Page 75 of After the Storm

“Yeah. So have we. I tell him all the time,” she chimes in. It’s a bittersweet feeling that settles in my chest. My heart breaks that he’s been upset about this for months and having to talk it out with Katrina. On the other hand, my heart warms with the idea that she’s been comforting him this whole time about it.

“I know. It’s just hard, you know? Like we’ve been best friends for so long, I feel like you’re my sister. Then it feels like what kind of brother or best friend—whatever you want to call me—doesn’t even notice what’s going on, let alone protect you.” My heart breaks for him. For once, though, I don’t take the weight of it on myself. I don’t feel like this is something I did to him by being in his life. I know now that, like a lot of other things, this is Tyler’s fault. Tyler did this.

“I get it. I’m sorry you feel like you failed me. But Ares, you didn’t. I promise,” I assure him. He wipes away a single tear and snaps his eyes to Katrina.

“You’re making me cry in front of a hot woman, not cool,” he huffs dramatically. She scoffs.

“You cry more than I do, tough guy,” she says, leaning forward and giving him a halfhearted rub on his upper arm. He rolls his eyes.

“One more thing,” I say, drawing his attention back to me.

“Anything,” he says. I know he’ll regret that momentarily.

“You have to apologize to your brother. What you said to him wasn’t nice, and it wasn’t fair either. He’s been amazing to me. I don’t think I could have made it through the last few months without him.”

“Oh, come on, we’re brothers. Brothers don’t really apologize. Plus, I didn’t even say anything that crazy.”

“Ares.” I give him a look. “You told him I was just another girl he was toying with and that that’s all he knows how to do.”

“Well. I mean, the first part isn’t true, but—” I cut him off.

“No. He’s been amazing. I’ve been the one trying to run out on him and trying to jump ship every time a new level of commitment has come up. He’s been consistent.” He sits there, taking in the words but not saying anything. “I love him,” I blurt out. His half-interested eyes snap up to me.

“Love?” he asks like he must have misheard me.

“Love,” I confirm. He nods for a second like he’s mulling over the idea of me loving his brother.

“I’ll apologize to him,” he says with a nod. “I’ll go talk to him now,” he says, standing up off the floor.

“I’m sure if you just say out loud that you’re ready to talk to him, he just might appear,” I say with a laugh. Ares pinches his brows together.

“What do you mean?” he asks.

“I know you’re listening at the door. You can come in.” I call out a little louder than my normal talking voice. The doorknob twists, and Roman opens the door.

“Hi, guys!” he exclaims, smiling cheek to cheek like he didn’t just eavesdrop on an entire conversation. I guess I can’t say anything, though, since we let Katrina sit in on the whole thing.

“Nosey fuck,” Ares says under his breath. If looks could kill, I would have just killed my best friend. Katrina takes the tip of her heeled boot and kicks his leg softly. “Right, sorry,” he says, correcting himself.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said you don’t know how to settle in a relationship,” Ares tells Roman. Roman shrugs.

“I don’t care about that. Maybe I didn’t before, I don’t know, I never tried. I don’t like the way you talked to Audra. I don’t like that after months of putting it into her head that she isn’t hard to love, the first thing you said to her when you were mad was that she was impossible to be friends with. You have no fucking idea how hard it’s been to break that.” Roman loses the happy tone in his voice quickly. The words come out more aggressive than I’d like. This feels like a slippery slope back into fighting.

“Fuck. I did say that, didn’t I.” Ares looks over at me and then back to Roman. Roman hums in response.

“Mhm,” Roman confirms.

“Audi, I’m so sorry. I really didn’t mean that. I was so drunk I would never ever try to make you feel that way.” His eyes turn bloodshot and a single tear drips down each cheek. I nudge Roman, hoping he’ll pick up the cue to hug his brother.

“I’m not mad about it,” I assure him. I nudge Roman again, and when he looks at me, I gesture my head toward Ares. This time, he nods and pulls Ares into a hug.

“You’re okay, dude. I just don’t want her thinking she’s hard to love. I find it pretty fucking easy,” Roman says, comforting his brother.

“I don’t want that either,” Ares says, and his voice shakes. Roman’s hand rubs over Ares’ back, and it’s nice to see this side of him. He’s not Roman, the friend, or Roman, the boyfriend. Right now, he’s Roman, the older brother.

“The last few months have been hard for all of us to navigate. You’re okay. We all did what we thought was best when we could. And when we didn’t, we did what we could. That’s all you can really ask of someone going through a hard time, yeah?” Roman’s words are aimed at Ares, but I don’t think he’s only talking to him because the words apply to us as well. He looks at me over Ares’ shoulder when he says it. I nod, and so does Ares.

I can’t help myself, so I slip myself between the two of them and wrap an arm around each of them.

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