“What the fuck?” he wipes a little blood from his face and stares at me. He’s now officially pissed.
I smirk. That felt so good.
I follow through with a punch to his gut with so much force that the douche huffs and slightly folds over with a gasp that confirms he’s winded. Now I really feel better.
But the triumphant rush of adrenaline spiking through me is short-lived – I know this by now.
He recovers with a massive blow connecting the bone just below my eye. I see stars.
Dammit.
His left fist brutally split my lip – drawing blood.
Fists in the air we face each other, matching each other’s moves like shadow puppets – or is it shadow-brothers?
I get a few more punches in, but my brother is also relentless and even though I hate to admit it, he’s a pretty darn good fighter.
Feeling inferior only aggravates my anger toward him. My rules slip away, one by one, and I lose control.
“You’re a fucking dick!” I shout, barely holding my ground.
He drops his hands to his side, his ice-blue eyes shooting daggers.
“Tell me why you are so angry with me?” His mellow voice suggests that he regained some tranquility. “Are you scared to share your father with me?” No. I don’t care about that at all. My shoulders shag as I surrender too. I look down at my shoeless feet.
“I don’t want to share Mel with you,” I whisper tightly.
“Mel?” he sincerely sounds baffled.
I run my fingers through my hair, feeling slightly embarrassed to talk about this.
“Yeah,” I force myself to look him in the eye. “Pretty little blonde thing with the soulful blue eyes … whose brains you smooched out … and probably fucked by now.” Oh, how those words hurt as they roll from my tongue.
“Me?” He gestures with his hands to himself, a totally flabbergasted expression on his face. “And Mel?” He really is slow.
“I know you fucking kissed her!” He looks highly disorientated. “I have the picture to proof it.”
“I never kissed Mel, she’s like a sister to me.” He seems genuinely sincere. “And even if I should try, she loves you so much she would never cheat on you.”
And just like that, a whole bunch of messy, shitty truths slaps into me. Truths that grip my balls like a vise. Could I be wrong? Fucking shit.
I stare at him, looking for something to justify my actions – but nothing in his face gives away his thoughts. Except for his eyes, which seem suspiciously condemning.
I take out my phone and show him the picture, telling him what Chloe’s friend said. His smile dips two dimples on his cheeks. We have the same mouth.
“It sure as hell looks like we’re snogging,” he says still smirking, “but we didn’t, I was holding her cause she fainted.” Shit. He’s not lying.
He hands back the phone and takes the now cold cup of coffee. He throws it out in the sink and refills it.
“Hell, bro, I held her lots of times this past few weeks while she was crying over you.” His smile is now gone. “But you don’t deserve her! You fucked around and broke the perfect girl.” My poor shattered heart tries to glue the pieces together, but guilt now rips it apart.
Tears form in my eyes. I screwed up the most important thing in my life. Not my brother. Not her. ME! I broke my own fucking heart.
“I didn’t fuck around,” I sniff and retch. Remorse burns my throat and goes straight to my gut.
My brother pours another cup of coffee, adding one sugar and milk to both. Seems like we share the same taste too.
“Let’s go sit down and see if we can fix this.” I lead the way to a cozy little room where the fireplace is already burning. I lit it before I went out.
A thick frieze fluffy gray rug covers the hardwood floor between two super comfy charcoal Lovesac couches. I sag my sore body into one.
“This really is a nice place,” Alejandro says falling into the other.
The dog drops onto the warm carpet at my feet. He’s sweet actually. I stare at my brother.
I don’t know much about him other than he was in foster care and the Navy. But I suppose he’s not used to this kind of luxury yet.
“You’re welcome to use it whenever you want,” I say earnestly and mean it. Seems I was way wrong about the man.
“Do you really love Mel?” he asks. Fuck yeah.
“Have you ever held someone that meant everything to you?” He swallows hard and nods. For a moment I wonder how many loved ones he lost.
“Mel means everything to me. And I swear I want to keep her forever. Because she’s that special.”
Precious. Irreplaceable.
And now I realize she might be gone. Lost.
And I ache for her.
“I will give anything to have her.” To have her back with me where she is supposed to be. Always. Forever.
Fuck, I feel like a stupid, undeserving asshole. I touch the bulging bruise just under my eye and give a disturbing smile. My brother painfully explained that to me just now.
“Care to explain the photos and texts Mel saw on your phone?”
“Chloe is one rabid crazy stalker bitch. My lawyer said I needed to keep the photos as evidence to get a restraining order against her. That’s it.”