“I don’t like this tension between us. You don’t talk to me like you did before,” he went on, just as unyielding as I was. I didn’t like it either, but heknew how I was. I still couldn’t accept that he’d doubted me, even if only for a moment.
“If you hadn’t believed your little fucking girlfriend, then none of that would have happened.” I moved toward him on my way out of the room. Logan moved in front of me, however, halting me where I stood. I could see the sadness in his eyes, but I remained unmoved.
I was very good at pretending not to care about people. Even when the people in question were my whole life.
“You know how much you mean to me. I was angry.” He pushed a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. I remained cold, considering his words without conceding anything.
“You believed I would betray your trust. That’s pretty serious to me,” I said sharply. Never had I imagined something like that could happen between the two of us. Never. I let myself be violated by a psycho to keep her from acting out her perversions on my brother, and still, he believed the fantasies of some chick over me?
No…he really shouldn’t have let me down like that.
And here I was, acting like an insolent child about it.
Perched up there on my wall of pride, kicking my feet and laughing as I raked my brother over the coals.
“Please, Neil. I don’t know what’s going on with you at all anymore. You shut me out completely. You don’t tell me things, and you don’t ask for advice…” he said in a rush of frustration. “I don’t even know how things are going between you and Selene or if you’ve started therapy back up with Dr. Lively or how you’re dealing with Player attacking our sister…” His voice shook as though he were about to cry. He wouldn’t, but I could tell from his tone of voice just how much pain he was in. I shook my head and tried to push past him; he shoved me back furiously, and my guard immediately went up.
“Yeah, do it! Hit me! I’d prefer it to this fucking indifference!” he shouted in a show of defiance, and I clenched my hand into a fist. I wasn’t going to lose control; I wasn’t going to hit Logan.
I was a monster, sure, but not that much of a monster.
My siblings were like precious gems, like holy relics as far as I was concerned.
I would have done anything—no matter how insane—for them.
“Move. I need to leave,” I said again, and he didn’t so much as flinch, let alone let me pass.
“Whatever blond is waiting to get railed by you can wait. I’m more important,” he said, echoing something I’d once said to him. He motioned to himself, and I screwed up my face for a moment before letting slip a genuine smile.
Goddammit!
I could never manage to be a complete bastard with my siblings. Logan sensed that and tried to hide a cheeky grin.
The two of us had always been more important to each other than any woman who occupied our time. That was the rule.
I huffed an irritated sigh, and Logan took advantage of my moment of weakness to wrap his arms around me.
He held me tightly and gave me a couple pats on the back as I stood there, completely rigid. Instead of repaying the gesture in kind, I immediately trapped him in a headlock and mercilessly rucked up his hair.
He struggled to break free, and when I finally let him, he staggered back grumpily.
“What the fuck! I just styled that!” he spat at me as he tried to fix his hair with his fingers, and I smiled at him.
“That’s what you get when you attach yourself to me like a baby koala,” I chided him mockingly.
“Chloe’s the koala,” he said, still attempting to straighten up his hair. In less than an instant, the tension between us had been obliterated. I was foul-tempered, and I was stubborn and touchy, but Logan could bring out my more indulgent side.
He loved me.
He knew everything about me: fears, anxieties, nightmares. And he knew that I wouldn’t make it without him.
“You asshole. You’ll never change. You really hurt me, not talking to me and ignoring me as much as possible,” he grumbled, and the more I looked at him, the more of me I saw in his eyes.
That was how it had always been: My brother was the better version of me.
“I have to go to Luke’s to sort something out,” I said shortly. I didn’t want to alarm him about Player, though he did look askance at me.
“What happened to your lip?” he asked, looking at my mouth.
