“Mysti, love—”
“Don’t!” I whipped the gun back in his direction, and Mysti jerked to the side, her hands raised in front of her again. She was blocking my view, blocking my shot at this… this… Trenton. Whoever the fuck he was. “What is he doing in our bed?”
“St—” She flinched and raised her hands a little higher. “Sweetie, this is my bed. Mine and Trenton’s.”
“No! It’s mine. Mine and yours!”
“No, it—”
“Mine! You’re mine! We’ve been dating for weeks!”
Slowly, as if she thought I wouldn’t notice, she crept toward the edge of the bed. “Trenton and I met last summer, over a year ago. Remember, you saw us outside the café the day we met? We’ve been together ever—”
“No!” I drove my hands into my hair once more, shaking my head as if it could keep the words from rattling around inside.
She’ll never love you, not as long as he’s in her life.
“You l-love me!”
“I love Trenton.” Her voice was mocking. It was that same gentle, soothing tone she used when we fucked right here on this bed. “We’re going to get married. That’s why our house is boxed up. We’re leaving town in less than a week.”
“No!”
You’ll never be man enough to take him out of the equation.
“No!” The word tore through me like an explosion, like I had burst open and all the pain I’d felt since I was just a child came spilling out. My hand whipped out once more, the gun pointed toward the man on the bed.
I was man enough to kill him. I would take him out and live with Mysti by my side. My finger squeezed the trigger at the same time a hand came down on my arm. The recoil threw my body back even as another body crashed into mine. I squeezed again and everything came into the most blindingly bright focus.
Trenton, sitting in our bed where he’d been when I got here, hand clutched to a red stain on his chest.
Mysti, standing in front of me, hands on my arm and my gun hand. Her pretty eyes were wide with shock, her face pulled tight in the epitome of a pained look.
And John, standing at my side, an evil smirk tilting his lips.
You’ll never have her, and you’ll only ever be mine.
“No. J-John, please.” It came out a whisper. I shook my head, dragging my gaze from my brother to the woman in front of me. “Mys-Mysti.”
The room caved in around me. All the love in the world wouldn’t matter without my goddess by my side. But I’d failed her. I’d failed her, and I’d failed myself.
“You fucked it up again, Stevie boy,” John whispered in my ear. “But this time, I won’t be there to help you clean up the mess.”