Shattered Hart (15 page)

Not long after Damien leaves Spencer shows up.  I laugh when he holds his hand out for
our
driver’s licenses
,
and
I hand them to him.  He an
d Damien are so paranoid
that they
don’t
let the girls and I ever carry a purse. 
Instead
,
they carry
our
licenses for us. 
Since we
don’t
need money or anything when we are
out with them,
it works out well.

The rest of the night passes quickly
,
and
the next thing I know
it’s
time to go.  We’re headed out when I hear Dominique yell “Dante!”  Turning, I see Dante standing by himself against a wall next to the bar.  He
didn’t
hear his sister calling for him
,
and
he
doesn’t
move.  He looks pensive and not to happy, but his expression perks up when he sees Dominique
.

We all head over to him and spend a few minutes giving hugs and saying hello. 
The conversation is going along just
,
but then
Delilah mentions that Sabrina started
out the night with us
but then
left when
Damien took her home because something was wrong.
 
I attempt to butt in and tell him that it was just a migraine
,
but before I can get a word out
he’s
making his excuses and leaving.
 

For a moment,
I wonder what
that
was
all about, but then
chalk it up to the fact that he
seemed
unhappy before we approached him. 
He’s
probably just having a difficult night.

Watching Brooke dance is
utter
ly
enthralling.  Her natural grace serves her well
,
and
I struggle to keep myself under control. 
She
’
s
so damn sexy that
it
’
s
almost too much. I want to rage out and punch every piece of shit I see ogling her.  MINE, my brain screams.
Stop looking at her you assholes!
I groan in agony as I
watch her body shimmy and sway to the beat. H
er tight little ass
looks scrumptious, and that dress that
she’s
wearing! It should be illegal.
I almost died when she walked through the door tonight, and I’ve been struggling not to throw myself at her all night.

I’d want
Brooke
even
if
she w
ere
wearing a burlap sack.
I
t’s
harder to resist when she comes
out looking as sexy as she does tonight.
 
You’d
think that
,
after knowing her for almost a year
and
a half
,
I’d be used to it
,
and bette
r able to control my reactions.
If
anything
,
it’s becoming more difficult by the hour
.
  It’s gotten even harder since Vegas.  Now I know what she tastes like, and there are times that I can barely function because I can’t stop remembering it.

I’m so engrossed with watching
the sway of her hips
that I
total
ly
miss
Sabrina walking
off
.
Realizing that
she
’
s
missing from the group, I quickly search my memory to remember the last time I saw her
,
and
I realize
it
’
s
been a few minutes.

Grabbing Brooke I ask where her sister went.  When she tells me that Sabrina wandered off by herself, I head off to look for her.

Sabrina
is
standing just inside the entrance to the VIP room
, and I let out a relieved breath to see that she’s alone and seems to be alright
. 
Coming
to a stop next to her,
I try
to figure out why she
is
n’
t
moving. 
Then I get a look at her face.  It’s
a mask of agony
,
and I feel a surge of panic.  What the hell is upsetting her?

Following her gaze, I see my brother across the room, sitting at a table with a woman tha
t I would normally call a Dante fuck
bot.  The gears in my head start turning at quite a clip as one memory after another of the last few months comes back to me.

Sabrina was so happy for a while, and then suddenly she
wasn’t
. 
I’ve
been
extremel
y concerned about how fragile she
ha
s looked
of late
.
At one point, I thought it was because of the guy she danced with in her competition, but she had told me that it wasn’t because of him.  She swore she wasn’t seeing anyone, and I’d come to the conclusion that she was probably having a delayed reaction to her parents death.
I was so concerned about
Rina
that I
overlooked
the signals that my brother was throwing out
, never putting together that the two things are connected
.

Dante
ha
s
n’
t been himself for quite a while. 
He
i
s
touchy, short tempered, sad, distracted and unreasonable.
Why the fuck are they both…

Just like that, it hits me.  Sabrina and Dante
were involved
.  Something happened here.  For whatever reason
,
my brother broke his own rules, and now the shit is hitting the fan.

My gaze slides back to Sabrina just as she turns to leave and I see the exact moment she realizes that I’m there.  Her face is a riot of thoughts and emotions as she tries to figure out how much I’ve seen. 

Grabbing her hand, I pull her
from the VIP room. I grimace when S
abrina tries to play it off by
telling
me that she
just saw Dante
,
and
it caught her
off guard. 
She tries to make an end run around me, but I put halt her progress.  We need to talk.

Giving
her arm a tug
,
I maneuver her
in to the coat check and restroom hallway. 
Staring down a
t
her I
ask
,
“Sabrina.  How long were
you
with my brother?”

At first she
make
s
a shocked face and
tries to tell me
that nothing happened,
but
she
’
s
a terrible liar and I see right through it.

“I know what I saw Sabrina.  It all makes sense now.  His outburst the day I said
you
would be a terrific project manager.  The overnight bag I saw as
you
were leaving his house that day when he was in such a terrible mood.  The way
you
have
both
been acting.  I see it clearly now.”

I watch as all the fight goes out of her.  After a minute, she shakes her head.
  “Yes, something happened. 
I
t didn’
t mean anything, and it came to an end. 
It’s
over, nothing to worry
about
.
  Please just let this go.”

Shit.  This is
so much
worse than I thought.

“Bullshit. 
I think it
is
something to worry
about
.
  And I know
you
Sabrina.  It meant something.  He hurt
you
.  It
was
all over your face back there.  I get it now. 
It’s
in how sad
you
look every day when you think no one is paying attention. 
It’s
the bags under your eyes that say
you
don’
t sleep. 
It’s
the way
you
’
ve been trying so hard to appear happy these last few weeks. 
It’s
been alarming to watch
you
be stretched so thin every day. 
I’ve been worried, and that’
s just how I felt when I thought it was some guy
that
doesn’t
share blood with me
.
  Now
that
I know its Dante, I’m terrified. 
He
’
s
destroying
you
.  I should have realized ho
w weird it was that Dante wasn’
t saying anything about how off
you
have been.
”

She gives me what I’m sure she thinks is a reassuring smile, but what comes out is something that causes my gut to clench in fear
.

“Damien, what do
you
want me to say?  I’m OK.  I’m not falling apart.  I
don’t
know why
you
think that.
Do
n’
t
blow this up to be something it
isn’t
.”

Damn her and her attempts to cover for that son of a bitch!  He should never have touched her.  I’m not letting her lie to me.  I need to know what happened so that I can deal with Dante.

“Is that how
you
’
re going to play it Sabrina? 
Y
ou’
re fine?
  Feeling good?  No problems? 
You
ha
ve
n’t any
feelings for my brother at all?
  If that’
s true, let’s go say hello to him and the new flavor of the month. 
Shouldn’t
be a problem, right?”

I have to give her credit for trying, even though I can see it costs her. 
“No Damien, it won’t
be a problem.  Let’s go say hello.”

I shake my head at her
in fru
stration
, taking her
arm a
s I
walk us back to the VIP area to talk to Dante and the fuck bot of the week.

The second that I see that the
woman
has climbed in to his lap and is leaning in to kiss him, I kn
ow I’ve made a horrible mistake
forcing Sabrina to come back in here.  This was cruel and unnecessary
,
and
I know
it
’
s
going to hurt her. That was never my intention.

I see the exact
moment that she realizes what’
s hap
pening at Dante’s table, and I’
m sick for her.  When she shoves past me and hauls ass to the bathroom, I know
it
i
s
time to get her the fuck out of here.

Striding in to the hallway outside the bathrooms I call Spencer.
The conversation is short, sweet and to the point.

“I
do
n’
t
care who
you
’
re
about to fuck.  Get your ass to this club and take care of the girls.  Sabrina
isn’t
feeling well
,
and
I’ve got to take her home.  I’m not leaving them alone in this meat market.”