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Well...not this time.
“I didn’t touch her,” I ground out before another wheezed, “Fuck,” scraped up my throat when he shoved me against the frame a little harder.
“I pulled her into the bathroom,” I conceded. “That’s it.”
“My wife,” he said in a low, lethal tone.
“Yeah, I’ve heard you.”
“I shouldn’t have to keep reminding you of that.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “You’re like my brother, Chase. The hell are you trying to do to us with this shit?”
“I didn’t touch her,” I repeated, meeting his hardened stare and faltering when I realized I’d had Harper in a room and hadn’t done anything.
Hadn’t tried to kiss her. Hadn’t tried to prove that we were something. And I’d never had theurgeto.
I hadn’t been mesmerized by her lips. I hadn’t wanted to feel them. I hadn’t been consumed with the need to be closer to her. I’d stepped back. I’dleft.
“Have you considered that these memories might feel so real to you because they happened with someone else?”
Harper’s words replayed again and again until I was struggling to find the denial that had been so quick to rise earlier.
“You forced her into a room to talk to you,” Brandon said, and I gave a subtle shake of my head as I was brought back to the situation in the hall. “That’s more than you should ever do to anyone, but especially to her. To my marriage. To your relationship. To our friendship. Understand?”
“Yeah.Shit,” I hissed when he shoved off me.
“Stay away from my wife,” he warned as he took another step back to where Harper watched with a horrified look.
“Not sure I’ve caught that title yet,” I said dryly, my eyes rolling as I turned. “Might need to say it a few more times.” The words faded to nothing when I caught sight of the woman at the end of the hall.
Standing tall, even though it looked like she was crumpling. Arms wrapped tightly around her waist. Face devastatingly blank, but her eyes were screaming with pain.
Fuck.
My entire body reacted.
Knees nearly giving out. Arm twitching like I could reach her from where I stood. Chest shredding and tearing open like I might have something to offer her.
Like she might own part of me.
“You don’t need to explain,” she began, voice thick with emotion and forcing a jagged breath from me, “I heard everything.”
“Everything,” Brandon echoed when Scarlet turned and left. “She was the one who made me realize why Harper hadn’t come back. She was standing here with me until the end.”
“Oh no,” Harper whispered before hurrying in the direction Scarlet had gone, but I just stood there.
Unable to move.
Mind racing as I thought about all I’d said.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Yeah,” Brandon muttered as if he could hear my thoughts. “If this is your reaction to that...I’d give anything to make you see her pain when we got in the hall and realized the two of you were in there.” He took a few steps away before glancing at me from over his shoulder. “Looked like she was drowning in it.”
“I get it.”
“Do you?” he shot back.
“I don’t know how to do this,” I snapped. “I can’t figure out what’s going on or what I’m feeling. I can’t figure out what’s real. Give me a fucking break.”
