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“Geo,” I say, planting one elbow on the armrest of my chair, holding the side of my head up as I survey him, “I fucking know all this. Do you think anything happens under this roof that I don’t know about?”
“Then, do you know about your sister and F—”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I roar, half-standing and planting my hands on the desk in front of me.
Geo grins. The ass.
“Take your bullshit out of my office,” I say, sinking back down. “Tell Fernando to keep his dirty fucking hands off my sister or he will answer to me.”
“Glad to see you can still feel something about anything,” Geo mutters.
I have half a mind to pick him up and throw him into the hallway.
“I had to convince you to go after her, and now that you did, you are going to let her leave?”
“She’s a grown woman. She can make her own decisions.”
“Yeah—”
“Fucking hell, why don’t you leave me alone about my relationships? I’m not forcing her to stay here when she desperately wants to leave. She gave me what I needed, and we found out the answer to her question. Do I want her to leave? No. But I’m not going to imprison her here, where she thinks she doesn’t have a choice. Why do you think she sold me out in the first place? I’m the worst sort of man to make demands of her when the only demand I want to give her is to stay. To sleep in my bed. Eat at my table. Exist in my life. She—” I cut myself off, my chest heaving as Geo and I stare at each other.
“You could tell her that,” he says, and I scowl.
“I don’t deserve her. I was going to let her rot. I said it. I’m no good for her, and she knows it. I’m a cancer for her, a black disease that will grow until I consume her. I’ve already blackened everything in her life. So, she’s leaving, and I’m not going to stop her. I can at least give her that because I love her. I won’t be the one to destroy her.”
Geo doesn’t answer me. He knows I’m right. There’s nothing left to say.
My phone rings, and I answer it, shutting my eyes at the words spoken on the other end.
Ruby is ready to be picked up. This is the end of the line for me. I know that’s the only reason Wryn’s hung around, trying to covertly gather her life up and get ready to start over somewhere new. I’ve secretly watched her and then drowned myself in alcohol to forget.
“Lucas’s funeral is tomorrow,” Geo says, and I nod.
I watch my closest friend for any sign of what he’s thinking. Arie and Geo’s brother haven’t formally announced their engagement, but they’ve been seen together. And Geo hasn’t said a thing about it.
“Are you going?” I made the decision not to attend with all the tension between families and generations. I would be a sitting duck, and I have no doubt that those coming for me would not care about a funeral taking place.
“Yes. Arie begged for a cease-fire. Her father and my brother don’t know about her involvement.”
“And you believe that will happen?”
Geo stares off to the side, his jaw working back and forth as he mulls over his words.
“I have to go,” is all he says.
I nod. I understand.
“Tell Wryn that it’s time to go gather ashes,” I tell Geo.
Then, I do it. I reach for the bourbon, pouring a hefty glass and downing all of it in one fell swoop.
* * *
The driveto the funeral home is silent. Wryn stares out the window, and I watch her. Noting everything about her. Her delicate jaw, the way her dark hair falls around her shoulders, the tension in her shoulders and back as she holds herself rigid. She has to sense my eyes on her, but she gives me nothing.
“Where will you spread her ashes?” I ask, wanting to grasp on to any shred of information.
“I’m not sure yet,” she says.
