Choose Me (The Archer Brothers 2)

“I promise, I will,” Nate is soft and gentle with my son, his fingers linger on EJ’s cheek, and his eyes tell me that he loves my boy.

“Can you tell me later?”

“Yeah, I’ll be up.”

EJ hangs on every word Nate says and holds his hand up for a high-five when he passes by. “Later Eban.”

My own voice is caught in my throat. My son has just dismissed me because he believes his father is home. I am home, yet I don’t belong. My brother needs to say something. He needs to face me like a man. There’s a bond between brothers, twins especially, that is hard to sever. Our bond was strengthened when we joined the Navy together, when we became SEALs together. Nothing should come between us, but we both know Ryley and EJ will, and for good reason. Our mother and sister will divide the family because of all of this, taking unnecessary sides, sides that were created by Nate for his own benefit.

If something happened to me while on a mission, he should’ve found out what went wrong and why. SEALs are the elite of elite, the best of the best. We don’t turn our backs and pretend like everything is okay. We fight until the end. We protect our family.

We don’t covet.

When Nate and I were little, we fought, but never anything too serious - he would take a toy from me, or vice versa. I’m older by five minutes and I’ve never let him forget it. I matured faster, shaved first and had a girlfriend before he did. He studied harder, worked out longer and always stayed after practice to be better. With siblings there’s always competition, but with twins I think it’s worse.

The one thing I could always count on is that Nate would have my back, just as I would have his. People knew not to mess with the Archer twins because where there’s one, his brother isn’t far behind. We knew we could always count on each other. The same thing went with Ryley, who was my first serious girlfriend. Once I met her, everyone paled in comparison. Nate protected her like a sister… a sister. So right now when I look at Nate living in my home, sleeping with my girl and raising my son, all I see is anger. He’s deceived me for years. I knew he liked her, but I never thought he’d do what he’s done.

It’s one thing to be a father figure to my son, hell I would’ve done the same thing, but I would’ve never crossed the line with his fiancée.

To me, that is unforgivable.

He needs to be a man a

nd admit that he capitalized on my absence so he could take Ryley away from me. Part of me wishes our lives didn’t come to this because after being gone so long, all I want to do is sit back and enjoy my time home. That includes catching a game or two with my brother, who up until this past month was my best friend.

“So how’d it happen?” I ask, knowing that if he goes into details about how he and Ryley ended up together it’s going to make my stomach turn, but needing to hear it from him anyway.

Nate shakes his head and before I can say anything the soft touch of her hand is on my arm. “That’s an unfair question, Evan, and you know it.”

She’s right, but I’m giving neither of them the satisfaction of knowing I agree with her. The anger I felt for Ryley is back now that Nate is home. His posture and relaxed state tells me everything I believe to be true. He must have known and did nothing about it. He took advantage of a cover-up to pursue his own twisted fantasy and make it a reality.

“Do you have anything to say?”

Nate looks at me and his eyes drift down to where Ryley is touching my arm. She removes her hand and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that she did that for his benefit. I look at her, her eyes are downcast and she’s staring at the floor. I shake my head at the thought that everything we’ve worked for these past few weeks is now circling down the drain.

“Everything is so awkward.” Ryley’s voice is low, but crystal clear. I want to shake her, ask her if she thought that Nate was going to disappear for the next six years so she wouldn’t be faced with this decision.

“Awkward?” I question. “You think this is awkward? How the hell do you think I feel right now?” She jumps back, causing Nate to stand. I look at him and point. “You don’t get to protect her right now. You knew where I was, Nate, and you did nothing. I know for a fact that there wasn’t a damn thing in the press about how or where we died. Just that four SEALs came home dead.

“You say you identified my body but how the hell could you not know it wasn’t me? I’m your fucking twin for God’s sake. Everything that runs through my veins runs through yours.”

I stop and turn away from them, my hands clenching at my sides. The anger soaring through my body right now is enough to cause physical damage, but I can’t with EJ in the house. The therapy sessions haven’t prepared me for this confrontation and I know I’m not supposed to lay blame, but I can’t help it. Doc Howard believes that there’s been a cover-up and everything appears to indicate the same, but I can’t get over the fact that my own brother believed that I was dead.

“We’ve all struggled with this news, Evan. But I don’t think Nate knew you were alive. He would’ve gone after you.”

Why is she protecting him? Does she love him so much that she can’t see he’s always pined after her? That this was the perfect opportunity for him to take my place in her life? To pretend that he’s me when he watches her close her eyes at night.

“Are you changing your mind about us, Ryley?” I turn and face them both.

I get a small sense of victory when I ask that question and see Nate’s face fall. He looks at her and his eyes beg her to tell him I’m wrong.

“Ryley?” she refuses to look at him. I should feel like shit. I should have some remorse for breaking him like this, but I don’t. He’s taken the one person I love and tried to make her love him instead.

“I don’t know,” she says meekly, avoiding eye contact with either of us. My head shakes as I bite the inside of my cheek.

“Seriously, Ry?” I ask, even more pissed off than I was before. “What about –”

“Not now, Evan,” she says sternly. Her eyes are like daggers as they pierce through me, tearing apart what little we had started to rebuild.