I want to bury myself in Gabby even as my brother’s gaze locks with mine, and I see the devastation, the hurt, betrayal, and anger written all over his face. Bonds that have been forged by blood and by the fact that we’ve spent almost every fucking day together since Thomas was born begin to shred. I feel them ripping out of me, and it’s fucking painful. I’m not a motherfucker afraid of much, but right now, I feel fear.
“Oh, God… Tom…,” Gabby gasps, and that’s when I know she sees him, too.
Thomas doesn’t say a word. He turns to walk away. I grab my cock, shoving it in my pants and go after him. I catch him just by the garage door.
“Thomas, man…” I groan, reaching out to hold his shoulder. He jerks, recoiling from me, and shoving my hand away, his hold on my arm like steel.
“Get the fuck away from me.”
“Thomas, I didn’t mean for you to find out this way,” I struggle to explain because, like the fucking asshole that I am, that’s all I can say.
I don’t have an excuse as to why I started a relationship with Gabby knowing my brother loved her. I should have walked away. I should have chosen not to hurt my brother. I have zero explanations. I don’t even have a defense, other than…
This wasn’t how I wanted him to find out.
“Y-y-you just c-c-couldn-n-n’t let me w-w-win, c-c-c-could you, D-Dom? You always have to be b-b-better th-than m-me.”
“Let you win? What the fuck are you talking about? I get your upset, and I guess I’ve been a shitty brother.”
“W-we c-can agree on th-that,” he snaps.
“She’s not yours, Thomas. She never was. We didn’t want to hurt you. Gabby doesn’t think of you like that. I tried to tell you. You wouldn’t listen.”
“Y-y-you think y-y-you’re the on-only one who has h-had her?” Thomas yells.
I’ve never seen him like this. His body is shaking with his anger. There’s so much hate in his eyes, and it’s all directed at me. I knew this would hurt him. Hell, I even knew he’d be mad at me for a while. This, though, is beyond what I imagined. The anger and hate rolling off him in waves is unlike anything I could have imagined. Still, I can’t let him lie about, Gabby. This will gut her enough. She never wanted to hurt him. She was helpless to stop this thing between us just like I was.
“Don’t do that, Thomas. Hate me, be mad at me all you want, but don’t lie about Gabby. The last thing she ever wanted was to hurt you.”
I don’t get the chance to say anything else. My brother brings his fist back and slams it into my face. Blood spews from my nose, and I’m pretty sure the motherfucker broke it. I sway backwards because, apparently, I’ve been underestimating Thomas. My little brother has a right hook that could rival the best of them.
“Go f-fuck yourself,” he growls, and then stomps off.
I stand there and watch him, holding my fucking nose, and at a loss of what to say or do to make any of this better.
“Dom?” Gabby whispers, and I turn to see her standing, her dress fixed, and cleaned up. She has tears shining in her eyes, and I hate that she’s hurting, but all I think of is that the two of us just destroyed my brother.
Chapter 6
Gabby
Two Weeks Later
It’s been two weeks since Thomas walked in on us. Two weeks in which Dom has mostly ignored me, only calling here and there. I haven’t heard from or seen Thomas. He’s not answering my calls—then again, Dom hasn’t really either. I begged him to meet me here today. I half expected him to turn me down. Now I’m struggling to figure out how I’m going to make sure Dom doesn’t cut me loose.
“Gabby, we need to…”
“Dom, don’t… Don’t do this,” I whisper, interrupting him before he gets the chance to say the words. I’ve seen that look on Dom’s face before. He had it when he tried to break up with me before.
Damn it! Thomas is going to ruin everything!
He moves in close to me, and I can see the pain on his face. I feel guilty. I should have broken it off with Thomas before now. But… I mean, if you think about it, this is kind of Dom’s fault. If he had just claimed me and quit making me a secret, everything would have been different. It wouldn’t have hurt if he had put me before his club, too. If he had, I would have just told Thomas what was going on.
Dom should know by now that I’m not the kind of woman who can accept being on the back burner. That’s not who I am. Still, I know Dom well enough not to point that out right now. I must play this carefully if I’m going to keep Dom, and despite everything, I want him.