Betrayed (18 page)

“So much for getting any work done today,” Kayla said as she rolled off him. Her breaths came in heavy gasps, still.

“No one could expect us to think of work at a time like this,” Ethan said. “Besides, it can wait.”

Kayla rested her head on his chest and he ran his fingers through her hair. It wasn’t long before he began to lull himself to sleep in her arms.

“I should really finish up the application,” she said after a bit, breaking the heavy silence. “It’s due in a few days, and there’s no reason not to get it done with.”

Ethan’s brow tightened at the thought of Kayla being off doing her own thing. The feeling quickly faded, however, as he realized the nonsense of it. While he may not welcome the idea of being apart, he knew it was for the best. They still had their own lives to lead, each with responsibilities.

“Maybe that would be a good idea,” he said. “You’re almost finished, anyways.”

They laid there, in silence, for a few more minutes. Ethan considered making love to her one more time, but he knew that his strength had reached its limit, and he needed more time to recover from their last escapade.

“Let’s get dressed,” he said. “I’ll drive you back to your car.”

* * * * *

They pulled themselves out of bed, and gathered their clothes. It took a few minutes before Kayla was able to identify where her underwear had hidden itself, and Ethan groaned in pain when she finally hid her beauty behind the tight jeans and blouse she had worn the day before.

Don’t worry, you’ll have her again soon enough
, he reminded himself.

The thought was enough to carry him through. It was a glimmer of light that pierced through the gray haze that winter brought with it. But as they made their way through the house, there was a storm moving in outside. The sky was darkening, and thunder echoed and rolled through the house as Ethan heard the front door open and shut ahead of them.

“Trevor?” Ethan asked when he saw his brother entering the foyer.

Trevor stumbled through the door, and his eyes rolled to make contact. Dark red smeared his lip, and stained the top of his shirt. His jeans had a fresh tear on the side, near the pocket. His eyes were blurred, and they rolled between both Kayla and Ethan.

“Decide to make nice?” he asked, in a slurred voice.

“Trevor, are you alright?” Ethan asked, rushing to his brother’s side.

Trevor shoved his brother’s hands away from him. “I’m fine,” he said.

“You’re bleeding,” Ethan said. “Come, sit down.”

Ethan lead the unsteady man into the kitchen. Trevor tried to protest, but he couldn’t. Kayla pulled fresh hand towels from the linen closet, and began wetting them and packing a few with ice. Together, she and Ethan worked to clean him up.

“What happened?” Ethan asked again. “You look like you got jumped.”

Trevor sneered. “You should see the other guy.”

“Ethan, he should go to the hospital,” Kayla said.

“No doctors, I’m fine,” Trevor said.

“There’s some pretty dark spots on your ribs,” she said. “Something might be broken.”

Ethan ran a finger along the tender spot that Kayla pointed out. Trevor winced and shied away from the touch. He jerked his shirt down, sharply.

“I’m fine,” he groaned. “I’ll be fine.”

Ethan shook his head. “If you broke a rib, or something, it could be serious. Kayla’s right, we need to get you to the hospital and have a doctor look you over.”

“Just get me something strong to drink. I can sleep it off.”

“I think you’ve had plenty to drink already. Let’s go.”

Trevor groaned in protest when his brother threw an arm around him, but he let himself be led from the house. Ethan could tell he was in a lot of pain, and he wondered what had happened.

Trevor laid across the back seat of the car as Ethan drove them into town. He took each of the dips and turns slowly as they wound their way through the Foothills down toward campus. The late evening Sun was already descending, and a familiar darkness was settling over the city.

The University Medical Center, located immediately next to campus, had a renowned emergency center. As they neared the campus, Ethan swerved off of Campbell and onto some side streets that cut behind the hospital and wrapped around to the business college. He pulled into the parking garage and up next to Kayla’s car.

“I can go with you to the hospital,” she said quietly.

He could feel the longing in her voice, and he knew it was going to kill him to be apart from her again.

“I need some time with him,” he said. “You go get your stuff done. We’ll talk later.”

Kayla’s smile was warm, and she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Ethan was thankful when Trevor remained silent.

“Call me as soon as you hear anything,” she said.

“You know I will.”

The two kissed again, lightly. And Ethan felt a sinking sensation in his chest as he watched Kayla climb into her car and drive away.

“You like playing with fire, don’t you?” Trevor asked from the back seat.

Ethan shook his head. “Shut up,” he said. It was the only comeback he could manage.

“Well, I’ve got some good news,” the doctor said as he slid the privacy curtain closed around the small bed. Ethan rose out of the chair and listened. “Nothing’s broken, you’re going to be just fine. But there is some very heavy bruising around three of your ribs, and there’s going to be some swelling. You’ll be in a lot of pain for a few days, but it’s manageable You’ll be back to your old self in no time.”

Relief washed over Ethan. Trevor, blew out a long, held, breath. Somehow, Ethan had expected everything to be fine, but it was comforting to have the doctor confirm it.

“Thanks, Doc,” Trevor said.

“I’ll have a nurse come around to give you one last checkup, and then you’ll be discharged. I’m going to give you a prescription for Percocet to help manage the pain.” The doctor smiled one more time, and left.

Ethan eyed his brother. A familiar, sardonic smile had made its way to the corners of Trevor’s lips. Ethan found it annoying.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” Ethan asked.

“There’s nothing to tell,” Trevor said. He ripped the sheet covers off and began to climb out of bed. Ethan put a strong hand on him and pushed him back into the chair. Trevor winced, unable to do anything but lay back.

“You’re not getting out of here just yet. Doc said a nurse will be by soon.” Anger flashed on Trevor’s face, but he looked away and didn’t argue. “What’s been going on with you? I’ve barely seen you for the last week. You’re constantly drunk, and depressed. What’s going on?”

Trevor eyed his brother for a long moment. Ethan remained resolute. His little brother wasn’t going to get out of this conversation. They were stuck there until Ethan was satisfied.

“Some stuff happened in New York,” Trevor said, finally. “I’ve been dealing with it.”

“
What
happened? Talk to me; you’re making it sound like someone died.”

“It would be easier to handle if someone
had
died,” Trevor said. His face softened, and he took a deep breath. “Two years ago, I started seeing this girl - Amanda. Things started off slow, and I figured it was just another fling. She was a motivated associate at a marketing agency, and I figured she just needed someone to help her blow off some steam.” Trevor reached over and snatched a plastic cup of water. He took a short drink. “Well, what started as a weekly hookup, turned into her staying over. At first, it was just a night or two a week. But, before I knew it, she was there every night.” He shook his head. “And, what surprised me the most, was that I wasn’t scared. It felt natural - like she was
supposed
to be there. Whenever she left, I felt empty. When I was alone, it was like something was missing.”

“You were in love,” Ethan said, a knowing smile forming on his face. “Have you never been in love before?”

“I tried to stay away from such silly things,” Trevor said, his voice amused.

“They’re only silly if you don’t know just how amazing the feeling can be,” Ethan said, his voice a bit more honest than he had intended.

“Well, before long she told me that she loved me,” Trevor continued. “At first, I was startled; then relieved. I loved her, too. I don’t know, things just seemed to fall into place. It was the first time in my life that everything was beginning to make sense. I started wondering what it might be like to settle down, maybe get a house, maybe start a family.” He shook his head and smiled. “A few months earlier, those thoughts would have terrified the Hell out of me.”

“You never called and told me anything about this girl,” Ethan said. He didn’t mean to be accusatory, but once upon a time, he and his brother had been the best of friends.

Trevor winced. “I feel awful about that,” he said. He looked up at Ethan, his eyes soft. “One afternoon, I was walking past a jewelry store and I saw a ring in the window. I started wondering what it might look like on Amanda’s hand. The next thing I knew, I was paying for it and slipping it into my pocket. I didn’t have the first clue how I was going to ask her to marry me, I had never even considered it. Everything was happening so fast that it just made sense at the time.”

Trevor’s voice began to crack as he struggled to work through what he would say next. Ethan could see the pain in his face, and feel the pain in his voice.

“So, with the ring in my pocket, and foolish dreams in my head, I went back to our flat. It wasn’t a long walk, maybe twenty minutes, and the whole time I began filling my head with silly fantasies about what I would say, and how she would react. I never even considered that she might say no. It wasn’t a possibility.”

He took another drink from the plastic cup of water, and cleared his throat. Ethan had never been at the point in a relationship where he seriously considered marriage, but for the first time, with Kayla, he thought he could understand the emotions that Trevor must have had while he was walking home with that ring.

“It was still early in the day, and I knew Amanda would be stuck in the office for a few more hours. She never made it out of the office before six. So you can imagine my surprise when I saw her purse sitting on the entryway table. I didn’t remember seeing it that morning after she’d left, so perhaps she’d come home early?” Trevor’s voice cracked. “That was when I heard the sounds coming from the bedroom. At first, I didn’t know what it was, but it didn’t take long for me to figure it out. Then, I heard the grunts of some other man with her.”

Trevor’s face tinged red, and his eyes went glossy. Ethan’s felt a rush of sympathy. He could only imagine to understand what his brother was feeling.

“Turns out, it was one of the partners from her firm. They’d been having an affair for a while, and she hadn’t known how to tell me.” He wiped a tear from his cheek. “I walked out, right then and there, and haven’t looked back.”

The buzzing of the hospital around them faded away as the two brothers regarded one another. Ethan didn’t know how to respond - there was nothing he could say that would make his brother feel better. He just needed to be there for him. He put a hand on his brother’s shoulder, and, after a moment, Trevor reached up and squeezed him tightly.

“Is that why you came out to visit?” Ethan asked, after a time.

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Trevor said, their eyes connecting. “I just needed to put as much distance between me and New York as possible. Arizona seemed like as good a choice as any.”

Ethan nodded. He understood the need to get away. If things hadn’t worked out with Kayla, he didn’t think he could have stayed anywhere near her. The pain, and constant reminder, would have been too much to handle. But things
had
worked out with Kayla. He didn’t have to go through the suffering his brother was trying to endure. Ethan was one of the lucky ones, he supposed.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. A silence passed. “You’re welcome to stay at my place as long as you need. My door is always open to you.”

Trevor looked up at him and a slight flash of relief passed, but it was brief. His eyes furrowed close together as though he’d made some sort of resolution.

“If I’m being honest, that’s only part of what’s going on,” he said.

Ethan’s head arched back. “Only part of it?”

“I’ve, kind of, been seeing someone,” Trevor said, slowly. “I needed someone to help take my mind off Amanda.” He paused and shook his head. “I didn’t expect to actually start having feelings for her.”

Ethan tried to suppress a small, knowing grin as he sat down in the chair next to the bed.

“It sounds like she might just be a rebound,” he said.

Trevor shrugged. “That’s what I was hoping for, but I’m not sure. I think I really like her.”

Ethan nodded. “So, what’s the issue?”

“I don’t think she’s into it. Not like I am. We’re sleeping together, but it seems like that’s all she wants to do.”

“Usually, if a girl is sleeping with you, it’s because she’s interested in you.”

Trevor smirked. “This isn’t a usual girl.”

“All you can do is let her know how you feel. If she’s going to push you away, then at least you’ll be on the same page. You’re going to go through rough patches in life, and the answers aren’t always going to be clear. Stay honest to yourself, and everything will work itself out.”
 

He smiled at Trevor, and was suddenly filled with regret. He hated that they had allowed a distance to come between them, and he vowed to himself that he would never let it happen again. His brother was more important to him that almost anything else. They had raised each other through very difficult times, and it was by leaning on one another that they found their way through life. He had forgotten that, once, and he vowed to never forget it again.

“So is that what’s going on between you and Kayla?” Trevor asked. “Are you just putting it all on the line and letting the chips fall where they may?”

Ethan breathed in deeply. “Kayla is something special; no doubt. I can’t get her out of my bones. My body aches to be near her.” He sighed, deeply. “What drove us apart before was… unfortunate. I think if I had managed the situation a bit better, then it would never have gotten so out of hand.”