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“Yep.” He uncrossed his arms and gripped the edges of the sofa. “Your boyfriend tried to get me—”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” I ground my teeth together.
“Really?” He left that hanging in the air, but I knew if I denied it too much, he’d take that as a silent omission. I could tell him the truth: that I hadn’t known who he was until after he came back from his gran’s funeral, which I realized now was just another lie. But Hut wouldn’t hear the fact I didn’t know to begin with. He’d only hear that I knew at some stage and didn’t tell him.
“Really.” I shook my head and placed my bottle on the counter. “I told you that weeks ago. Nothing happened between us. I didn’t know he was a cop.” I raised a brow. “Is that why you’re here, Hut?” I laughed, but the sound was shaky. “You’re here to see if I knew who he was when you didn’t?”
“Lola.” His deep voice was a warning, but I didn’t heed it.
“Or are you pissed because you didn’t work out who he was and what he was doing?”
Hut pushed off the sofa, and I tracked each of his movements as he stepped closer. His shoulders were tense, his nostrils flared, and his eyes narrowed, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. He’d done this. He’d caused all of this.
“You think I don’t know what is happening around me?” he asked, but I didn’t think he wanted an answer. Too bad.
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t think you have a clue what is happening. Or maybe you do, and you just don’t care. How long did it take you to work out I’d moved out, huh?”
“Too fuckin' long.” He was two steps away from me now, and I should have backed down, but the fight in me was strong today—the strongest it had ever been. I was sick and tired of sitting back and letting everyone walk all over me. It was time I took a stance, and this was the first step. “You left, just like everyone else. The one person who was meant to always be there, and you fuckin' left!”
My head reeled back at how loud he shouted, but I pulled in a breath and centered myself. “There’s only so many times I can take what you give and not walk away, Hut. You’re my brother, and I love you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t hate what you’ve become.”
“Hate?” He stepped closer, his hands clenched at his sides. “You hate me?”
“No...yes…” I let my shoulders sag, my body giving up its fight that had been so prominent only seconds ago. I was tired. Tired of this. Tired of always fighting. For once, I just wanted a normal life where I wasn’t amid liars. “I don’t know, Hut.”
I swallowed and stared into his light-brown eyes, searching for any sign of the boy I used to know. The one who was gentle with me even if he was rough with everyone else. It had changed along the way somewhere, but I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment.
“It doesn’t matter how much you run,” Hut started. “You could move to the other side of the world.” He stepped back and shook his head like he was trying to get rid of his thoughts. “I’d always find you.” His voice was soft, and he closed his eyes.
Maybe I was being too harsh? Maybe I should forgive him for what he’d done? “Hut—”
His eyes opened, the light-brown now dark and stormy. “That’s a promise, Lola.” His voice was deeper now, more reminiscent of the Hut who had been present the last couple of years. “You can say and do whatever the hell you want, but you’ll never get away from me.” He moved back another step, allowing me to take a breath. “I’ll destroy anyone and everyone you love so you’ll have no choice but to come crawling back to me. And that includes your boyfriend.”
I gritted my teeth and widened my eyes, trying like hell to keep it in, but it was a sore subject. He had no idea what had gone on between Brody and me, no idea what had transpired, and no idea that I was preg—
“He’s not my boyfriend!”
Hut stilled, not a part of his body moving as he stared at me. It was the first time I’d raised my voice at him. He didn’t even blink, and for a second, I wondered what was wrong with him, but then his arm lifted, and his fist reeled back.
I saw it coming before I felt it, I tried to move out of his line of sight, but it was no use. Hut’s fist connected with my cheek and eye—the same eye he’d cut when he pinned me to the stairs—and the healed skin broke again.
“That’s your one and only warning.”
I pressed my hand to the side of my face and laughed. “That was your one warning?” For some reason, I thought that sentence was the funniest thing I’d ever heard. “Jesus, then what was everything else, just the goddamn prelude?”
“I’m warning you, Lola.”
“No, you’re not warning me. I’m warning you. If you don’t get out of my apartment right now, I’ll call the cops.” I paused and tried to hold in my flinch when he moved slightly. “I’m guessing you’re on bail, and if they come here and see this”—I pointed to my eye—“you’d be hauled back inside.”
“You wouldn’t.” Even I could hea
r the question in his tone. He wasn’t really sure what I’d do, and to be honest, neither was I. We were in new territory.
“You want to test that theory?” I asked instead, cursing myself when I raised my brow. There was one thing Hut didn’t hold back on, and that was the force of his punches. Goddamn, it hurt.
“Maybe you should.” He shrugged, the action so carefree, but I could see how frustrated he was from the way a muscle in his jaw ticked. “I don’t think you have the guts to do it.” His eyes narrowed. “Do it, Lola. Do it.”
My shaking hands reached for my cell, but I hesitated, and he saw it. He always knew when to call my bluff, and no matter how much I wanted to call the cops, I couldn’t.
