Reeve straightens his spine to get out of my space. His face is void of all emotion. “Sorry, you wasted a trip. I’m not going back to that two-timing bitch who ripped my heart out but will still allow me to fuck her whenever I want. By your standards, it’s okay she used me, but you’d know how that feels, right? Vivian played you like a fucking clown. She messed you up real good, but I’m supposed to be fine?”
“It’s not like that.”
‘It’sexactlylike that,” he clips out as I see the crowd that formed around us begin to shift.
Someone is coming.
Orpeopleare coming. More than likely security.
“I’m not you,” I convey evenly. “And she needs all of us.”
“Not me.” He gets to his feet unsteadily and says, “I bet she’s lying. She’s trying to fuck us all over so you guys don’t leave her. That’s what she does. You mean nothing to her.”
His words sting a bit from the truths of my past. How accurate it is.
I’ve never known lust and love like my brothers have. I’ve never had someone want me just to want me, and I’ve never had the opportunity to grow and live as a regular human being.
I murdered someone.
I went to prison.
I’ve spent nights terrified of the dark and the muffles of men getting assaulted or killed.
I’m not normal.
Never will be.
It’s not something that can be easily forgotten. I have a girl who became my wife, and I can barely touch her without flinching. It’s all because of those sounds and Vivian. The manipulation of those so-called innocent caresses because they weren’t real.
And I don’t want to feel anything with Bay that might not be real.
On both sides.
I’m not entirely sure I’m ready or wish for something like that.
“Take your happy ass back home to your wife, Oz,” Reeve states, cutting into my reality. “Whatever you thought you were going to feed me, nice try.”
“I’m not lying.”
“Never said you were.” He lifts his shoulders, detached from everything leaving my lips. “I’m just not interested anymore.”
His comments don’t ring true in my mind.
He loved her.
I saw the way he looked at her myself. I heard the things he wanted to do and how he doted on her.
“She needs you.”
“She doesn’t need anyone.” He bends over, placing his palms on his knees. “You didn’t think because you married her that she was going to keep you, right? Maybe you did me a favor. Now I can fuck who I want when I want, and there isn’t anyone to write home to. I’m good.”
“You’re not.”
He smiles at me, but it’s demeaning. “Well, if you think she needs saving, Oz, go ahead. I’m not touching that South Shore slut anymore—” I’m still lying on the hard dance floor, so it’s easy to make my move.
Plus, Reeve was stupid enough to still be standing over me.
I kick him so hard in the balls, he falls to his knees with a pained groan.
