How can he say that to Sebastian?
How can he eventhinkI’d entertain being with his cousin when the only person I want is him?
“Don’t talk about her like that, man. It’s disrespectful.”
“Oooh.” Colson’s icy glare turns into a mischievous smirk, and I just know he’s not done spilling blood. I may be bleeding out, but Sebastian isn’t yet. “Always the good guy. Little do ya know, she sucks cock so fuckin’ well, you’d never want another woman again.”
“Juststop,” I holler, my heartbeat pounding out of my chest like you see in the cartoons.
Colson’s eyes meet mine in the doorway. As much as I know that he’s trying to hurt me and that I should take everything he’s saying with a grain of salt, it presses down on my love for him, cracking what’s left of my heart.
Shame and embarrassment coat my cheeks. If there was ever a time I wanted to slink out of a room, now would be it. But I’ve already spoken. And I can’t let myself leave Sebastian to deal with him alone.
“Oh, and she swallows,” Colson adds, digging the knife deeper.
He’s too damn drunk to understand what he’s saying. Maybe he’ll wake up tomorrow filled with guilt or maybe he won’t remember at all. It doesn’t change that it’s not right. That he’s hurting two people who care about him.
My stomach is a water balloon falling from the rooftop of a ten-story building. It drops until it smacks against the sidewalk. “Tell me that gets you as hard as it gets me. Then again, maybe not. When was the last time you were with a woman?”
Sebastian’s fist swings straight into Colson’s face, and it’s so unlike him that I gasp and stare in shock. Colson reacts in a snap. He shoves his cousin out of his face with the bottle of liquor still in his hand. Alcohol sloshes up out of the rim. He grabs Sebastian by his shirt and puts all his weight into pushing him backward. Sebastian manages to get out of his hold and shoves him back. The bottle of liquor stays glued in Colson’s palm. And then Colson gets the upper hand and twists Sebastian's shirt in his grip. They move toward me so quickly I barely have enough time to get out of the way.
A scream bursts out of my throat. Sebastian’s back crumples against the wall next to me. Surprisingly, he doesn’t push back against his cousin but stands there and stares into his eyes. Likehe’s not afraid of him one little bit. And maybe he isn’t, but I’m terrified Colson might do something irreversible.
“Stop!” I try to pry Colson’s arms off Sebastian. He’s so much stronger, and the alcohol enhances his strength.
“You should be fucking happy I’m offering her to you.” Colson spits it out as if I’m not standing right next to him. I tell myself he’d never say these things if he were in his right mind, but it doesn’t fix how my entire body deflates with each word that comes out of his mouth.
I jostle his arm. “That’s enough. Let him go!”
“That’s what you want?” Sebastian growls back. “You want me to take the only girl you’ve ever had feelings for and fuck her so good she forgets about you? You want some other guy to fill the void for her because your dumb ass can’t get his shit together?”
Oh…no.
Colson’s blue gaze turns a smoldering red. Sebastian shoves at Colson’s chest. It knocks him back half a step. Sebastian is stronger than he lets on. He may not constantly spar with a boxing bag nor is he under the influence, but he used to tackle men for the fun of it. He could easily take Colson down.
Their gazes catch. I don’t know who’s winning in the game of war they’re playing. It’s deathly quiet, and then, in a flash, Colson’s hand expands over Sebastian’s throat in quiet fury.
I clamp my hand on his arm urgently, doing everything I can to pull him off. “Colson, no.Don’tdo this! Let himgo!”
He ignores me again. I smack a closed fist against his bicep as Sebastian’s nostrils flare for oxygen. He lets out this stutter of a noise and stands there and justtakesit. Like he’s under Colson’s heel. Like he doesn’t care if Colson empties his lungs of air. But then I realize that he’s not reacting on purpose. He’s letting Colson burden him with his emotions if only to get them out.
My body fills with a mix of fear and dread.
Colson and Sebastian loveeach other. They’d never do this on an ordinary day. They’d never lay their hands on one another or throw low blows and cheap shots.
Colson holds Sebastian to the wall and brings the rim of the bottle to his lips. He gulps down three swigs while looking at the green eyes across from him.
And then,wham.
He bashes the bottle into the wall beside Sebastian's face. His cousin flinches. Shards of glass spray in all directions. A streak of blood appears at the corner of Sebastian’s mouth from the bottle’s flying shrapnel. The stench of whiskey overtakes the room. Whatever was left in the bottle drips down the wall, and without prompting, Colson releases him.
Just like that, he lets go.
Sebastian wheezes out a massive breath. Colson stomps out of the room. The bathroom door bangs so fiercely the walls shake. I immediately reach for Sebastian and cling to his side while glancing over my shoulder. He rubs his throat and looks past me in the direction Colson disappeared.
What the hell did I just witness?
That person…that isnotColson.
