Giving In To Love (Strong Brothers 2)

"He thinks you are suffering from a broken heart,” Ryan said.

"Fuck."

"Is he right?" Ryan asked.

"It doesn't matter what I'm feeling, she fucked me over."

"You know Natalie strikes me as a smart girl, and someone who is passionate about her art, so why would she put herself in a situation in which her art is completely dismissed and her prospects are completely ruined?"

Why was he on her side? “Why are you here, Ryan? I hope it's not to try and talk me into changing my mind about Natalie."

"No. I don’t want to change your mind about Natalie. I want to make sure you stay the fuck away from her."

I tried to smirk but for all I knew it was a grimace. "Are you mad because I slept with your sister-in-law?"

Ryan was always a low-key kinda guy, but as he leaned forward and rested his arms on his forearms, he looked at me with such venom, I recoiled.

"No, I'm not mad about that. You're both adults. What I'm mad about is how you are blaming her for your inability to keep it in your pants."

I seethed inside, but didn’t say anything. Maybe if I didn’t respond, he’d leave.

“So, there's an article making you look like a womanizer. If you didn't act like one, there’d be nothing to publish about you. What is the big deal anyway? But that’s not the issue. I cannot for the life of me figure out how you think Natalie could set this all up. In what world does that end well for her? I can't decide if you're a moron or a monster."

I flinched and couldn't respond because I was so shocked to have Ryan talking to me like that.

"What's the worst that happens to you because of this article? People talk about you. So what?”

That was easy for him. He didn’t have his business plastered online again. Humiliating him.

“You still have your work. You still have your club and your gallery. What does Natalie have? Let me tell you. She has nothing." He stood and began to pace as if he was trying to calm down but apparently it didn't work because he whirled around on me again. "I should've never encouraged Kellie to have her take that job. Natalie was a young, vibrant woman with a promising career and now it's all gone. All of it because I suggested that she go to work for you. The only thing that keeps me from beating the shit out of you is that I’m to blame too.”

Feeling backed in a corner, my only option was to come out swinging. But when I went to stand up, my brain rattled around in my skull and I ended up sinking back down on the couch.

"You have something to say about that?" Ryan asked.

"How would they have known to catch us at the hotels if she didn't tell them?" That made sense when I thought it, but as the words came out, I sounded like a pathetic jerk.

Ryan stood looking at me for a moment, his hands on his hips and it made me squirm. "Gee, I don't know, Hunter. Maybe they were following you around. Everybody knows where to find you. They don’t care about Natalie. They're all out to get a picture of you and your mistress. It would've been better off if you'd been fucking somebody else. Natalie is a nice talented girl who's lost everything."

Needing something to do. I took the pills and the water Ryan had gotten for me and downed them. “She has talent. She’ll bounce back —"

"You don't know that. Hunter, not only has everyone dismissed her work as just being something that her sugar daddy helped pay for her, she’s also stopped painting."

My eyes jerked up to him. "What do you mean?"

"Last night when Kellie went to visit with her, Natalie said she didn't feel like painting and then this morning when Kellie went to check on her before going to the office, Natalie had covered all of her artwork up with a sheet."

Oh fuck. I was worse than an asshole. I was a moron and a monster.

"And it hasn't gone unnoticed that she's not at work. I swear to God Hunter, if you fired her after all —"

"I didn't fire her. She quit."

"I hope that's true because if you fired her, she does have a reason for a lawsuit, and I would vote to have you removed if that's what it took to get you out of the company.”

Jesus. I couldn’t believe he was saying that.

“Now Noah seems to think maybe you have feelings for her, and if that's true, you better do something to fix this." He let out a growl and then went to my kitchen. I could hear him getting a coffee.