Page 76 of Crossroads of Love

How does he know that?

It doesn’t matter. I have bigger problems to focus on right now.

“This could destroy me, Gavin. We will have to move if people find out. They’ll never trust me again. I don’t have…”

My chest tightens even more, and I can’t get enough air into my lungs. The more I think about it all, the less air I can get in.

Chapter Sixteen

Gavin

“Lena!” I yell as I move toward her quickly.

Her face is pale, and she’s clearly in the middle of a panic attack as she struggles to breathe and is gripping the back of the chair tightly. Seeing her like this breaks my heart. The last thing I wanted to do was cause her this pain, but she had to know the truth.

“Lena, look at me.”

I grab her hands in mine, and her eyes quickly focus on me.

“Breathe in through your nose and count to four in your head.”

She shakes her head, but I continue.

“Do it. I’ll do it with you.”

I breathe in for four, release for eight. Touching her will help ground her, but she’s fighting me.

“We can fix this, okay? I’m not going to let you deal with any of this alone. I’ll make sure that you and Jayla are safe, okay? That’s my job, to protect you.”

The words are out of my mouth before I can rescind them, but it doesn’t matter. I know that they’re true. It’s all I’ve ever wanted, even if I was too blind to see it.

She shakes her head, still focusing on breathing. She’s no longer struggling for air. That’s a good sign.

“Let’s move to the living room,” I tell her as I take her hand and lead her to the couch.

I sit beside her, watching her as she leans back into the soft cushions. She’s calm now, or at least she looks like she is. It’s unnerving how composed she’s being after everything. Her hands rest lightly in her lap, fingers intertwined, but there’s tension in the way she’s holding them, knuckles barely brushing against each other. I don’t know what to say to her. I don’t know how she’s still holding herself together after everything Aaron put her through.

It's killing me to see her like this. The anger at my brother is at an all-time high. This entire town trusted him, his family and he betrayed all of them. He took advantage of so many people. He had everyone fooled.

She breaks the silence first, her voice soft but direct. “Gavin, do you know who she is?”

I blink, confused for a second. “Who?”

“The woman Aaron was with. The one he cheated on me with.”

Her eyes search mine, and even though her voice doesn’t waver, there’s a quiet desperation there. She wants answers, maybe closure or something to make sense of the mess my asshole brother left behind.

I inhale sharply, not sure how to respond at first. I’ve been trying to piece everything together myself, but the truth is, I don’t have all the answers. Not yet.

“I haven’t got a name or anything solid yet.” I shift in my seat, feeling the weight of her stare. “But I’ll find out. I promise you that.”

Which is true, because I forgot to ask Mike for that. I’m not about to tell her that Mike also knew because I don’t want her to feel like everyone but her knew.

“Thank you.”

Her calmness and her lack of anger now take me by surprise. If it were me, I don’t know if I’d be able to keep myself from breaking something, or screaming, or doing… I don’t know what. Anything. She’s sitting here as if Aaron didn’t just shatter her world, as if the man she loved hadn’t betrayed her in the worst possible way.

I was angry and bitter when I learned that Sarah cheated, but…I didn’t react the way I thought I would. I didn’t love Sarah the way I thought I should, though.

---