Page 132 of When The Night Falls

‘Jesus Christ, it all makes sense. Ah, shit. Fuck.’ Jason raked his hands through his hair. ‘I should never have recommended that bar to her. If I hadn’t, we could all have avoided this.’

‘Jason, we’re brothers. It was only a matter of time before I’d meet her. You’d only be postponing the inevitable – we would have ended up fucking one way or another. Calm down.’

‘Calm down? You’re telling me to calm down when you’ve fucked my best friend behind my back, and she turns out to be the girl you were so hung up on?’ He shook his head and turned toward me. ‘And you – you’ve lied to me for months!’

‘I didn’t lie,’ I said, but my voice broke again. ‘I omitted, Jason.’

‘The result is the same,’ he said, smouldering with bitterness. ‘Cara, I am so disappointed in you right now.’

‘Jason, please.’ I reached for him, but he writhed away from my touch. ‘I didn’t know what to do,’ I explained, upset. ‘I was afraid you’d pick him.’

‘I don’t want to hear it. I need to think. You’ve had some fucking cheek, asking me about Will and “Sandra”.’

‘Has she?’ William asked, surprised.

Jason ignored him. ‘How could you do that, Cara? How could you play me for a fool like that?’

I sobbed. ‘Jason, I’m so sorry. I was only trying to find out what was going on. I never meant to hurt him. I really didn’t. And I was scared to tell you because I didn’t want to put you in a situation where you’d have to choose between us. I thought it would be best if Will and I kept it strictly between us and sorted it out like adults.’ I glared at William upon my last statement.

He looked away, his face twisting with obvious remorse, but he said nothing.

Jason turned toward me again and stared at me for some time. Finally, his eyes softened. ‘What about Aaron? Is he aware of any of this?’

‘No.’ I started bawling at the thought of Aaron. ‘I-I haven’t t-thought this through at all.’

Jason crawled over and hugged me. ‘Oh, Cara, I’m sorry. I know you didn’t mean for this to happen.’ He squeezed me against him. ‘I’m sorry I freaked out. I’m just a bit shocked, and I’m worried about how this will turn out.’

His compassion only made me cry harder. I felt so terrible for the position I had put him in.

‘Good God, look at you two,’ William said. ‘This is ridiculous. I honestly don’t understand what the problem is. I want her, she wants me. It really is that simple. So yes, we kept it a secret for a while, but the cat’s out of the bag now. Isn’t that just a relief?’

‘Will, sometimes, I seriously think Mum dropped you when you were a baby,’ Jason chided. ‘She’s upset. You don’t always have to agree with the reason.’

‘I clearly picked the wrong brother,’ I said, sniffing. I didn’t really mean it, but I was still so angry with him.

William’s eyes turned steely. ‘Oh, come on, love. What do you want me to do, then?’

‘I want you to leave me alone.’

He looked to the heavens for aid. ‘Why her?’ he asked. ‘Just...why her?’

When Jason saw it, he smiled widely.

William lowered his head again, sighing. ‘All right. Get out, then, Jase. I’ll deal with her.’

‘No! I don’t want you near me,’ I said.

He shook his head and approached. ‘Yes, you do.’

‘You broke my trust!’

‘Like you haven’t broken shit yourself, Cara,’ he said bitterly, and I gasped.

‘Jason,’ I called, for help.

‘See, this is what I mean. Don’t drag me into this. This is your mess. I’m not taking any sides in this –ever.’ His brows curved with annoyance.

‘Jason,’ William said as he reached the bed, ‘we can either sleep here all three, or you can get out. One way or another, I’m not leaving her side until we’ve reconciled.’

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