Keep Her (16 page)

He stood there, sobbing, blood dripping from his hand.

“Jesus Christ, what goes on?” I mumbled to myself.

Beck was already at his side, trying to calm him down. I started to walk over to them to find out what the hell had just taken place, and then I saw
her—
A raven-haired, half-dressed, sly-looking thing, parading down the steps like a stripper on stage, wiping the smeared lipstick from her face.

Taking it all in, I gasped in horror. You’d have to be blind not to put two and two together. “You son of a bitch!” I screamed, lunging at my asshole of a brother. “I knew this would fucking happen. I
knew
it!” Marcus didn’t need to say a word, the evidence of his betrayal of Tessa was staring straight at me, wearing a shit-eating grin.

Marcus turned to the bitch in question and spat, “Get the fuck out of my house!” before running to the front door and clumsily attempting to grab his keys off the hook.

The nosy crowd of onlookers parted as Satin-the-slut slithered her way out the back door. Beck rushed to Marcus’s side, blocking him. “Whoa, buddy. Not so fast. Where do you think you’re going? You’ve been drinking all day. You can’t drive.”

Marcus put up a good fight against Beck, who was restraining his arms. My brother pushed him a few times, banging him against the wall in their struggle, but when he realized Beck wasn’t budging, Marcus finally relented.

Deflating against the wall and dropping to his knees, I could see the pain wash over his usually flawless face. “I can’t lose her, Riley. I have to go after her.”

As tortured as he seemed, I had no pity on him. This was exactly what I’d been warning Tessa about. I knew in time he’d fuck up. I just didn’t think he’d do it with such a skank. And with Tessa right under his nose. “You should have thought about that before you went and fucked Little Miss Twat-wad.” I ranted and raved and truly let him have it. He deserved to feel like shit for this. Someone had to make him hurt the way Tessa was hurting right now.

But no matter how low my blows fell, Marcus was still trying to go after her. “Let me go,” he begged. “I have to go after her.” He stood again, trying to bypass the brick wall that was Beck, guarding the front door.

Grabbing fistfuls of his hair and taking deep, exasperated breaths, Marcus finally looked at me with the most pathetic of expressions. His eyes pleaded with me for mercy as he cried, “I fucking love her! Don’t you see that? I love her, Riley. I can’t let her go!”

It was the first time I’d ever heard Marcus say those words about anyone. I had a feeling he and Tessa had been sneaking around for a while and things were more serious than they’d let on, but I had no idea he’d fallen in love with her.

Hot, hateful tears sprang to my own eyes. Tears for my brother, who had finally given his heart to someone. Tears for Tessa, who was now broken-hearted because of his mistakes. Tears for myself for not nurturing their love from the beginning. Perhaps I would have had the power to stop something like this from happening by allowing them to do their thing without judgment. I was all over the place—I just wanted to make this all go away.

Beck, witnessing my breakdown, came to my side and placed a consoling arm around my shaking body. After scanning the room he raised his voice over the murmurs of the forgotten crowd. “Show’s over, everyone. Beer’s outside.” At their grumbles he shouted, “Everybody out,” then rounded them up like cattle and steered them through the sliders.

I couldn’t stop staring at my brother. “Why?” I finally asked. “If you love her, why the hell did you do this?”

Finally giving up his fight to chase Tessa down, he stared me in the eye with intensity. “I didn’t. It’s all a misunderstanding. I swear to Christ, Ry. I did not touch that girl. Tessa walked in on me pushing her off me. I would never hurt Tessa, Ry. Never. I love her so damn much. You have to help me get her back.” His words were so desperate I wanted to believe him. Could I?

I turned to Beck, who was also staring at a distraught Marcus, probably wondering the same things I was. “Do you think he’s telling the truth?” Beck had to have the answers. Someone besides my drunken brother had to have the answers.

“Stop fucking talking about me like I’m not here! I can hear you and I’m telling you the fucking truth!” Marcus was irate, even from his feeble position crumpled up on the floor.

Beck went to him and kneeled down, comforting his friend. “Bro, calm down. I know you didn’t screw that girl. I know you love Tessa, but you have to let her cool off and you need to sober up. Maybe even take a cold shower. We’ll bandage up that hand and tomorrow will be a new day.”

“Tomorrow will be too late,” Marcus said, hanging his head.

“It won’t be. I promise.” Beck placed a hand on Marcus’s shoulder and then looked up to me. “
We
promise. Don’t we, Riles?”

In that moment, Marcus looked to me for guidance, for reassurance, for unconditional acceptance. All those years that I had tried to take my mother’s place—being strong for my brother and hoping to teach him life’s lessons—meant shit. Now was when he needed me to believe in him most. I couldn’t let him down. “Marcus, we’ll get her back for you, sweetie. I promise.”

Getting Marcus to calm down was like trying to wrangle a pack of rabid wolves. He’d clawed and barked, sometimes foaming at the mouth to try and get past me and Riley for his car keys. Finally, we had to hide them in a box of Hostess Devil Dogs way in the back of the pantry. There was no way he was looking in there, even out of desperation.

The rest of the guests dispersed after the scene, eventually realizing that neither Marcus nor Riley were in a mood to entertain anymore. Once the drama was over, they also realized there was nothing left to see. Unfortunately for their host, the fireworks that went on indoors were much more of a crowd pleaser than the ones that lit up the summer sky.

Once Marcus was done trashing the kitchen and breaking whatever was in his path, he sat down on the couch, staring out the window like an abandoned puppy. There was no doubt in my mind he was praying and pleading with God for Tessa to come back. It was a pitiful sight—the phone in his hand, pressing redial over and over again, wiping the tears from his face every time he wound up with the same empty result. Riley finally had to pry the phone out of his vice-like grip and send Tessa a text herself, letting her know she was worried about her getting home okay and asking her to call when she did.

In the time it should have taken Tessa to arrive safely home, she still hadn’t called. But Marcus was now passed out in his spot by the window, where he was keeping vigil for his girl. I kept telling him he needed to give her more time and to let it all cool down. He didn’t want rationalities and friendly, logical advice. He wanted his girl back. He wanted to erase the whole night and make it fucking disappear. Besides, who was I to promise him anything? I had no idea how this would turn out.

What a fucking mess.
That was all I kept thinking. Marcus had
finally
given up his game for a special girl,
the
girl. He’d done what everyone who knew him thought was an impossibility for Marcus Grayson, Man-Whore, Underwear-Modeling Bachelor-for-Life—he’d fallen in love. And as with most first loves, he was experiencing his first heartbreak.

I felt so sorry for the bastard, knowing what it was like to have my own heart ripped out of my chest by the woman I loved. But watching this all play out, I also felt something else. Something totally unexpected. It was this overwhelming need to let Riley know exactly how I felt about her. To allow myself to give in to what my heart was telling me to do. To let go of the past—even though it was something I once wanted for my future—in order to make room for something that had taken me by total surprise.

As shocking and quick as this whole thing had happened with her, if I gave in to the chance of starting something up with Riley (without the prospect of Marissa coming back into the picture one day), it would be incredible. So why was I fighting it? Because of time? Because of her brother? Thinking about it now, they seemed like ridiculous reasons to stop myself from giving in to what I was beginning to feel for Riley. We’d connected in a way I’d never imagined, and I owed it to myself, and to her, to see where it could go.

I checked on a snoring Marcus one more time, propping his head up with a pillow in case he decided to chuck up all the extra alcohol he’d consumed trying to numb his pain. When it was safe to assume he would be alive again for at least another twelve hours, I walked through the sliders into the dim light of the moon to find Riley star-gazing on the dock.

She’d changed out of her bathing suit and into a pair of shorts and an oversized sweatshirt. She still looked beautiful, but she also looked sad. The night air was cooler than it had been all day, but the way she hugged her arms around herself made me think she was cold.

“Chilly?” I asked, startling her.

“Oh, hey. How long have you been standing there?” She pulled her feet up out of the water and curled them underneath her.

“Long enough to see you’re upset.” Crickets chirped in the distance as I sat down next to her and pulled her close, hooking my arm around her waist.

“Perceptive, B. Another adorably attractive attribute of yours.” She smiled, looking into my eyes.

“Nothing tops all your adorable attributes,” I said, losing myself in her warm, soothing gaze. Staring a bit too long, maybe making her uncomfortable. Her eyes left mine and she looked down at our joined hands.

Lifting them up, I brought her hand to my lips. “Hey, what gives? You okay?” What went on earlier wasn’t exactly fun for any of us, but she seemed to be taking it personally.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I guess… I just feel bad.”

“For?”

She shrugged. “For Marcus, for Tessa, for… me.”

“Riles,” I swiped at a strand of her hair that was stuck to the corner of her mouth. My finger lingered on her moist lips, and I traced my thumb against the perfect heart shape. “Once this blows over, Marcus and Tessa will be fine. She’ll eventually cool off and let him explain. He loves her and from the looks of things, she loves him too. So, don’t worry about them.”

She pondered what I said, even nodding her head in agreement, but when her eyes met mine again, they were glistening with tears. “And what about me?”

“What about you, babe?” My heart squeezed for her. I didn’t like seeing her upset, but I had no idea what this argument between her brother and Tessa had to do with her. “This isn’t your fault, you know?”

“I know it’s not. And I’ve even wracked my brain, going over the things I’ve said to them the last few months. No matter how harsh I was, I still came around and wound up being truly happy for them. What happened today sucks, and has nothing to do with me doubting them—I’m okay with that. It’s not why I’m upset.” She stopped there, but I nudged her to continue.

“So? Why the tears, sweet thing. This will be okay before we know it.”

She huffed out a long breath, closing her eyes. “It will and they’ll be happy and maybe even get married and have a family and live happily ever after.” Those things should have made her happy, but instead I could see her growing more upset.

“Riles, I’m a guy—a dumb one. You’re gonna to have to spell it out, nice and slow.”

“It’s stupid,” she finally said, standing up and shaking her legs out. “Forget it.”

I stood and walked to the edge of the dock to meet her, wrapping my arms around her middle and snuggling into her neck. “I don’t like seeing you like this. I only want to make you smile around me. So, if you don’t tell me what has you all weepy I’m going to scoop you up and toss you in this lake.”

She leaned into my embrace, and I felt her laughter vibrate against my chest. At least she wasn’t crying anymore. But she also wasn’t talking.

Abruptly, I spun her around to face me and kissed her roughly. She hooked her hands around my neck, her fingers creeping into my hair and anchoring our lips together. She let out a soft moan as my tongue flicked hers, but when I reached up to cup her face, I felt the tears. I immediately backed away, “Hey. Why are you crying?”

“B, I want what they have. Is that too much to ask?”

I just looked at her, my heart melting for her, unable to answer. I didn’t know if she was being rhetorical or if she genuinely wanted an answer from
me
about
us.