He shrugged, like it mattered. It was in the past.
“Hurt Kaydon and Seth.”
He ignored her.
“Maybe you want him dead,” she whispered.
Bryson met her eyes, feeling a coldness growing in his.
“Maybe I do. But maybe it’s not for the reason you want it to be,” he said.
She held his eye contact.
He continued, “Maybe I’d burn the entire world down to save you. Maybe I don’t care who dies, even if it’s my father. Maybe you don’t want to hear that.”
She blinked rapidly. Why was it so hard for her to understand how he felt about her?
“Why haven’t you told me about what happened with Regan?” she asked again. Her voice so sincere it threatened to crack his carefully built but fragile shell.
“You never even bothered to ask. You said you would, but you didn’t,” he said, sneering at her.
It didn’t feel good to attack her, but it felt safer than the alternative.
“I was giving you space,” she said, ripping her wrists from his grasp.
“No,” he followed her distance, “just like with your mom, you don’t want to know. Sometimes the truth is too hard to hear.”
She rounded on him, her voice hard. “You think I can’t handle it?”
He grabbed her. Spinning, he slammed her against the wall behind him. “I know you can’t handle it, so stop FUCKING asking.”
She didn’t tremble or cower from his outburst; her chest just heaved under him.
What the fuck was he doing? He was attacking her now.
“You think I don’t know pain? That your brothers don’t know pain?” she said, her voice soft but firm.
“I know that all of you are fucking moving on and I’m stuck here, watching,” he said, gripping her arms, knowing that there would be bruises where his fingers were.
Fuck.
He let go of her, like her skin was burning him.
“I waited. You never opened up. Did you want me to force you?” she asked.
“You did with Kaydon.” The words were out before he could stop himself.
She stepped closer to him, her voice barely a whisper, “Is that what you want, Bryson? Someone to force you? Because you might think you want that, but I can tell it isn’t what you need.”
“What the fuck do I need then?” he said.
She moved, and time seemed to slow down as she knelt in front of him. Bryson held his breath, surprised, dumbfounded, and confused.
She looked up at him, her green eyes peering into his.
Holding him.
Seeing more than he ever wanted anyone to see.
