“Reed, wait—”
Reed barges into me again, advancing and ignoring his sister’s pleas. The sharp pain of the stab wound in my side grapples my entire body. Jaw twitching, I straighten and glare in Reed’s direction, shoving the agony to the back of my mind as my gaze meets the stark blue of his wild eyes.
“How long have you been fucking my sister?” Reed asks, and I see his fist closing.
I don’t back down. Not even when Reed grabs my jacket and pushes me back.
“It’s more than that,” I finally say.
“Yeah?” Reed scoffs. “You’ve been trying to get in her pants since we were teens, and you’re telling me it isn’t just your dick finally getting what its always wanted?”
I stand my ground this time when he starts to push. “I saidit’s more than that,” I say through my teeth.
“Reed,stop,” Andi begs. “This is stupid—”
“Stay out of it,” Reed tells her. His attention turns back to me. “How long?” Reed asks.
“This week,” I answer.
Reed laughs a sardonic laugh that I’ve heard him use before. When he’s pissed and in disbelief. When he’s about to throttle the person talking back to him.
“This week.” He chews his mouth for a beat. “Fucking this week—I thought you were my friend—my best friend.”
“Why does this have to change anything?” I ask.
“Because you made a promise!” Reed shouts, his voice elevating as if he’s held it in for as long as he can. “You swore. We pinky swore—”
“That promise was ten years ago,” I argue.
Police sirens blare around us.
“I trusted you,” Reed yells. “God, I trusted you for years. And after everything we’ve been through, you betray me. You lie to me. You put her—You put her before the band. Beforeus—”
“Because I’m in love with her!” I yell.
There’s a beat of silence between us. Rage spreads from Reed’s eyes and moves over his shoulders into the rest of him.
And with an elongated shout as his warning, Reed runs at me.
He tackles me at the waist and throws us both on the ground. His fist strikes my cheekbone, throwing my head back into the pavement. God, he punches like a mother fucker.Fuck. I wrap my legs around him as he gets in another punch, this time on my jaw. I spit the blood out and thrust my hands toward his face, trying to push him off of me.
“Reed, this is ridiculous—”
“Swear you’ll never touch her again!”
“Fuck you,” I manage.
Andi’s shouting both of our names. Blue lights cascade over us.
Reed doesn’t seem to notice.
He’s pulling my hair and swinging at my face. I finally get my legs up and my feet around his hips enough to roll him on to his back. Reed swings left. Right. Yells echo in the air. I shove his face sideways into the pavement and get my knees on his arms. He’s squirming and trying to bite my hand—
“I trusted you! You were family—”
“We are family!You say you trusted me, then fucking trust me, brother,” I yell as I get my hand around his throat. Reed’s eyes widen up at me, his hands wrapping around my wrist.
“Never—”
