Page 48 of Unmasked Rivalry
I finally speak, “Did you ever plan on telling me? Or was I just going to be your little toy until you managed to forget about Harper long enough to satisfy yourself?”
He doesn’t answer right away. He looks at the broken glass, then at me, those wolf eyes so goddamn empty it breaks me all over again. “It ain’t what you think.”
I laugh. It’s a deranged little noise that makes me sound as crazy as I feel. “You set up my brother. You lied. You made me fall for you and you did all this, knowing exactly what you were doing and why. You fucking asshole.”
“It ain’t what you think,” he says again, his voice so low it’s gravelly and deep.
“No,” I cry. “No. You don’t get to stand there and pretend you’re the good man when you’ve been lying to me from the second we met. Tell me, when were you going to end it with me?Once Ralston was finished? When you got bored? Maybe a little longer?”
Something flickers in his face. “I had no fuckin’ choice.”
I laugh again. “Oh, how fucking original.”
He steps forward, crowding me, and for the first time ever I am not comforted by his size, his heat, the way he smells. I want to shove him through the wall. I want to run. “You don’t know the whole story.”
I scream it, knuckles white on the counter behind me. “You put my brother in prison for something he didn’t do. He didn’t deserve that, Knox. He never deserved it. He is a good person, broken maybe, but good. Then you fucking lied to me, you lied and you made me fall in...”
My voice trails off, breaking on a sob.
He doesn’t answer. He just stands there with his hands fisted. My voice is shaking so bad I can’t even control it, but I force myself to keep going. “You made me trust you,” I say, air rasping through my teeth. “You made me believe you weren’t like everyone else and then you just—” I cut myself off. “You lied. You. Lied.”
“I did what I had to,” he growls. “I didn’t know you then, don’t you fuckin’ understand that. It wasn’t about you.”
“It is about me. He is my brother. You are fucking me every night. If you cared, you would have told me. You would have—something, anything! You let me look you in the eye and you let me believe you were on my side.”
He slams his open hand against the counter, so hard something falls off and lands on the floor with a crash. “I didn’t know you were goin’ to matter. You were never supposed to mean a goddamn thing to me!”
“Well, lucky for you, you don’t have to worry about that anymore,” I choke out, not even trying to keep it together anymore.
There is dead silence, nothing but his heavy breathing.
“He is all I have. He got locked away and Harper died and I had no one. I came here, and I thought...fuck, I thought I had found a family again but all along, you were just using me to cover up your filthy lies.”
He doesn’t answer. There is a raw edge to his jaw, like if he bites down any harder he’ll break his own teeth. He reaches out for me, but I jerk away so fast I nearly fall. He makes a noise, low and gutted, and drags his hands over his face. “I did it for Harper,” he says finally, “the two of them were in too deep and because of that, he was goin’ to get her killed. Only way to keep them both alive.”
“And how the fuck did that work out for you?” I cry.
He flinches and I know I hit him where it hurts, but I don’t fucking care.
“You’re just the same as every other lying piece of shit man in my life. You didn’t do anything for me, you did it to get me out quicker so I couldn’t find the truth. Get out of my house.” My voice cracks. “Get out. I mean it. I don’t want to see you ever again.”
His face is a stonewall. “Callie...”
“No,” I scream. “Get out.”
He looks at me for one more fleeting second, his face unreadable, then he turns and leaves. The porch door slams so hard the glass shudders, and then I hear his boots, the engine of his bike, and just like that he’s gone.
I let my knees buckle, and I fall against the counter, sobbing so hard I can’t breathe. My hands shake, and I clutch the edge of the counter, slide to the floor, arms around my stomach like maybe I could keep my heart from falling out of my chest. But it already has.
I cry until I’m raw, until my voice is gone. Then I crawl on hands and knees through the glass and stare at the broken pieces on the floor, because that’s all there ever is. That’s all that’s left.
Me, and the broken things I keep choosing to love.
13
Idon’t know how long I sit there, but it’s long enough for the day to turn to night, and for the flash of headlights to alert me that I’m still on the ground, and I’m still alone. It only takes a minute for the front door to open, and for the three people I do love the most to walk in.
Mera, Nia, and Sable.
