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And honestly, I was wondering the same thing. Oh, wait. We weren’t really together. That was just a brief fantasy I’d had.
It was too early for all this bullshit.
Sophia looked equally lost. She bit her lip and looked down like she was ashamed. Of him or me or the situation, I couldn’t tell. All I knew was that I didn’t like it.
I had to fix it. Before I could, Nix opened his mouth again.
“Just saying, if I had a woman like that in my bed, I’d work to keep her satisfied.”
I gritted my teeth. “How about you worry about yourself? And keep your damn nose out of my bedroom and away from my girl.”
Nix’s eyes flicked between me and Sophia again then he laughed. “Oh, I get it. This is purely transactional. That’s why she needs help with her computer. Did the wire transfer not go through?”
Fisting my hands, I stepped in front of Sophia to protect her from my brother’s ugly accusation. “Apologize. Now.”
“Whoa. You know I didn’t mean it like that. Let’s not get crazy and blow things out of proportion, now.”
“The only crazy one here is you. We’re not doing this, Nix. I’m done.”
In my periphery, I could see Kevin hovering uncertainly at the back door. No doubt he’d let my brother in. I ignored Kevin and kept my gaze on my erratic brother.
“Rome,” Sophia murmured behind me as she placed a hand on my shoulder. “I think you need to take a breath. Let’s not do anything that’ll be hard to take back later.”
“You mean like how he just called you a whore?” I huffed. “Look at him. He’s not even sorry. You don’t know our history, Sophia. This is his M.O. He swans in here, stirs up shit, and then he’ll disappear in the middle of the night. We’ll be lucky if he even makes it to the funeral. And he’ll probably help himself to something of mine to hock on his way out the door.”
“I’m offended.” Nix raised his palms and cocked his head. “I’ve changed, Rome. I’m not that guy anymore.”
“You look and sound exactly the same to me.” I snorted. “I’m done. And you’re done here. See you at the service, bro. If you can even stand upright by then.”
Nix’s head went back like he’d taken a punch. “So it’s like that, is it?”
“You know me. I’ll do anything to protect the ones I love.” The words came out of my mouth without a thought. I flinched. There was so much to unpack there, but I didn’t have time.
“Except me, apparently,” my baby brother muttered as he pushed away from the counter. “This is bullshit. I’ll be at King’s. He doesn’t have a whole list of demands for me to hang out at his place. And he knows how to treat his baby brother.” Nix shook his head as he left the room.
A few beats later, the front door slammed, followed by the roar of his engine as he peeled out of my driveway.
It felt like we all let out our collective breaths as the sound faded away.
Finally, Kevin cleared his throat. “Uh, I’ll just be outside when you’re ready, Roman.”
I nodded, looking everywhere but at the person who I owed an apology and an explanation. But I didn’t know how to start.
“Family, huh?” Sophia joked quietly.
I hummed in agreement. That had been…ugly, to say the least. “Is it ridiculous that I feel guilty? I mean I started the fight and now…”
“I’d guess he started it. You guys didn’t seem to be getting along when I got here, judging by your body language. And then he said…that. Pretty sure most—if not all of it—is on Phoenix.”
“Maybe,” I muttered. I still felt like a jerk, though. To Sophia and Nix. And I didn’t know how to fix it. So I did the next best thing—I ignored it. “Jeff will be here in a bit. He can answer your IT questions. I gotta workout.”
“Oh, okay.”
I could tell by her expression it was anything but okay. But I couldn’t stand here and do the whole post-mortem thing. That comment I’d made earlier was still circling my brain.
I’ll do anything to protect the ones I love.
When did Sophia get lumped into that category? I didn’t love her. I liked her. I just didn’tlikelike her. Damn, I was getting a headache.
