Page 73 of The Enemy

I saw red.

His eyes widened as I pulled him toward me by the collar of his shirt then proceeded to shove my fist in his face. I got three punches in before I was pulled away.

“You’re a piece of shit!” I yelled at him, full of rage.

It felt good seeing him on the floor with blood pouring out of his nose.

“You’re going to let some bitch come between us?”

It was the wrong thing to say. This time when I went at him, he was ready and tried to push me off. My advantage was that I was stronger, and the asshole was drunk.

“I should have ended you back then.”

If I had, this whole mess would have never happened. Even though I knew he was also the catalyst that had pushed Lou and I together.

“Neo, man, cool it.”

Wes tried his best to hold me back. He only managed to do it because security came to help him.

That was the whole reason I had wanted to bury Tatum the way I had planned because he was the type of little bitch to press charges.

TWENTY-THREE

LOURDES

After Clove hung up,Martin sent me videos of the fight. I had never seen Neo so angry. You could tell they were yelling at each other, but with all the commotion, you couldn’t make out their words.

Why was he fighting with him after all these years?

I forgot that my dad was in the room with me for a second. I only snapped out of it when he began to call our attorney.

“That stupid boy, what the fuck was he thinking?” he muttered mostly to himself. “I have to go, honey.”

Even though it was a stupid question, I still asked it.

“Where are you going?”

His face softened.

“To bail Neo out of jail.”

His statement took me aback.

“You—you’re not mad?”

I could imagine how ridiculous it must sound to ask my father if he was pissed that I was involved in an inappropriate relationship with my stepbrother.

“Of course I’m mad,” he replied immediately. “But I also know that not everything is so black and white.”

My dad was almost out the door when his shoulders sagged, and he turned back around.

His next question was soft-spoken, and I knew my answer was important to him. “Do you love him, Lou?”

It caught me off guard.

Did I love him? I never let myself think those words. I couldn’t, not when there had never been a future for either of us—at least not together.

“He betrayed me, and I could never forgive that.”

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