Page 51 of The Ruthless and the Strong

“When she was eighteen?”

“Let it go,” I said, tiredly.

“No, younger than that. Seventeen?”

“I said, let it go,” I gritted out. I knew I’d given myself away from the look in his eyes.

“That long?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters. You’re still in love with her, and you’re being too chicken shit to do anything about it. You waited too long and let her go once. Are you going to do that again, and let her find someone else to fall in love with?”

I fisted the front of his shirt without thinking and pulled him closer to me.

Mason didn’t look concerned.

“Are you telling me I should have made my move when she was seventeen? That I did wrong, wanting to give her a chance to grow up a bit, before I selfishly made her mine? The way you should have done with Olivia?”

He shoved me off and stood up. “I don’t regret it.”

I stood up, too. “You should. You should have let her grow up a bit. You should have been the adult in that situation and walked away.”

He moved in closer to me until our nose touched. “And look where I am. Olivia’s mine. Emma’s mine. But Lizzie’s not yours. So who made the mistake here?”

My nostrils flared, and for the first time in my life, I wanted to punch my little brother. I wanted to make him hurt, wanted him to take back the words.

“All right, break it up, you two. Or I’ll call the cops,” an employee said, walking over to us. I looked over at the man. He wasn’t as tall as Mason or me, but he made up for it in bulk. He could probably break us off if he wanted to. A quick look around told me we’d drawn the attention of everyone in the gym. I moved away from Mason and grabbed my gym bag, heading to the locker room without saying another word to him.

---