just remember when you were crying in your room over her. I thought you had higher standards for yourself.” He tapped the top of my desk and walked out, leaving me with that.
My fucking brother, everyone.
* * *
I tried notto let what Wyatt said get to me.
I tried and failed.
It had been such a short time since I’d even been able to stand being in the same room with Natalie without wanting to scream at her and claw her eyes out. The grief and pain of losing her was still so close to the surface. I didn’t have to reach far to find it. To feel how fresh it was.
I’d said I wanted to move on from those wounds, but what if they reopened anyway? What if I hadn’t given myself enough time to heal? I didn’t want to wake up one day and realize I’d made a horrible fucking mistake by moving too fast with her.
Natalie had been right to make rules. She’d been right to tell us to go slow, and I’d just been lost in a cloud of lust and good feelings. I’d willfully ignored everything else.
I never thought I would say the words, but maybe Wyatt was right.
