Page 49 of Pack Rivals: Part Two
I shake my head. She wasn’t like that. She was sweet. Devoted to me.
“You kissed her,” I say. “I saw you kissing her. She was mine and you snatched her away.”
He jerks around. “Shekissed me, Angel. That night she came on to me. I confronted her about the rumors I’d heard – Nate had seen her out with some dudes, Connor had overheard her talking to her friends – I confronted her, and she didn’t deny it. Instead,shecame on to me. Said we could have some fun and that you never needed to find out.”
I jump to my feet, my hands balling into fists. “She wouldn’t have done that.”
“Wouldn’t she?” He sweeps his hand through the air. “If she was the woman you thought she was, then where the hell is she now? By your side? Was she there after …” he swallows, “after the shit storm that went down? Was she there by your side helping you to pick up all the pieces?”
I stare at my brother, the sun hot on my face. “No,” I say, “no, she wasn’t.”
She left. Said I was too much. Said my family and friends were too much. It had made me even angrier, even more furious at my brother. I’d lost her and he was to blame.
Celia moved away. A month later I learned she’d bonded with an older, wealthier pack.
“She made moves on me before,” Axel says quietly, “before that night. She sent me text messages. I never responded,” he adds quickly. “But I kept them. I was going to show you when the time was right … You were so crazy in love.”
“It wasn’t love,” I mutter, “it was …” I swing my hand through the air in irritation. “I don’t know what the fuck it was, but it wasn’t love.”
“She still hurt you, man.”
I stare into my brother’s eyes. “You hurt me more.”
I feel all of that hurt now like a heavy weight on my shoulders, dragging me down down down into the earth.
“I should have told you earlier.”
“I wouldn’t have listened.”
“I should have tried. But I was too fucking stubborn, too freaking seething about the accident.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry too, Axel.” I look away from him, blinking hard. Because it’s not only the hurt, it’s the guilt and the shame too. I fucked up. I hurt my brother.
“It’s okay, man. It was an accident.”
“But your football? I fucked up your entire life.”
Axel chuckles bitterly. “I’m pretty sure I did that all by myself. But the football … maybe it would have happened that way anyway. And I’m tired of being mad at you about it. I should have pushed that girl away. I should have told you what she was doing as soon as I knew, instead of gathering up my evidence like I was Sherlock fucking Holmes.”
I shake my head.
Axel stares down at his shoes. Wet sand sticks around the soles.
“I was jealous,” he says. “I wanted to shove her infidelity in your face. I was an asshole – I’ve been an asshole for too long – and I deserved what happened to me.”
“I’m an asshole too,” I say.
He peers up at me. Then he does something which surprises the fuck out of me. He steps forward and wraps his arms around me, hugging me tight, hugging me like he used to when I climbed the highest tree, or caught a fish out in the lake, or scored a touchdown in a game.
He hugs me like my big brother used to.
I close my eyes. His scent is strong in my nose and I hug my big brother right back.
“You’re a dickhead,” I tell him
“Takes one to know one, bro,” he says and I laugh.
* * *
