Releasing River, I barrel forward, grabbing Kyle by the back of his shirt. The strength in me is like boiling lava, far surpassing anything I’ve ever felt before. Kyle’s a big man, but that doesn’t seem to register as I drag his scrambling form toward the door with River following us.
“What the fuck, man?” Kyle says, his feet struggling to make contact with the hardwood.
“Don’t even fucking talk to me,” I growl. “Don’t say another word and NEVER come back to this house again. DO YOU HEAR ME? DO YOU FUCKING HEAR ME?”
At the front door, my rage is so violent I fling him against the wall while I fumble with the doorknob. He’s just had time to straighten when I grab him again, tossing him through the open door and watching as he stumbles on unsteady legs down the driveway.
When River appears next to me, I put my arm out to prevent him from leaving. I’m not going to let my brother do something that could get him arrested. If anyone’s kicking anyone’s ass, it’ll be me. But someone like Kyle doesn’t deserve to bring anyone else down. We’ll deal with him at another time when there aren’t so many witnesses and when we’re away from our home.
Alden tugs me by the shoulder, trying to turn me, but I’m watching until Kyle leaves.
“What the hell? Kyle’s my friend.”
“Yeah, well, he’s not anymore,” I say, and then, as Kyle’s car drives away, I turn and close the door to explain everything to my brothers.
Danny clears the house of people. The party pretty much dies with Kyle’s expulsion, not because anyone is particularly bothered to see him go, but because all our moods are black at what’s happened.
I don’t hang around downstairs because the knowledge that Cora is upstairs suffering forces me to leave my brothers and the fallout.
As I duck my head into my room, I already know she’s not going to be there. Cora’s shown herself to be a closed and independent person. She wouldn’t hang around for more sympathy from someone who’s been involved in making her life a misery for the past weeks.
When I approach her door, I know it will be locked, but I knock anyway.
“Go away!” she shouts immediately.
“No,” I say firmly. “I’m not going away, and you’re going to let me into this room, or I’m getting Ross to come and remove this lock.”
“You wouldn’t,” she growls.
“Just try me, Cora.”
Leaning against the door jamb, I expect her to make me wait a little longer than she does. I guess, if nothing else, I’ve proven that I’m true to my word.
Her expression is murderous as her blue eyes find mine.
“YOU TOLD HIM,” she hisses. “You said my name.”
“Not me,” I say. “River…he lost his shit down there. You don’t understand…”
Her hands rest on her hips as she takes a step forward. I straighten, my palms already sweating.
“And I’m supposed to be grateful, am I? I’m supposed to be grateful that you ignored what I said, even though it was said through tears and trauma, and be thankful that you both stormed downstairs like raging animals and did exactly what you wanted to do.”
“It wasn’t like that,” I say, even though I know it was. She was clear, and River ignored her wishes. He let his anger and revulsion explode, obliterating everything in its path, and I wasn’t that much better. None of it was malicious, but it wasn’t right either.
“I’m sorry,” I say as River appears at the top of the stairs. When Cora follows my gaze and lays eyes on him, she might as well have focused the heat of a volcanic eruption onto him.
“Sorry. Sorry is something you say to try and bandage a wound you caused, but this one can’t be bandaged, okay?”
Danny appears next to River, then Mark and Alden. They stand with eyes that are filled with sorrow and empathy, but none of it touches Cora. She’s too armored, too overwhelmed with what it has taken to stuff down her trauma so that she’s not bleeding in front of us.
“I’m sorry, Cora,” River says. “I shouldn’t…”
“Shouldn’t,” Cora spits. “It’s too late for shouldn’t. None of what you say will mean anything to me because you’re all just like him.”
“No,” I say, the revulsion welling up like vomit in my throat.
“Yes, you are,” She inhales a deep breath and holds it, and I see the tremble in her fingers that are braced against her body. “I felt the way you looked at me in the kitchen. I saw what you did with that girl in my bed. I saw you at the party. You treat women like we’re meat and there for the eating. I just…I can’t.” Her chin wobbles, and her hands drop, curling her shoulders in defeat. “Just leave me alone.”