Page 71 of Imperfections Forbidden
“Don’t tell me how the fuck to talk to my sister!”
“Nick, it’s okay,” I quickly say.
His voice booms out over me.“No, it’s not.”
“Nick, please.”My voice strains against the fear in me.My brother steps closer, sneering at me, my heart racing and ready to burst clear out of my chest.
“Kate is lying in there, her heart broken, and you’re outside her room making out with him.I knew something was going on between you two.I didn’t want to believe it.My mistake.”
He looks at me up and down like I repulse him and it’s all I can do to stop myself from throwing myself at him and asking him to forgive me.
He looks at Nick, tight-lipped.“I would expect this from you.”Then he looks back at me.“What happened to family!”he explodes.“She’s barely hanging on in there and you’re fucking her fiancé.”He grabs my wrist in a grip so hard the bracelet’s cutting into my skin.I cry out in pain.
“Jay, please!”
Nick’s voice roars out behind me, “Get the fuck off her!”
I manage to pull away from him, going to the side at the same time Nick charges at him, punching him in the jaw and knocking him to the floor.I scream and stumble back, losing my balance, but the chairs break my fall.Jay wipes the back of his hand across his face.His lip is bleeding and blood is running down his chin on to his shirt.It’s all happening fast, and I don’t know what to do.
Jay gets up and charges after Nick.“You mothafucker.”They go down like a bag of bricks hitting the floor.
My God, they’re going to kill each other.There is nothing I can do to stop them.I look around me frantically for help.Jay is on top of Nick; he has him by the shirt and lands a punch to his face and another one.Nick is able to block his next attempt, and they struggle again.
I run down the hall to get help, halfway there I see my dad and Chris with two security guards, running down the hall.I’m beyond relieved to see them.
We rush back to the room and Nick has Jay pinned to the floor.He’s leaning over him landing blows to his face, his other hand holding him by the collar of his shirt.Chris knocks him off Jay, and Jay scuttles away and staggers to his feet.They are both bloody and bruised, Jay more than Nick.The sight of it is making me nauseous.
Before they have a chance to finish killing each other, my father and a guard grab Jay.Chris and the other guard manage to hold Nick.They both look like bulls caged in a ring, chests heaving and puffing, nostrils flaring, anger rolling off them.Blood is running from Jay’s eye, nose, and lip, half his face is already swelling.
I’m relieved my father and Chris heard all the commotion and came when they did.I look at Nick, but all his attention is focused on Jay.He has a gash above his eyebrow that might need stitches, and his lip is swelling too.This is all my fault.I did this.
My father and the guard struggle to hold Jay from going after Nick.“Get off me!”he yells at my father.
“You need to calm down first and tell me what the hell is going on.”My father looks back and forth between Nick and Jay.
Nick isn’t moving, and he says to Chris in an irritated voice, “You can get off me now.I can control myself.”Chris and the guard look at Nick and decide to let him go.
My father lets Jay go too.He wipes the blood running from his eye across the sleeve of his shirt.
My father looks at me concerned.“Are you okay?”
I can’t say anything.What am I going to say?
“Is she okay?”Jay says incredulously.He looks at me from the corner of his eye.“Tell him, Cat.”
Nick moves forward and the guard steps in front of him.“Leave her alone, Jay.”
The guard says, “We’re going to have to escort both of you off the premises.”
Chris steps in to talk to the guards.“That won’t be necessary; we promise it won’t happen again.Our sister, his fiancée”—Chris motions to Nick— “was rushed in here tonight, she lost her baby.”
“Sorry, but we can’t have any more of this or we’re going to have to call the police.”
Chris assures them there will be no more fighting.They leave and my father looks at the three of us.“What the hell is this all about?”
Jay looks at me.“Tell him, Cat, tell him.”
I look at the faces of the men in my life that I love and try to find the words.I look at my father and Nick says to me, “You don’t have to say anything.”
