Rory shook his head, the worst of the blaze dying in his eyes. “Olive,” he said on an exhale a shudder passing through him. “Olive.”
“I know. You can control the anger. I believe in you.”
Rory buried his face in Olive’s throat and let her continue to whisper private words into his ear. Jamie was watching with a mixture of gratitude and fascination as Olive brought Rory back from the brink of violence when a door opened behind him and slapped shut.
“What’s…what’s going on?”
Marcus’s voice burst something wide open in Jamie’s chest. More than anything in the world, he wanted to save Marcus from the horrible, jarring effect of this moment, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t save either one of them. Their path had always been leading here and Jamie had been an idiot to even wish for a different one.
Jamie turned to face Marcus, momentarily forgetting his face was covered in blood.
But he remembered right away when Marcus—wearing only his sweatpants—stumbled back a step, a choked sound leaving his mouth. “Jamie?” He started to come in Jamie’s direction, but Andrew stepped into his path, holding him off with a hand to his chest. “What happened to your face? Jamie, what…?”
Until that moment, Marcus hadn’t noticed Joey standing off to the side, arms lifeless at his sides, complexion chalky. He did now. And Jamie watched helplessly as horror dawned in Marcus’s expression.
“Did you do this?” Marcus took a rattling breath. “Did you touch him?”
Joey looked down at the ground.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Marcus growled, lunging for his brother. He was in mid-air when Andrew managed to catch him around the trunk of his torso, but Marcus was fucking huge and angry and Jamie’s brother might be as strong as a bull, but he wouldn’t be able to hold Marcus for long.
Jamie acted. No way. No way he was going to let this happen. Everyone involved here had arrived at this moment because of his actions. He’d known better. And he wouldn’t let an act of violence take place in his name. Not again. Already he was moving to stand in front of Joey, acting as a shield in case Marcus got free of Andrew.
The fight went out of Marcus almost immediately, tension pouring from him in a rush. “Look at him!” he shouted, plowing a hand through his hair, a sheen forming in his wild eyes. “Standing in front of your sorry ass. After what you did to him. Look at him.”
“My sorry ass?” Joey seethed, though he sounded less confident than before. “You’ve been sneaking around. Lying to your own family. I have to find out like this?”
“You’re right. I’m the sorry one.” Marcus’s voice was hollow. “I can’t even apologize anymore, can I? I’ve used them all up. I’ve used him all up.”
I have to get out of here.
If Jamie’s heart twisted one more degree, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk away. And he had to. He thought this time could be different, but there he stood on the street, people coming out of their houses in robes to watch the drama unfold. Drama centered on him and who he loved. Who he chose to be with. His fucking face ached. Blood soaked the front of his shirt molding it to his chest, and in that moment, he was stripped of everything he’d worked so hard to build after Chris. After that long-ago evening on the beach, Jamie was back to being the hidden shame, a thing to be revealed and apologized for.
“Jamie,” Marcus said, his tone hushed and full of gravel. “Come inside so I can fix you. Please. It’s killing me to see you bleed.”
Andrew turned to look at Jamie over his shoulder, a touch of wildness warring with concern in his eyes. “What do you want to do?”
Jamie cleared the rust from his throat. “I’m coming home.”
“No,” Marcus ground out, the fight reanimating him. He pushed against Andrew with more determination than before. “Don’t go like this.”
“Enough, Marcus,” Jamie snapped, the rope inside him frayed down to one tiny string. “It was always going to end like this—an instant replay. Look at me. You can see that I’m done. You know it’s done.” He used his sleeve to wipe the blood from his nose. “There’s no more pretending. It’s real now and I’m not limping in to collect my consolation prize. I’m sorry…I’m sorry it happened like this for you, but my arms are too tired to pick up the pieces now.”
Jamie walked away before a frozen Marcus could respond, but he only made it two steps before Joey said, “Let him go, man. We’re going to work this out. Huh? You got it out of your system now and you can go back to normal—”
Andrew turned and plowed his fist into Joey’s face, sending Marcus’s brother falling backwards onto his ass on the sidewalk. “My brother might have a prison record that prevents him from getting into more trouble,” Andrew rumbled, cracking his neck. “But I don’t. You want to go a round with me, motherfucker? Imply Jamie isn’t normal one more time.”