“I couldn’t agree more,” Alex grits out.
“Could I talk to you alone?” Dillon asks, drilling me with piercing blue eyes I’m so accustomed to.
“No. Anything you want to say to me you can say here.” If we go somewhere alone, I’m liable to murder him in cold blood.
A muscle clenches in his jaw. “Fine. I know you hate me. With good reason. And I know I’ve fucked up. I—”
“Good speech. Mirrors my sentiments exactly,” I say, glaring at him as I cut him off. “Was there anything else?”
“I lied, okay?” He claws a hand through his hair.
“About what?”
“Pretty much everything.”
“So, you didn’t really hate your twin and you didn’t spend years plotting ways to take Reeve down? You must be thrilled you got your wish after all.”
A strangled sound escapes Cath’s mouth, and I instantly feel chastised. “I’m sorry you had to hear that,” I quietly admit. “But Dillon has hated Reeve when there was no justification, and he used me to try to get back at my husband. Reeve was so happy when he discovered he had a twin, and he didn’t deserve the way Dillon treated him.” Just thinking about it enrages me all over again. I lift my eyes to Dillon’s. “You never gave him a chance or an opportunity to speak to you. If you’d only talked to him, you would’ve realized Simon manipulated him too.”
“You think I don’t know that now, Viv? You think I don’t know I fucked everything up with my twin? Simon spouted all that shit, and it made sense at the time. I was hurting, and confused, and there was other stuff going down. It was easier, in a way, to channel all that emotion into hating Reeve and Simon. Then I saw what he did to you, and I felt justified. He treated you like shit back then, proving he was a selfish prick so obsessed with his career he betrayed the one person he claimed to love more than anything.”
“He was young and thrown into a world he was not prepared for!” I retort. “He trusted the wrong people, and he was manipulated and outmaneuvered. I don’t need you to tell me how much he hurt me. I haven’t forgotten how he made me feel. How heartbroken I was at that time.”
“Until I pieced you back together, and then you ran straight back into his fucking arms.”
I stand, glaring at Dillon. “You didn’t piece me back together! I did that myself.” He helped. Ash did too. The whole Irish experience helped me to heal and to grow. But I’m not admitting that now. “And I didn’t get back with him until after Easton was born. Until he’d proven himself. And he did. He made up for his mistakes, which is more than can be said about you!”
“I’d like a chance to make up for mine, but you won’t let me!” Frustration is evident on his face, and I’m glad to see it.
“Damn fucking straight, I won’t!” I plant my hands on my hips. “The difference is Reeve was just a kid back then, but you’re a grown man who should know better.”