My brother's eyes softened as he placed his palm over the top of my hand, squeezing lightly. “Putting back the pieces isn't something you have to do alone.”
“Yes, it is. I got myself into this mess by falling for a man I hardly knew, and now I'm reaping the consequences of that.”
“You're being too hard on yourself.”
I pulled my hand from under his, wiping my palm across my knee. “Every night I fall asleep, I pray I'll wake up the next morning and miraculously be over him. But when I wake up and look at the clock, it's like time is marking off the days and bringing me closer and closer to the moment when I'll be forced to accept that I'm never going to see him again. That I'll never hear his voice or feel his arms around me. That I'll never get to kiss him again or taste his words on my lips.” I swallowed hard. “And that sucks because I know forgetting about him is the best thing for me right now, but I don’t want to forget.” A silent tear spilled down the curve of my cheek, leaving a cold trail of moisture. “I never knew love could hurt this much.” I looked up at my brother. “I keep hoping it will get better, but it's only getting worse. It's eating away at me, and I have no idea how to make it stop, Spencer. What if it never stops? How am I going to—” I choked up, my throat dry and chest heavy.
“Jesus, Sienna.” Spencer wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close, his attempt at consoling me opening the floodgates of my tears.
I buried my face against his chest, wishing I wasn't so weak, wishing I could just get over it and move on with my life.
“You're stronger than you give yourself credit for,” Spencer said softly while stroking my hair down my back. “A broken heart always mends. Some just take a bit longer than others.”
“The fuck they do.”
Both Spencer and I looked up when Silas walked in, his hair disheveled and jeans hanging low on his hips as he pulled a shirt over his head. “That fucker better hope I don't see his face on the street.”
I pulled my fingers through my unruly curls and sniffed. “I don't think you have to worry about that. Noah isn't the kind to stick around.”
“Good.” Silas took a seat on the couch by my window, placing his elbows on his knees. “Then he's not as dumb as I thought.”
Even though Silas and Spencer were twins, they were as different as day and night. Spencer tried his best to be supportive with sympathetic words of encouragement while Silas shouted his anger at Noah from the goddamn rooftops.
“He doesn't deserve your tears, Sienna,” Silas said, rubbing his palms together. “He doesn't deserve you sitting around in your room missing him.”
I pulled my legs up to my chest. “Yet, here I am. Sitting around in my room. Missing him.”
“And this fucker is probably out there living his life like nothing happened. Jesus,” Silas muttered.
It stung. It stung really bad when Silas put it that way. It never occurred to me that Noah could be out there somewhere, going about his day as if Sienna Whitlock was just a number. A name he hardly remembered. The thought alone had me wanting to throw up.
“Fuck this shit.” Silas slapped his palms on his knees before standing. “I think it's time for you to face the world, little sis. You can’t move forward if you don’t put one foot in front of the other.”
“Oh God,” I whined, knowing Silas was about to spit up some idiotic plan to help me get over Noah.
“Get dressed.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“We're going out.”
“What? Where to?”
“Spencer, didn't you say your friend has some sort of shindig tonight?”
“Andrew?” Spencer lifted a brow.
“Yeah, that guy. It's his birthday party, right?”
I shook my head. “Silas, I really don't feel—”
“Sienna.” Silas grabbed my shoulders and forced me to look him in the eye. “If you're not ready in an hour, I will drag your ass out of your room, straight to that party while you're still wearing that ugly as fuck shirt. And I'm not even talking about the mess you call hair.” He straightened. “When was the last time you used a brush?”
“I can't remember.”
“My guess right now would be never.” He grabbed the hairbrush from my chest of drawers and tossed it on the bed. “An. Hour.”
Spencer snickered next to me as Silas stomped out. “You know he's not kidding, right?”