Page 84 of Shifted

"Theo," I moan as his lips meet my neck, and he places gentle kisses against it. Then, with two more strokes, I felt myself becoming wet as a fiery pool burned in my lower abdomen. Seconds later, I tighten around his fingers, squeezing onto his shoulder as he covers my moans.

I'm left out of breath as I lay against his chest. He lifts his fingers to his mouth, sucking on them. Even though we were both disgusting, he somehow managed to look incredible.

"You taste incredible," he whispered into my ear. He continued to kiss my neck, holding me in his arms. “I love you so much, Hope." The forbidden words were stated so simply that it didn't feel real, and I was afraid that this would be just another dream I'd wake up from. I was finally back in his arms, attempting to heal mentally and physically from our past.

We hear the door click open, and I quickly sit up, removing myself from his lap to dignify myself and see who’s there. His arms wrap around me from behind, keeping me tight to his chest. As I was expecting Arthur to inform us of someone's arrival, I was shocked to see her standing in her work clothes.

"Theo, I'm here?" Bella calls out as she enters. When she spots me in his arms in the living room, the color drains from her face. "Hope? What are you doing here?" I look at Theo, and he takes the signal to head upstairs.

"We need to talk," I said, stepping further into the living room. She looked a little confused, and I stood slowly, gesturing to the kitchen. She followed me as I made my way over slowly, and I went into the fridge to get a water bottle.

"Why are you here?" she questions me again, this time more demanding. She was never too good at hiding her emotions, but I could see them now. Me being here with him, the thought of her brother taking her best friend away—it got to her on the inside. She did the same thing to Theo, but he didn’t pull them apart because he knew that Grayson loved her.

"He was still missing. You knew he was missing and said he was fine. But I was the one who found him," I turned back to face her. You know why I'm here, Bella." She remained, keeping up her front of the clueless act, but it only drove me to be more upset.

"And why is that?" She leaned her back against the counter as she stared blankly at me. But a coldness in my heart grew, and I didn’t know the girl in front of me.

"I want to know why. You knew I was pregnant with his child, and you made sure he wasn't part of my life or Joely's life?" The words came out harsh, and I watched as her face slowly grew in realization of what I meant: "I love him." As the words left my mouth, her face grew into a different shade of red. She was furious.

"Fuck that" Her words cause my breath to hitch as I'm taken back, "My brother doesn't know how to love. He fucked my best friend and knocked her up!" As she paced the floor, I knew she was lying. She knew it all but didn’t want to believe it. “Was he worth it? Ruining us!” She spits out.

"I need the truth, Arabella. The whole truth," She stopped and looked up at me, almost hurt by my accusation. She knew what I was getting at in specifics. She knew I knew, and no defense would salvage the bridge that would be burned. "I'm being serious." My tone was colder than it ever had been with hers.

A viscous smile slowly formed on her face, making me feel uneasy. I stepped back closer as my hand leaned on a drawer where I assumed silverware hides. It was an expression I didn’t recognize. It wasn't Bella who I was staring at. She almost looked happy that I figured it out. It left my stomach sour as she shook her head for a moment.

"I knew." She mutters.

"You knew what?"

"I knew that you were fucking my brother.” A silence is kept between us. Neither of us knows what to say, as she admits to knowing of our relationship. A secret she’s been keeping to herself for years. She was watching me depressed and in agony at points.

“You know I was always skeptical. I saw you with him at moments that just seemed weird. The way you’d hug or those stolen glances, hoping none of us would see. Seeing you sob in his arms just weeks ago… it made me sick.” She pauses for a moment as her eyes set on me, a cold-hearted stare, “I caught you once.” She mutters, grimacing in thought. “In the summer after your first year of college, I walked in on you down each other's throats. I almost couldn’t believe it. I mean… my best friend, sister really, and my older brother.” Her voice broke as she spoke. A type of anger mixed with betrayal, “I’m not an idiot like all else… Joely is the spitting image of Theo, mirroring his looks and movements.” She steps back as her eyes linger elsewhere, and then she walks toward the glass cabinet below the wine cellar.

She opens it, staring at the glasses, and then moments later shuts it, turning to the spirits. Choosing a red wine, she pops the cork with a twist and takes the bottle to her lips. Getting drunk mid-conversation was her idea of coping.

Before I could say a word, she put it down and sat rigidly, looking at me like some type of monster in Theo’s home. But the real monster was herself and what she’d done.

"Then I had the opportunity of a lifetime.” She starts again, “My friend at the Globe knew some investors, and my brother was trying to start up his company, and it was in Chicago. I thought if I could just get him away from you." She laughs, but then it cuts as she looks back at me. My heart was breaking, she knew. She knew that I loved him, that we were together, that Joely was his daughter, and that she'd grow up without a dad. She just let it happen.

"So I did. Theo refused the job at first. Full swing said no, but when I began questioning him... he couldn't give me an answer." Her face held hurt, pain even, but it wasn’t deserved. After all she’d done, sympathy was nothing she’d gain from me. "My brother was lying to me for you!" Pointing at me hysterically, she shook her head, "So I had him leave, and god, when you came to me with your pregnancy… you just had to go off and fuck him." She didn't get it; she couldn't have gotten it. Because if she did, she wouldn't have separated two people who loved each other.

I felt the tears rolling down my cheeks. Bella was unrecognizable. She wasn't the one I loved and knew, the one who would never hurt me. But sometimes, it's the ones that you love who hurt you the most. My heart stung—it stung more than it should because she was my best friend, the person who I trusted the most never to betray me.

"So, during our conversation months later, when you asked how Theo was doing. I knew then and there that Joely was his. So, I told you he was engaged, that he moved on, and found someone special." My lips began to quiver as my body was shaking. It was harder to breathe as my lungs felt heavy, and my breathing faltered, "My brother took everything from me growing up. Hope you don't get it. You were mine, then he took you and ruined you!”

"Ruined me? How am I ruined!” My voice cracks as I yell, my heart broken and scattered across the floor. She separated two people who simply loved each other and stopped her brother from knowing his child for years. All because of a vendetta secretly built up against Theo.

"You had this big career ahead of you. We both knew it. Your pregnancy made you slack. You were meant to be in Washington, but you stayed here. You stayed in Boston!" She was more upset with this than I ever had been. Growing up, I always wanted to be a big-shot lawyer in DC, but I knew it wasn't my destiny. I wasn’t made for that soul-sucking lifeline, and you lose yourself as a person. I knew it wasn’t for me somewhere along the way, even before Joely.

"How could you say that? I did law school while pregnant and then with a toddler. I graduated early because I pushed myself that hard, and I got a job at a firm immediately. Have you seen my life? I don't think it's ruined. The only thing that was ruined in my life was my love one. I love Joely, and I do not regret having my daughter; she’s the best thing in my life, and for you to not see that is sick." I stepped away from her; I couldn't fathom all that she was implying. How she thought my daughter, her niece, was a mistake.

"You and Joely deserved better than my brother, and I kept him away from you. I ruined you both because I couldn't do it, knowing that the both of you." She shook her head, "My brother? You could have anyone but my brother?" the rasp in her voice holds betrayal as if I’m the one in the wrong now.

"You took Joely's father away, and you robbed your brother of his child's first three years of life. You took that relationship away from both of them. You did that to Joely." Her tears didn't make me feel sorry for her; she wanted sympathy; it was written all over her face.

"Hope..." I shook my head.

"You took away the man who made me feel the happiest. After everything with my family, he helped me heal. He gave me my greatest gift, my child, and you took that from him. You did that. I didn’t betray you. You betrayed me, Theo, and Joely." She shook her head. But it was the truth; in the end, what I did was nowhere as bad as what she did.

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