Page 113 of Indulge
She’s standing just beyond the crowd, eyes wide, hand pressed to her chest. Her expression isn’t shock, it’s heartbreak.
Like she’s watching two men she cares about destroy themselves just to prove a point.
Her gaze flicks between us, trembling, searching for something—reason, forgiveness, anything—and finding none of it.
“Bella…” I whisper, stepping forward, but she shakes her head.
The look she gives me guts me worse than any punch.
She’s crying but quiet about it. The kind of crying that comes from deep, bone-level disappointment.
Reggie turns, follows my stare, and sees her too.
And in that moment, something breaks in him. I can see it, the exact second he realizes he’s been fighting for her the wrong way.
We both have.
He wipes his mouth, staring at her, then back at me.
“This is what we do,” he says, voice rough. “We wreck everything we touch.”
“Reggie—”
He cuts me off, shaking his head. “No. I’m done.”
The words hit like a gut punch. Not just for me but for her too.
Bella takes a small step toward him. “Reggie, please don’t?—”
He forces a smile, but it’s broken at the edges. “You deserve better than this, Princess. Better than me.”
“Reggie—” I start again, but he doesn’t look back.
He just turns and walks through the doors, past the crowd, into the shadows of Inferno.
And all I can do is watch him go.
Because for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel like the reckless one.
I feel like the asshole who helped push his brother away.
Bella’s still staring at the door, tears streaking her cheeks.
When her eyes finally meet mine, they’re full of something worse than anger. It’s loss.
I move toward her, but she steps back.
And in that moment, standing in the wreckage of everything we swore we wouldn’t become, I know it’s too late to fix any of it.
Because Reggie was right.
We ruin everything we touch.
And this time, we might have just ruined her too. But I saw something in my brother that I’ve never witnessed before.
Heartbreak.
I can’t be the one to do that to him. But he has some fucking explaining to do.
