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I continue. I need to. “I still see pictures of them at my parents’ house, even though they moved out west somewhere.”
“Your parents have their pictures up?” She sounds scandalized. “God, I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“It’s okay.” I smile a bitter and twisted smile that comes when I really think of my brother and Jessica together, and it has vicious edges that have worn down over the years, mellowed, but are still there. “I got sick of seeing them hidden in dark corners and told my mom to just put them up. My parents don’t deserve to be in the middle. And it’s been a long time. But… I never want to see either of their faces again, they hurt me so bad.”
I should leave it there, I know it. But somehow it all comes tumbling free. “The worst part of all is that I don’t even miss her. Justhim. I miss my brother. I just don’t know how to forgive him.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Let’s see. I’m turning thirty-three next week. So, ten years.” I sigh. “The weird part is, I want to. I want to forgive him, but her? No. They come as a package and I despise her. For taking my brother, and—”
“Travis?” She shifts on the bed next to me.
When I turn, she’s right there and my heart starts that hard and fast beat once more. “Yeah?”
She takes my face in both hands and looks me in the eye. “I’m not her.”
Her lips press against mine, and I’m completely lost.
Not in her eyes, but in her touch.
5
BRANDI
I don’t knowwhy I do it, only that it feels right, and I can blame the buzz of the booze if he pushes me away.
He doesn’t.
The kiss is soft, gentle, and fleeting, but he smiles at me when it ends. “What was that for?”
“I felt sorry for you,” I tease him with a lightness I’m far from feeling, and he laughs.
If I wasn’t still trying to forget the jolt of electricity that hit with more voltage than the strongest vibrator I’ve ever encountered, that laugh would be enough to turn me into a mewling kitten, begging him to fuck me.
While I wait to see if he’s as affected as I am, he doesn’t move. Yes, his eyes are soft and inviting, but I can’t tell if that’s the alcohol or the fact that we just shared the best kiss ofmy life.
Seriously, that smile is hotter than sin and could melt a freaking glacier if Travis was in Antarctica. When he brushes a thumb over my bottom lip, I feel ten feet tall and I’m happy to report that I have a little wickedness running rampant in my veins.
It’s probably the booze and my emotional roller coaster, but I’ll take this over the loneliness and the nightmares that I’ll never be able to escape. And when the man I thought hated me looks at me like he wants to do everything I’m imagining, I want to fly. Or lie back and let him tie me up.
“Me?” He raises one brow as I think about what he could tie me up with. “You really think I’m so pathetic I needed a pity kiss?” He’s pretending to be insulted, and I feel like I’m one of the only people who could actually tell if he’s acting or not.
After all, I get the brunt of his attitude on a regular basis.
“Well.” I pull my lower lip between my teeth and worry it just a little bit. “I guess I should probably mention that ten years ago, you’d have been considered aweirdofor finding me attractive. I just turned twenty-four last month.”
He groans. “Jailbait, and I fell for it.”
“Hey, I’m twenty-four now.” I can’t keep the smile away. “And that kiss was very PG.”
For a long moment neither of us move. Then Travis leans forward again and brushes a hand against my cheek, stopping when he’s resting against my throat.
“Well… we could do something about that. I don’t like to leave things undone.”
My heart lurches and the heat in my belly licks up through my body to my chest and into my head. But I don’t take the invitation to start the kiss. Instead, I pull back a little and his smile slips.
I need to know… I need to know if he’s thinking of me or thinking about the ex he says that I look like. The one he’s treated me like shit over since I met him.
