“Kitty,” Kraven coaxed. “I asked you a question, and I expect an answer.”
“Don’t talk to her like that,” Julius snapped, only making it worse.
“Oh…” Kraven mocked, cocking his head to the side. He stood, stepping toward me until he was by my side. “The prodigal brother returns.”
“Kraven,” I warned. “Don’t do this.”
He baited in a patronizing tone, “And who’s going to stop me, Kitty? You?”
In one stride, Julius was in his face. “No, Little Brother… that’s going to be me.”
He grinned. “You should be thanking me. It’s going to make her choice a lot easier.”
“Don’t you fucking dare try to turn this around and act like you’re the martyr, Kraven. You called the cops on me, you ungrateful fucking shit… after everything!”
He extended his arms out at his sides. “Yeah, I did that for her.”
Julius scoffed in disgust. “Fuck you! You did that for yourself.”
“Really?” he challenged. “How long do you think it would have taken for your new friends to use her like they used us, huh?”
“I’m not a fuckup like Melody and Joe. I wouldn’t have let that happen.”
“Julius…” Kraven ridiculed. “You know as much as I do that it was only a matter of time until shit hit the fan.”
“So you betray me instead?”
“You can stand there and say you wouldn’t have if it came down to protecting her?” He snapped, “You would have done the same fucking thing, so stop pretending like we aren’t the same.”
“Fuck you!” Julius shoved him, and I stepped between them.
“NO! We are not doing this again!”
Several tears formed in my eyes as I took in their composures and what it meant to me.
To all of us.
I shook my head, hanging on by a thread. “This isn’t going to help anything.”
My chest locked up, eyes blurring with fresh tears, barely allowing me to see their handsome faces. My lungs caved in, and I was suffocating in my own misery.
In our love.
In everything that ever mattered to me.
The next thing I knew, Kraven grabbed something off his desk, slamming it into Julius’s chest.
“You want to end this? Here!”
My gaze shifted to what was in Julius’s hand before my gaze spread wide. “Is that what I think it is?”
Kraven nodded. “You bet your ass it is.”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Julius whipped around, heading straight to the bathroom.
In a tornado of emotions, I watched as Julius swiped his mouth with a cotton swab before slipping it back into the separate bag. Kraven’s swab was already in there.
