I certainly hadn’t been expecting that. “Have you been out here long?”
“No. Just a few minutes. I’ve been trying to figure out what I wanted to say and I keep coming up short. Jesus, I’m a fucking prosecutor, for Christ’s sake.” His demeanor shifted, his nerves giving way to agitation. “You’d think if I could stand in front of a packed courthouse and speak eloquently, I could figure out what to say to my own goddamned brother.” He laughed humorlessly as he continued to pace. “It’s pathetic.”
I lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug. “I’m not really sure what you want me to say.”
“Did he tell you?” He changed subjects so quickly, my head started to spin. “I mean, did he tell you what happened with… why he cut me out of his life?”
I refused to answer that question, feeling as though an admission would be a betrayal to Rowan. “Richard, it’s not my place—”
“Can you just… fuck, I don’t know. Can you maybe convince him to talk to me? I know it’s a shitty thing to ask of you, but I’m at a loss here, Navie.” His brows dipped into a V, his expression morphing into one of pain. “Please. I don’t know what else to do. I just want to talk to him.”
He looked so heartbroken, so beaten down, that I felt for the guy. I really did. Despite what he’d put his own brother through, I felt genuinely sorry for him. “Look,” I started, “I can’t make you any promises…”
Suddenly, a smile spread across his lips. “That’s okay! I know he’s hard-headed—hell, I know better than anyone. All I’m asking is for you to try and get him to talk to me.”
“I’ll try. But… don’t get your hopes up, okay? Just… wait down here. I’ll go see what I can do.”
Richard’s entire body slumped in relief. “Thank you, Navie. God, thank you so much.”
“Don’t thank me yet. Just give me a few minutes.”
“Yeah. Okay. I can do that.”
My stomach twisted into knots as I took the elevator up to Rowan’s floor. I had no idea what I was supposed to say to him or how he’d react to finding out his brother was downstairs, desperate to talk to him.
Shooting up a quick prayer, I balanced the tray of drinks in one hand, holding the bag of muffins between my teeth, and pushed the front door open. “Rowan,” I called as I took the bag in my free hand and moved into the apartment. “You aren’t going to believe this but—” I let out a started gasp at what I saw, barely registering the items in my hand crashing to the floor as devastation rocked my entire body.
Standing in the living room was Rowan, wearing nothing but a pair of black basketball shorts resting loose on his hips. But the thing that crushed me completely was the tall, insanely beautiful woman standing in front of him, her body pressed against the entire length of his, their lips locked together in a kiss. Her hands cupped his cheeks, his long fingers holding on to her delicate wrists.
“Oh, God,” I choked on the lump that had formed in my throat. The vision of the two of them standing locked in an embrace blurred from the tears forming in my eyes.
“Navie,” Rowan gasped, quickly untangling himself from the brunette standing before him. In a blink, he was moving. “Oh, shit, Navie. It’s not—”
“No!” I shouted, taking a huge step back. “Don’t come near me. Don’t touch me.”
“Rowan,” the woman, who looked like she’d just stepped off a runway, spoke from behind him. “Honey, who’s this?”
At the sound of her calling him ‘honey’, I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole.
“Jesus fucking Christ,” he spit out, his hands raking over his face before he turned to look over his shoulder. “Not now, Bree. Just—”
I took another step back. “Bree?” I wheezed as my lungs deflated. “Oh, God. This is Bree?”
I watched as his icy blue eyes widened as what he just said registered. “No! No, no, no, no. Baby, don’t think that…”
And with that, I shattered completely. “You were just fucking kissing Bree!” I shouted so loud my throat hurt.
“Navie, just listen to me!”
“Fuck you!” I yelled. My world turned upside-down. I had given my heart to this man completely and he’d just ruined me. A devastation like no other wound its way through my chest, squeezing my heart and choking out every bit of free space. Those familiar memories from my childhood filled my head so completely, they were all I could think about.
No one would ever want me. I’d never have a family because I wasn’t worthy of anyone’s love. One person after another cast me out without a care in the world because I was just a sad, lonely little girl. I was so pathetic, my own mother didn’t even want to keep me.
I would never, ever be good enough.
Rowan’s arms pulling me against his body jerked me back into the present. “Navie, please.”
“Let go of me,” I spoke in a low, heartbroken voice.
“No,” he insisted stubbornly.
“Rowan.” The sound of Bree’s voice pulled me from my anguished haze. Yanking myself from his hold, I stumbled backwards, tripping over my own feet and nearly falling to the ground.
He came forward quickly, trying to steady me with his hands, but I slapped them away before he could touch me again. “I hate you,” I said through gritted teeth, speaking the three words I’d never said to anyone before.
The way his face crumbled in agony would have killed me, had I not already been bleeding out.
“Rowan!” Bree said again, her grating voice demanding attention.
“Fucking hell!” Rowan shouted. “Just get the fuck out, Bree! Get out!”
Her spine went stiff and her chin lifted into the air. “We have things to discuss.” She responded so calmly that I couldn’t help it. Something inside of me had snapped and I began laughing, the sound manic to my own ears.
“Oh, please, don’t let me keep you, then. I was just leaving.”
Spinning on my heels, I rushed for the front door as tears spilled down my cheeks.
“You’re not fucking leaving!” Rowan snapped. I could hear his steps coming up behind me, but then there was a slip and a loud crash, followed by a booming, “God damn it!”
Just as I cleared the threshold, I looked over my shoulder to see Rowan trying to climb off the floor, having slipped and fallen in the spilled coffee I’d dropped just minutes earlier. It granted me the short reprieve I needed to run to the elevator before he could catch up.
I’d just cleared the landing of the building when a voice called out from behind me. “Navie?” I spun around to see Richard exactly where I’d left him what felt like a lifetime ago. “Shit. Are you okay? What happened?”
That hysterical laughter started again of its own accord. “What is with you two, huh?”
Confusion etched into his features. “What are you talking about?”
I didn’t stop to answer him. I was on a roll. “I mean, seriously! Does she have a golden vagina or something? I’ve never heard of two grown men destroying their family over one woman the way the two of you have! The fact that y’all have such a disregard for your own blood disgusts me. Do you have any idea what some people would give to have a family? A brother? And you just ripped it apart. Over a fucking woman!”
“Are you talking about Bree?”
I felt an overwhelming sense of anger at the sound of her name. “Yes! She’s up there right now. Hurry along before she sinks her claws into your brother again. Wouldn’t want to be the loser this time around, would you?” I asked callously, not caring in the slightest that I sounded like a raging bitch.
He looked from me, to the building, and back again, the indecision written all over his face. But I was done. Without so much as a backwards glace, I walked away. Trying my best to hold on to what very little pride I had left.
I needed to get home. I needed to call Lauren and request a new job and an indefinite amount of time off. I prayed she understood because what I needed the most at that very moment was over a thousand miles away in Texas.