Page 148 of Pretty Broken Wings
I pretend to pull my glasses off. “I won’t look.” We both ignore the fact that she’s totally naked in front of me as we speak, and I just watched her fuck my brother.
“You’re so stupid.”
I know I am. I’m stupid, so no one sees the real me. Although with Raven, it feels different sometimes. Like it becomes less about hiding and more about making her laugh. “Well, Mr. Stupid is telling you to get in. Gage is a bit of a hot water monster. After he hit thirty, he obsessively checks the thermostat and water usage like an old man.”
She gives a tiny smile. And it makesmewant to smile. Not a fake smile. A real one. Then she gets up, and I have to physically rip my gaze away from her ass.
No. Be a gentleman.
Fuck. When did I sign up to be a gentleman? Oh god. I’m getting soft. I’m becoming Gage.
“Ax?”
I shudder at my nickname. “Hmm?”
“You’re not as big a dick as I thought you were.”
I bark out a laugh, unable to help myself. “You wound me.”
Raven smiles, and it’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen. It makes me want to see it more. I stand there while she showers, then realize that she’s okay now. I can go.
I don’t want to go.
Fuck, I don’t want to go. But this is my brother’s girl. As much as I like her, I won’t repeat that mistake twice. It broke Gage, and he wasn’t the same after that. We weren’t the same.
So I force myself out of the bathroom.
Once out, I keep walking despite the fact that I want to walk straight back in there and tell Raven how obsessed I am with her.How I’m not gonna let her run from us. And I’m going to keep her. Forever.
But I don’t. I keep walking into the hall.
Then I trip over something.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
Coming out of the bedroom, Axel trips over me and Buddy.
I scramble to my feet. “Is Raven okay?”
“Yeah, dude, she’s fine.” Axel waves me off, walking away.
Wait. Why is he walking away? What’s going on?
“Where are you going?”
“Walking away so I don’t fuck your girlfriend.”
That stops me in my tracks, but Axel doesn’t stop. He keeps going. I stride up to him, snatching his arm. “Just wait.”
“Did you not hear what I just said?” Axel looks at me, and I hear the anger in his tone. But it’s not just anger. It’s pain.
“I heard you.” Honestly, I assumed that’s what he was doing anyway. And for the first time, the thought didn’t fill me with heartbreaking pain. There was some pain, but it felt old. Raven likes Axel. I know she tries not to, but she likes him. She’s been obsessed with getting back at him the entire time I’ve known her. And he likes her too. A lot.
Axel squints at me. “Are you… Did you hit your head or something?”
I wish. Because I’m actually considering something crazy. Something I never in a million years would have thought I’d offer.
I swallow. “I’m an idiot.”
