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“She stole from me!”
I freeze for a second.What is she talking about?
“She stole from you? When—what did she steal? Why are you just telling me this now?”
Her nostrils flare. Somehow, despite her body language, Freya’s voice has returned to being level and calm.
“The night she detoxed, I went back to my room to change the sheets. There was almost three hundred dollars missing from under the mattress. So, no, Rhys, she can’t stay with us. I know you love your sister, I get that you would go to the end of the earth for her—but I won’t. I’ve been through this before. I am holding this boundary. I am sorry if this hurts you to hear because I care about you. God, I care about you so much. But I can’t support your sister’s addiction and enable her. Get her into the hands of professionals. She needs a recovery program. I can get you the names of some people if that’s what you need. But I can’t play a part in her addiction.”
“She won’t go to rehab.” I feel like a broken record. Why did she pick tonight to bring all this up? “I can’t do this with you right now.”
“So you’re going to continue like this? We can never have a future together if you can’t hold boundaries for Anna and stop enabling her. You need to choose what is important in your life.”
Whoa. Back the fuck up.
“How can you make me choose between my family and you?” I demand. If she cared about me, she wouldn’t give me an ultimatum.
“I’m not asking you to choose me! I’m asking you to chooseyourself!You matter. Your mental health, your future, your safety, your happiness, your career, all of those things matter. I need you to be willing to make a change for yourself. Please, Rhys. I’m trying to save you from a future of pain.”
I scrub my hands down my face, frustrated. She’s not letting up. I really needed somebody in my corner tonight to help me forget about everything. It’s been a rough fucking day. Why can’t she help me out this one time? I thought she was the woman that would have my back no matter what. If the roles were reversed, I would have done anything she asked.
“She’s my responsibility,” I say. “I have to protect her. Am I not enough for you, Freya?”
“You are!”
Tears fall down her face, and I want to wrap her in my arms. Seeing her like this is breaking my heart, but my hands are tied, and she’s giving me no choice. I can’t abandon my sister.
She takes a few steps back. “One of these days, something is gonna happen to make you see this is not a safe situation for anyone. You are not helping her. The only way you can save her is to make her want to save herself. Hold your ground or, I promise you, she’ll take you down with her. Her addiction will steal your sanity, safety, your self-respect, reputation, relationships... Her addiction is more than either of us can manage. Until she decides she wants a better life, I need to keep a distance from her . . . and you.” Her voice cracks at the end.
I don’t even know what to say to her. There are no words. She’s talking about Anna like she’s a dangerous fucking criminal. I pull out my wallet and pass her three hundred-dollar bills.
“I don’t want your money.”
She actually has the gall to look offended when she’s stood here and talked shit about my sister for the last five minutes. She’s pissing me off, and I’m pushing her away. Maybe I should just end this whole thing. If she can’t accept me and my family, then it’ll never work out. My eyes beg her to leave before I say something I don’t mean and sabotage whatever is left of us.
“Please.” I scoff. “We both know you never turn down money from me. That’s our arrangement, remember?” It’s a low blow. I can feel myself turning into an asshole, but I don’t care. I’ve been through enough tonight.
“Excuse me?” She flinches. I want to take it back, but I don’t. I need to take something off my plate, and she deserves better than I can offer her. She said it herself she can’t be with someone tied to an addict. Between work, Anna, and her, something has to give, and it’s her. I can’t leave my job, and I can’t leave Anna.
“You want a boundary, babe? Here’s a boundary. I won’t be with someone who keeps an active account onFollowers. I need to be with someone who makes me the only man in their life. I’ve put up with all your fans, worked around your needs for long enough. What sacrifices have you made for me? Name one.”
She crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me. I’ve never spoken to her like this, and even as I try to make it sound realistic, it comes out unnatural.
“Exactly. You can’t. Did you really expect me to hang around while you whore yourself out on a weekly basis?”
Her gaze bounces back and forth between my eyes.
“Just some whore with a webcam? That’s all I am to you?”
Fuck, why won’t she leave?
I swallow before spitting out what I know will finish us.
“Freya, that’s all you are to anybody.”
The wince that flashes in her eyes is a punch to the gut. I want to take it back, but I don’t. I hate myself with every cell in my body.
My words hang in the air between us until she finally speaks. “Give me my key back.”
