AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This time I can’t keep from pulling a disgusted face, as I say, “Give up already. You’re only making an idiot of yourself.”
His smile is quickly replaced with a sneer. “I hope you have a vibrator at home, because you can go fuck yourself, bitch.”
Ugh, some people are just born natura
l assholes. I turn my back to him, hoping he’ll leave me alone.
I down half my drink, pretending to be very interested in what’s happening on the dance floor. Someone bumps into me from behind, spilling something cold over my hair and down my back.
I dart up, ready to slap the bastard. I hear a muffled ‘sorry’ as I swing around. My eyes meet a wall of muscle that’s covered with a blue t-shirt. When it’s clear that it’s not the same creep from before, I quickly swallow the insults back down.
I glance up and it feels as if someone just punched me right in the gut.
Rhett places his drink back on the bar and smiles as he says, “Sorry, babe. Didn’t mean to spill my drink all over you.”
I can only stare at my brother, while feeling totally overwhelmed. He’s changed so much. His face is harder, and it’s missing the playful look he always had. I don’t recognize the smile on his face. It’s too stiff for Rhett. His smiles used to be able to light up a room.
“Damn, bro. We’ve just walked in, and you already got yourself a hot piece of ass,” Marcus says, the moment Rhett looks at me.
I see the moment he recognizes me. It plays over his face in waves of relief, shock, and then anger. His eyes drop to my boots, before they make their way back up to my face. He clenches his teeth and growls, “What the fuck, Mia?”
For a stunned moment, I can only look at my brother, hurt that those are his first words to me in three and a half years.
We used to be so close. After our parents died, Rhett became my world. He stepped right in and became my protector and safe haven. I idolized him. He was the one person who got me.
It feels as if I’m caught in a daze, as I turn around and walk away. My body is moving on its own, as I push my way through all the people standing around.
I can’t believe how upset he is. What happened to us? What did I do that was so bad?
Once I’m out the door, I dig in my bag for tissues. I find a few crumbled ones, and struggle to dry my back and hair. Ugh, it’s a lost cause. I just want to crawl into my bed and cry until I’m numb.
“Mia!”
Hearing Rhett behind me makes me feel torn in two. Part of me wants to run away from the pain, while the other half wants to turn around and bury myself in his arms.
I want to scream at him for just forgetting about me. I want to beg him to forgive me for whatever I did. The emotions are dizzying and suffocating.
He moves in front of me, blocking my way before I can decide whether I want to run or stay. Stubbornly, I look at the ground, refusing to show him how much he’s hurt me.
He takes hold of my shoulders and the touch shatters the walls I’ve worked so hard to build up. I throw myself at Rhett, wrapping my arms as tight as I can around his neck.
“Let me just hold you,” I whisper through the tears. “Just give me this moment.”
His arms move around me, and I feel him shudder as he holds me close. He smells so familiar … like home, and it tears at my insides.
“Mia,” I hear Josie call.
I don’t want to, but I force myself to pull away from Rhett.
His hands go to my cheeks, and he wipes the tears away with his thumbs, while forcing me to look up at him. When I see the tears on his face, I have to fight with all my strength to not break down again.
“Why?” I ask, hoping he’ll at least give me an answer. “Why did you just forget about me? What did I do wrong?”
A dark frown quickly replaces the emotional look on Rhett’s face, and right now he looks so much like Dad used to, right before we got a spanking.
He starts to shake his head slowly. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
I take two steps back, so he has to drop his hands.
