Page 181 of On a Fault Line

Dammit.

“Okay… Let’s talk about it.”

Anything has to be better than beating each other up over this.

“Talk about it?” he asks, as if the concept is the most laughable thing in the world.

“I’d like to have a real discussion, yes.”

“You betrayed me. You betrayed Nic. And you have let the one person you swore to protect down. What’s there to discuss?”

The blood drains from my face first and then from my arms, causing a tingling sensation in my fingertips.

Releasing my hold, I get up from on top of Graham. Then he rolls himself to his side and stands.

Running my fingers over the back of my neck, I feel the tension building. “I wanted to come to you first.”

“For what? To get my blessing?” He scoffs. “Maybe when hell freezes over. But I’ll never accept that you found it in you to seduce my baby sister.Never.”

What else am I supposed to do now?

My fingers lace behind my head. “How did you find out?”

“Does it matter?”

I shrug. “It does to me.”

“She’s my baby sister!”

But she’s my everything. “I love her, Graham.”

But those words trigger him, and he punches me again. This time his force is stronger than the other times.

And again.

Again…

I let him beat the shit out of me. I don’t even flinch.

Blood explodes from my lip, speckling the mat in even more dark spots. I wipe at my face, smearing the blood all over my white gloves. It drips down my neck, soaking into my workout shirt.

And I let it happen…

I let it be.

This isn’t how I predicted this would end. I thought I had more time. And I definitely thought I could explain my way through how Penny and I came to be.

But my hope was stolen from me—too soon.

I fell for Penny.

And I fell hard.

Now all the time I’ve spent with her will be tainted by this memory of betrayal.

Fuck.

I should have come to Graham first. We were just days away from the contract ending. Surely, anything would have been better than this catastrophe.

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