I’m weakening. I want it to be true. I miss Declan. I miss having a big brother. Declan was the ideal big brother. He’d looked out for me all of our lives. That’s why it had been unbelievably painful to find him and Stacy together.
He sits down and holds my gaze. “I’ll start at the beginning. A week before the barbecue, Park and I went to Club 59. You refused to go saying you weren’t feeling well.”
I remember that weekend. It had been Stacy’s night out with the girls, and I’d been looking forward to spending the evening at home alone. When Declan asked me to go out with them, I feigned a headache, knowing they wouldn’t have taken simply no for an answer.
“Anyway, we went out and who do we see at the club? Stacy, except she wasn’t alone. She was with this dude.”
“He was probably a friend...” Why am I defending someone who cheated on me?
Declan stares at me. “They were a step away from having sex on the dance floor. It was clear to everyone who saw them what was going on.”
I swallow hard. Even though I don’t feel anything for Stacy anymore, the image he paints is disturbing.
“They left the club together at midnight,” Declan says.
I could doubt him and accuse him of lying but one thing about Declan is that he doesn’t lie.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask him.
“You wouldn’t have believed me,” he says.
“But you were with Park,” I point out.
“Park said he wasn’t getting involved and to leave him out of it. He said he wasn’t going to be the one to hurt you.”
I shake my head but that does sound like Park. He avoids confrontations at all costs.
“But I had to do something. I couldn’t let you go on planning a future with Stacy. She would just end up breaking your heart.”
Declan’s eyes look ravaged as he speaks.
“So, I came up with the plan to flirt with her and have you find us. That was one sure way to get you to dump her,” Declan says.
My heartbeat is racing. His explanation is fucked up, but it makes sense. That’s Declan’s way of doing stuff. He always picks the most complicated, dramatic options. I’m dumbfounded but overriding that emotion is a relief. Sweet relief.
My big brother is not an asshole.
It also adds up because I always wondered why he had taken her to his room. Our parents’ home is huge. There are many hidden places you can take a girl if you don’t want to be caught. And if he’d wanted to fuck Stacy that badly he could have waited for any other day, any other place. Not at my parents’ home.
“You’re stupid,” I tell him.
His grin is unsure. “I know. But it worked. You dumped her.”
Another thought crosses my mind. “What about Mom and Dad? They sided with you.”
Dad had gotten us to talk about it as adults, as he’d put it. They’d proceeded to ask Declan what this was all about, and he’d mumbled something about him and Stacy being in love.
Thinking about it now, I don’t doubt Declan. He never had time for Stacy and behind her back, he used to call her an airhead.
Dad had turned to me and in essence, told me to take it like a man. Mom had mumbled something soothing and said that I too would find someone to love. I’d already found her, I remember yelling.
“Explain that?” I tell him.
A look of embarrassment comes over his features. “I can’t. They did side with me.” He drops his head and then looks up after a moment. “I can’t control how Mom and Dad behave and frankly at this point I don’t even care. All I care about is having my little brother back in my life.”
He stares at me like he can’t believe that I’m back. “Why the heck did you sign up? I was worried sick! I don’t think I’ve slept a full night without waking up in a cold sweat.”
My chest fills with an emotion that I cannot describe. I swallow back something clogging my throat. I stand up “Do you want to go for a beer?”
“You bet I do.”
Chapter 10
Lexi
I can’t see Ace anymore. I can’t have him in our lives. He’s too dangerous. I don’t know what demons plague him. All I know is that he scares the hell out of me and I’m worried that he might harm me or Luna.
These thoughts flit in and out of my mind throughout the day. Luna eats her lunch and then I put her down for a nap. I clean the house, which I’d already cleaned in the morning, but I need something to do. Thoughts of Ace are driving me insane.
I go over the events of the previous night. I’d woken up to a blood-curdling scream and at first, I’d thought it was Luna having a nightmare. But the voice had been too deep. I’d sat up in bed terrified and then saw him at the corner. He was holding an invisible weapon.