Page 27 of Masked Hearts

Of course, he’s just going to swoop in like the hero, in the right place at the right time, as always.

“Nothing. We were having a conversation, and she got emotional,” I spit back.

He steps up to me. “Are you going to fight me now? You’ve already taken everything I’ve wanted in life. You want to take my wedding day away, too?” I ask.

His eyes soften.

“Or are you just upset because I finally beat you to something for once?” I egg him on, and I don’t know why I am. Everything leading up to today has been bottled up, and there is only one person I want to blame for it all.

“This isn’t the place.”

“It never is, and you’ll make sure of that. Because after today, I’ll just be sent off again, just like I always am whenever you don’t want to deal with the real problem.”

“Antonio,” he warns.

“Just admit it, you're a selfish dick who will do anything to not deal with his problems.”

He grabs my arm and drags me out of the room. It’s only then that I notice people were starting to stare. He pushes me out of the venue until we’re both outside.

The warm, summer air hits me, and it feels like it only eggs me on further.

“What the fuck is your problem?” he asks.

“You. You’re my fucking problem.”

He takes a step back as if my words surprised him, after everything that’s happened.

“I thought you were over the Valerie thing.”

“Over it?How would I be over it? We never spoke, and you shipped me off before we could. Then you left me there with no one while you just went on with your merry-little-fucking-life. And you just expect me to be okay?”

He sighs and rubs the scruff of his beard. “I didn’t know what to say. A lot was going on.”

His sudden admission catches me off guard, and all I can do is stare at him. “So you decided to send me away? How does that make sense? We all have shit going on, Ambrose; it’s how you deal with it. That’s somethingyoualways told me.”

“Because I felt threatened by you, for fuck’s sake. You’re like this fucking perfect version of me, and every time I look at you, I see everything I’m not!” he yells exasperated.

What?

“What?” I echo my thoughts out loud.

“You heard me. Don’t make me say it again. You’re perfect. You had good grades. Papá always told me I needed to work harder like you, and that I should be ashamed that my younger brother is achieving more than me. Your reputation is pristine, everyone fucking loves you, and you don’t even try. Fuck, Valerie was more worried about you than she was about me, and I couldn’t fucking take it, okay?”

He stares at me with wide eyes, and I feel like my entire world is spinning. Like everything I’ve ever thought is untrue. Unless this is.

“You’re lying.”

“Antonio,” Theresa’s voice says softly. My head spins in her direction, so surprised to see her out here.

“Uhm, they want to do the garter and bouquet toss,” she says, her eyes moving to Ambrose and then back to me. They search for mine, and I don’t know why, but I feel so exposed at this moment.

I clear my throat and break eye contact. “I’ll be right there,” I say, and she nods before slipping inside.

“We can talk about this later,” Ambrose offers, gesturing for me to head inside.

I open and close my mouth repeatedly. So many things I want to say, but none of the words are forming on my tongue. So all I can do is nod and turn to head inside.

“For the record, the two of you look natural together.”

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