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My patience was shot. “Noah! Shut up already and do your fucking job.”
Someone always had to be the bad guy. When I had dumped Tiffany, I had been painted as the bad guy, a commitment-phobe. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. I made sure that my PR firm set the media straight—that we had been doing long-distance, but we wanted to focus on our careers. Truth was, I doubted Tiffany had liked me at all. She was into me for my social circle, how much I made, and how being with me brought up her social status. I’d gotten tired of it.
Growing up with my mom, being the socialite that she was, and seeing how that had ruled her life, I wanted nothing to do with that or anyone who lived that lifestyle. I’d saved my ass by telling the truth then, and eventually, the rag mags stopped picking on me, but with Brandy … I wasn’t going to let her take the fall.
Although I knew she was in the wrong, I wouldn’t do it because, one, we were family and, two, it was the only way I knew how to live—to protect her.
And maybe that was my downfall.
“I’m going to do everything possible to get back on the field.”
“You haven’t seen the team doctor yet, Austin,” he pointed out, annoyed. “We don’t even know what’s wrong.”
“Whatever. I’m going to get it done.”
I didn’t wait for him to respond. Without thinking, I chucked my phone across the room, making Sydney jump. After that whole fight bullshit, the thing made a sickening noise as it skittered on the floor, proving it wasn’t invincible. Sydney approached it like it was a dead animal, picked it up, and handed it back to me, offering me a small, consoling smile.
“Thanks.” My head hung.
I wanted a rewind on this day, on this life, raising Brandy and spoiling her rotten. Giving her everything couldn’t have been good for her, right? Now, she thought she was invincible.
“I take it everything with Big Balls didn’t go too well,” she said.
I exhaled heavily. “The fight is all over social media. I’m trending on Twitter right now. Soon, there will be paps swarming this place.”
She dropped to the seat next to me and placed a light hand on my knee. “It’s going to be okay,” she said, repeating the words I’d said so many times to Brandy when our father left, when our mother was never home, when she got a bad grade, when she had a bad breakup, or when she was fighting with Alec.
“I’m probably out for the season,” I said, adding my own salt to my open wound.
“I’m sorry.”
My eyes met hers. “Can you stop saying that? I hate when people say that. You were right. My sister is a little shit.”
“I didn’t want to be right.” She exhaled. Her voice was so quiet that I strained to hear her. “Not this time.”
We shared the space of silence, staring at each other, not sharing the same pain, but pain nonetheless. I had the heartache of betrayal, and she shared the heartache of her brother.
“The thing is … I don’t give a damn about what’s blowing up on social media. I’m sure I’ll care tomorrow, but right now, the sting of Brandy and … James are together”—I rubbed at my eyes—“it fucking sucks.”
“I’m …” She placed her hand on top of mine.
I cast her a look, and she laughed.
She chewed her lip for a minute. “Listen, it might not even be broken.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s broken. It hurts like a bitch.”
“I wouldn’t be able to tell.”
I leaned my head back with a visceral thought.Yeah, well, when you had emotional pain to keep you company, growing up, physical pain was nothing, right?
CHAPTER8
SYDNEY
Goodness gracious,how long was it going to take to get a doctor in this place? We’d been waiting hours. This was ridiculous.
In the amount of time that we had been waiting for the doctor, a small friendliness formed between Austin and me. One where I was asking him about baseball to pass time. One where he was asking me about the Loverly Ad Agency. One where I got him water and helped him move around because he was getting antsy, simply waiting. And in that span of time, I felt more compassionate toward him. A little sorry too—that he had been put in this predicament, all because of his selfish sister.
