Page 83 of In the Midst of Chaos

We didn’t.

He punched my gut, and I spat the blood that had pooled in my mouth from where he busted my lip.

“She was my girl!” he spat in my face as he punched me in the ribs.

“I love her,” I seethed as I pushed him back.

Huxley glared at me. He had so much anger and hate inside of him, and I was the easiest target.

“Please stop!” Finley screeched, but we ignored her.

“You love her?” Huxley mocked. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand as I watched to see what he would do next. “So do I!” he roared. “I was going to marry her!” He grabbed me by the collar and punched my face.

I let my brother hit me again and again while Finley kept screaming at us to stop.

“Stop!” she yelled when Huxley had thrown me on the floor.

My chest was rising and falling. It felt like I was on fire from all the punches I had taken.

Huxley was breathing erratically.

Finley stepped in front of me.

“It was never going to be you,” she said, sounding enraged. “You want to know why? Because you’re weak, Huxley. Because you could never do what is asked of you without questioning it.”

I closed my eyes for a second.

She had just hurt Huxley worse than any blow I could have ever landed.

“The reason I picked you was because, even at ten, I knew I would never fall in love with you.”

My brother looked at me with so much hate in his gaze and then at Finley the same way.

He then turned around without another word and started to walk back the way he came from.

I got up and started to run after him.

“Hux,” I said, but he turned around and growled at me.

“I see where everyone’s loyalties lie. If it weren’t for that text message, I would have never known.”

I stood back a little dumbfounded, but then he ran into the woods. I figured I would give him time to cool off before I tried to talk to him again. What he felt for Finley didn’t come close to what I felt for her. If it had, I would have backed away, no questions asked.

Finley ran up to me as her gaze moved between both sides of the clearing.

“Nash,” she said, looking across the clearing where you could barely make out her mansion.

“Are you okay?” I said, taking a step toward her.

“Yeah,” she assured me as I wrapped her in my arms. She looked up at me and asked the question I hadn’t been able to ask myself yet. “What message?”

As soon as she said that, I looked across the clearing to where her house was supposed to be.

“Stay here,” I said, all but pushing her behind me.

“No.” She glared at me for even suggesting that.

She got on the back of my bike, and I took off for her parents’ house. It was on the other side of the clearing. Not as big as the manor, but it was still something. It was gorgeous, opulent, big, and forgotten.

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