Page 24 of More Than A Feeling

"No, Sabine, I’m not out of my mind—but it sure looks like you are. Between you and Fleur, I’ll always pick her. You know why? Because she’s fucking awesome. She brings light to everyone and everything. She’s kind, she’s generous, and she’d never sleep with your boyfriend—not because they wouldn’t want her, but because she’d think it was disloyal."

And that's when I realized why Sabine had suddenly started to pursue me. It was a competition. I'd become interested in Fleur,and we started dating—and right then, Sabine ratcheted up her distress calls. Suddenly, she needed me all the time, especially when I was with Fleur.

Christ! I was in some twisted version ofWho's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?

"Like anyone who has me would want that piece of trash," she flung at me.

Talk about dodging a bullet! This woman was nuts once the mask was off. Had Seamus known her true colors? Or was she on drugs now? I couldn't fathom it because the woman in the lacy lingerie with angry eyes didn't resemble the elegant, soft woman I knew.

"Have some pride, Sabine." I shook my head in disgust. "And lose my number."

"What?" She sat up. "You're not even going to be my friend anymore?"

"After how you just behaved, no, I can't be your friend." I ran a hand through my hair. This woman was batshit nuts.

"And what of your promise to Seamus?" she demanded, and just like that, the waterworks were back.

Shit, she could do this on command? Those were some mad skills. And respect for that. This ability probably came in handy in court when she had to manipulate the judge and jury.

"Seamus is dead, Sabine; he doesn't give a shit about the promises I made to him. The only reason I honored them was because I wanted to. And now, after what you just pulled, I don't want to. If Seamus has a problem with that, he can come haunt my fucking ass."

I spun around and left her house, feeling all kinds of relieved.

As I drove away, I knew I had to get Fleur back. But after how I'd treated her, if I got close to her, she'd probably knee me in the balls, and I'd deserve it.

Yeah, we had so not been a casual thing. I'd fallen in love with myGrian, my sunshine, and now that I'd finally pulled my head out of myarse, I could see it—and it wasn't looking pretty for my chances with her.

Chapter 11

Fleur

"Can we talk?" Callum joined me on the bar stool next to mine.

"No." It still stung that he’d dumped me—or, more accurately, engineered things so I had no choice but to dump him—and then went straight to Sabine. He wasn’t the first, or the only one, to find my sister more appealing than me.

I'd been so madly in love my freshmen year in Tulane with Juan Carlos Fernandez. He'd been my second lover, and we had been awesome together. I'd taken him home for dinner, which had been my first mistake. No, that was my second mistake; my first was falling in love with him.

A week later, he dumped me and told me he was seeing Sabine.

Once we broke up, he and Sabine didn't last long. He apologized for his behavior and said that Sabine had been mesmerizing, and even though he knew she was using him to get at me, he'd not been able to resist her. And losing me, he toldme, was worth it because Sabine was apparently all that in bed. I told him to take his fucked-up apology and stick it where the sun doesn't shine. He'd then asked if we could be friends. That boy had big, hairy balls! I told him to take a hike, which was precisely what I intended to tell Callum.

"We can't even talk?" He continued to speak calmly, and it infuriated me. He never lost control except in bed. There he completely lost his shit, which was amazing because I knew I did that to him.

But now that he was sleeping with Sabine, he probably felt exactly the way Juan Carlos had. Apparently, my sister had magic pussy, enamoring my lovers,one boyfriend at a time.

June cocked an eyebrow at me, silently asking me if she needed to call Titus to haul Callum's ass out of the bar. I shook my head and faced Callum. "Talk."

"Will you listen to understand or listen to respond?" His tone was now amused. He remembered the time we'd talk about listening as a skill. I believed in listening with curiosity—but right now, I wanted to hear him out and then ask him to go fuck himself.

"You can talk, Callum and that's the only thing you control about this conversation." I took a sip of my excellent Sazerac, hoping it would calm my nerves. I had no idea what he was going to say. I had several theories. Maybe he was here to apologize or tell me he was marrying Sabine (ouch!) or that he loved me madly and wanted us to get back together (when squirrels do calculus, obviously!).

"Okay." He smiled gently. "I'm sorry for how I talked about you with Sabine. It wasn't the truth."

"What part? That you would always be there for Sabine. That I was temporary. That it was just sex between us, and you have it with a lot of women? Which part, Callum?" I was on a roll, so I continued. "Besides what you said to Sabine, you said plenty tomy face—how I was selfish, self-involved, immature. Oh, and the reason I even overheard what you said to my sister was because I wanted to eavesdrop, Iwantedto get hurt."

I remembered what he said word-for-word. These were the times when a robust memory like mine did not come in handy. The wounds felt fresh as I heard his voice in my head: "Sabine is right…your parents too. You're just too self-involved and immature for an adult relationship. Well, babe, go running back to your sad little life."

His eyes filled with regret. "None of that was or is true. You're kind and wise and not self-involved at all. That was me projecting myself on you. I was not seeing you."

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