No excuses that will soften reality.
The fragile secret we’ve all been keeping between us for all these years, protecting it like it was something holy to hold onto, has just been ripped out of the dark and thrown into the cold light of day.
It’s no longer ours to keep.
It’shisnow too, and he’s standing in front of us, breaking apart with it.
“I trusted you. Itrusted all of you.You were supposed to keep her safe, not—” He can’t even finish the sentence. His hand comes up like he’s about to run it through his hair but falters midair. “How long has this been going on behind my back?”
Dean’s eyes flash, something cold and hard replacing the guilt. “Does it matter?”
That’s all it takes for the first fist to fly.
I’m moving before the thought even registers, crossing the short distance to pull Richard away and shove him back toward the door.
He’s shouting again, but this time I can’t hear him over the rush of blood pulsing through my ears.
It isn’t until I get him out in the hallway that his words finally register.
“You’re supposed to be my brothers!”
“Weare!” I shout back. I plant a hand against his chest to keep him from pushing past me. ““But Noelle is a grown woman, Richard. You can’t control who she loves. This—this isn’t helping her. It’s just breaking her all over again.”
For a long moment, he stares at me like he doesn’t recognize me.
Like everything we’ve been through together—every late night call, all that time spent together when we were younger and had no responsibilities, the promises we made to each other as best friends—has been completely rewritten in the last five minutes.
The fight drains from him almost instantly, but the damage is done.
His chest still heaves, but the edge is gone.
His gaze drops to the floor, down to the trail of melting snow he’s left behind.
“She was supposed to be safe,” he murmurs, almost to himself. “After everything she’s been through. After Jared, after the break-in…I just wanted her safe.”
I let go slowly, my hands still hovering near him in case he decides to come back swinging again, but he doesn’t.
He just stands there shaking and completely unraveling.
“Sheissafe. Safer than she’s ever been,” I say quietly.
He looks up at me then, and I swear I see tears gathering in his eyes, clinging stubbornly to the edges.
He blinks hard, swallows them down. “Don’t ever come around my family again. Any of you.”
Without another word, he turns and starts down the hallway.
His boots squeak wetly on the tile, the sound echoing after him until he disappears around the corner.
I stand there for a long moment, trying to slow the hammering in my chest, and try to piece together what’s left of the mess we’ve made.
22
NOELLE
It’s sad how much can change in an instant.
One minute I’m standing in the kitchen like I have a hundred times before with the same tile floor, the same hum of the fridge, the same smell of coffee in the air, and between one breath and the next, everything broke.
