Page 5 of Forbidden Love, Part Two

After my shower, I raced downstairs and did a check of the house. Just as I suspected, he wasn’t home. I let the little disappointment I felt at that knowledge disappear into nothing. I’d talk to him when I got back later if he was around.

For right now, I needed to see my brother.

I crossed the distance between Marshall’s house and Zane’s and soon found myself knocking on the front door. My heart was in my throat.

Why did I think this was a good idea again? He probably didn’t want to see me.

I shook my head to clear it of the thoughts that invaded it. Whether he wanted to see me or not, he was going to hear what I had to say.

His truck was parked out front so I was almost sure he was home. What if he was sleeping?

The door opened, putting an abrupt end to every single one of my thoughts.

My brother’s blue-grey eyes were as dull as I’d ever seen them. He had a few days’ worth of stubble lining his face and he hadn’t even bothered to throw on a T-shirt, answering the door in only a pair of shorts. His face didn’t betray any emotion upon seeing me at the door. Simply put, he looked a mess.

“You donotget to look like that,” I said by way of greeting, my voice harder than I thought was possible.

“You don’t get to say how—”

“Yes, I do. Because I’m your little sister and I’m the one who knows the shit that you’ve been through. And I’m telling you that you’re someone who doesn’t get to look like that anymore.” I pushed past him and entered the house. When I turned back around to face him, his impassive expression hadn’t changed and he was now leaning back against the closed door. “Sure, you came home and saw me with Marshall and you’re upset. I get that. But the truth is I’ve had a crush on Marshall my entire life, and the reason I hadn’t said anything was because I knew you’d react like this. But guess what, Zane? He likes me too and he’s always had a thing for me too—”

“Trish, I—”

“No,” I stomped a foot. “I know that you want to protect me from all the bad guys and all that, but I’m a grown woman, Zane. I can do what I want and I have to pay for those choices. You can’t protect me from getting my heart broken forever, because guess what, I’ve faced worse things than anybody you know and I still came out on the other side swinging. If Marshall decides that he doesn’t want me anymore, guess who has to pay the price for that? Me. Not you or anybody else. Me. And I’m perfectly okay with that. So, you need to get with the program and stop behaving like a five-year-old kid who can’t get what he wants.”

Zane’s eyes were now on the floor while his arms were folded across his chest. He took a breath in and a breath out. All the while, I wondered if he would even pay attention to anything I said or if it would go in one ear and out the other. He was dead silent, his body rigid.

“I know,” he said at long last. “I know I behaved stupidly and I got…overprotective. I’m…” He ran a hand down his face. “I’m sorry.”

I blinked a couple of times, too stunned to speak.

He looked up at me then went over and sat on the couch. “I missed you,” he said with a hint of a smile. “It hurt more than it should’ve when you decided to stay with him instead of with your brother.”

Taking slow steps, I soon joined him on the couch. “I didn’t want to stay with either of you,” I said. “He and I didn’t even talk much these past few days. I kept thinking about his past and…well, I’m working on seeing him for who he is today instead of who he was.” I looked at my brother’s hung head. “I’m sorry too, Zane. I should’ve told you at some point.”

He shook his head. “You were right to think I’d react the way I did. I just…I didn’t want to see you any more hurt than you already have been, Trish. And I knew the kind of person who Marshall was. You can say what you want, but I’m gonna kick his ass all over again if he ever thinks about breaking that little heart of yours.”

I breathed a laugh.

“I knew he liked you, by the way,” he said after a moment.

I snapped my head in his direction and creased my brows. “What?”

He turned to me slightly, moving his head like the weight of the world still sat on his back. “When you left Cedar Cove for school, he was a mess. I didn’t want to acknowledge it at first, but it became too big to ignore. There was a point, maybe two weeks after you left, that he wouldn’t even talk to me or come see me but would hang out with everyone else in our friend group. When I confronted him about it, he said I reminded him of something he wanted to forget. If that wasn’t the confirmation I needed, I don’t know what was.”

“And yet you let him stay over when I…”

He shrugged, giving me a weak smile. “I didn’t want you to go back to that dark place again and I wasn’t going to be here, so I wanted someone to be there with you. I just thought he’d gotten over you after so many years.”

I nodded. “And how’d that work out for ya?”

He gave a breath of laughter.

Now that we’d resolved the matter holding us apart, I saw there was something lurking even deeper below the surface of my brother’s skin.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “I know something’s not right with you, Zane. What happened when you went to visit Amelia?”

He shook his head and dug his fingers into his closed eyes. “It’s a long story.”

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