Page 229 of Now and Forever

“Say something,” I pleaded after minutes of nothingness.

He chose to remain silent, still with his hands in his pocket, seeming as if he was looking down into the world, plotting how to annihilate it.

I didn’t need to see his face to know how incensed he was. I could feel his anger rolling off him in waves, sending frightful shivers all over me. I supposed I had asked for this.

“Cruz, please say something.” I tried once more then took a few steps towards him, but I halted in the middle of the room. Call it guilt or whatever, but I couldn’t get close to him without fearing he would burn me in one way or another.

With his back still facing me, I heard him take a deep breath before uttering a command. “Whatever is going on with you and my brother, I demand you stop it immediately.” His words were delivered with precision, cutthroat and unforgiving, just like the very man himself, who to this very moment, remained an enigma to me.

His beautiful, silver eyes were just as mercurial as his mood. It was difficult to read him, let alone know what truly was going on with him or what he truly felt for me.

I understood his rage. Of course I did. However, I was my own woman with my own mind, my own heart, and my own decisions to make.

Lifting my chin in defiance, I counted a few times before responding to him. “At work, you’re my boss, but in my personal life, I’m in charge of it. Please don’t ever tell me what to do again.”

My hardheaded stance didn’t evoke any emotions from him, but when I finally decided it was time to hash this out, he then chose to show a little more of himself.

“You’re punishing me for pushing you away,” he accused in a soft, monotonous voice.

Why wasn’t he facing me still? Why couldn’t he look me in the eye and tell me this, instead? I wanted to see him. I craved to see those eyes that never failed to ensnare my common sense.

“No,” I vehemently denied, “that’s not true.”

“You did everything you could to get under my skin, and the moment you did, you scuttled away and latched on to the next man you encountered.” His hate-filled words echoed in the room and left holes in my once intact armor.

“That’s a vile thing to say.” I was seething with anger, with the need to explain my erratic actions, and all the other frustrations I hadn’t yet addressed. I was a mixture of it all, waiting to erupt and out for blood.

“Is it?” He finally looked away from the window and strolled towards me, his eyes as cold as ice. “You knew I was there, and yet you kissed him right in front of me even after I asked—begged—for you to halt your relationship with my brother. How do you manage jumping from one sibling to the other? You do it so seamlessly it’s astonishing. It deserves a round of applause.”

“I—I’m s—” His strong accusations left me stuttering before a loud knock came at the door.

We both froze, staring at each other in shock and panic.

“Serena?” Archer’s voice could be faintly heard from the other side of the door.

Hadn’t I said good-bye to him? I hadn’t agreed to him coming upstairs, so why was he there? I was wracking my brain for answers when I saw Cruz’s nostrils flare in unmitigated impatience.

“Serena, may I come in?” Archer kept pushing me further into hell.

“Give me one sec,” I shot back, buying time to figure out what to do next or how to get rid of one of them.

“Tell him to go,” Cruz grunted out, unbending.

My eyes grew bigger. “Shhh, he might hear you.” I glared at him as I weighed my next move.

Archer might barge in here if I didn’t let him in, and the last thing I needed to make this night any worse was for him to find his older brother in my bedroom. God, I could already see how this would seem, and I just couldn’t let that happen. Fuck my life.

In full panic mode, I considered the best possible solution on the table as I looked straight into Cruz’s displeased face.

“Can you hide in the bathroom or maybe in the closet?”

He instantly turned red. “You want me to hide?” he whisper-hissed at me, looking like he was about to blow a fuse.

“Yes!” I hissed back, glaring at him.

If it were possible for steam to come out of his ears, it probably would have happened already. He was so pissed I almost felt sorry for him. Then again, since he had come here uninvited, he had to give in, or he and I would be bringing this conversation to an end, which by the looks of it, was the last thing he wanted to happen.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath, but eventually left towards the bathroom without another word of complaint.

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