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“No, he’s an asshole and always has been. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, really. Your brother might not be.”
Tori hadn’t had a chance to see the wound up close, and her stomach roiled at how bad it could be. The image of the blood and broken glass was still fresh in her mind.
Since Blake was guarding Ryan—who appeared mostly conscious and sulking now—she went to tend to James.
He was near the sink, blotting the side of his head with a wet paper towel.
“Here, let me.” She took it from him and gently pushed the dark hairs back off his temple to check out the injury.
She pursed her lips and pulled a sliver of glass from his hairline, then carefully blotted the wound.
“I don’t think it’ll need stitches,” Blake offered from across the room. “But it should be cleaned up and have some Steri-Strips put on there. Once the police arrive to arrest this jerk, I can run to my truck and grab my first aid bag.”
God bless off-duty paramedics.
“I’m the jerk?” Ryan laughed like it was the funniest thing on the planet. “These two made me lose my job. A lawyer who couldn’t pass the bar and a former stripper took me down.”
“Stripper?” Kris harrumphed. “Nice try.”
“You didn’t know?” Ryan grinned. “Oh, yeah. Your bestie here used to get paid to play video games naked.”
“What?” Kris glanced toward Tori, her eyes round. “That’s not true. Is it, Tori?”
Tori’s heart sank. So much for keeping that in the bag. “There’s a lot we need to catch you up on.”
“Ryan, you just don’t know when to stop.” James walked over to the couch. “You’ll be lucky if all those women at the firm don’t file a lawsuit. And now you’ve added assault to your resume.”
“Ah, fuck you all. And don’t worry. Since you were so quick to ruin my life, I figured I’d return the favor, James. I told your parents, my aunt and uncle, all about Tori and her hobbies.”
The sick feeling in Tori’s stomach started to bloom like toxic algae. Ryan had aired her dirty laundry to the whole Watson family? To Kris and James’s parents, who she adored and had always wished could be her own.
Fortunately, she was saved from replying by the arrival of the police.
After Tori gave her statement to the officers, she glanced around at the disarray. There was broken glass, blood, and a broken lamp on the usually tidy apartment floor.
Blake was cleansing and closing James’s wound. Kris was talking to one officer while the other hauled a belligerent Ryan out the door in handcuffs.
It was utter chaos.
And it’s your fault.
As much as she didn’t want to believe it, the dark voice in her head was winning.
James didn’t deserve this. He was a good guy, who came from a good family. Ryan was right about that. Maybe he’d been right about a lot of things.
Like... James probably didn’t love her. Sure, he liked her. But love? Not as much.
Which was unfortunate, because when she’d seen him lying on the floor injured, it’d been all too clear what he meant to her. What it would mean if she ever lost him.
The urge to cross the room and move Blake aside so she could tend to her man was strong.
She wanted to be in his embrace again and never leave. To feel his strong arms around her and his heart beating. To reassure herself he was fine, and that she was too. To know that they’d always be there for each other.
If that wasn’t love, she couldn’t fathom what the emotion could actually be.
She swallowed against the lump in her throat and bit her lip to hold back any tears.
