Page 8 of Shattered Desires

Bullshit, Declan.

“So…” Noelle shifts in her chair, looking around the room. “Does this have anything to do with randomly showing up at Declan’s almost wedding? Or are we just going to ignore that big-ass elephant in the room? Seriously, he ruins Declan’s wedding and then just bails like he never stood up and told her not to marry Lucas and all is okay?”

“Noelle Christine. At the table? Really?” Dad asks, quirking an eyebrow.

“Well, I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up, but I did read about it on all the gossip sites,” Mom says, looking down at her plate of food.

I look over at Declan, who’s sitting with her hands in her lap like it’s no big deal at all. She’s always made light of every single tough situation in her life, and it’s clear she’s still got those same old walls up—a defense mechanism I know about all too well.

“I haven’t heard from Kade since his little stunt at my almost wedding.” She smiles softly at my family as I set my fork down.

“Dec, you don’t have to—”

She shuts me down, raising her palm toward me, and continues. “I’m fine, Spence. If he’s coming back here for good, I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to dive into that with him, won’t I?”

“Why is he coming back now?” I ask, looking between Mom and Dad. “He’s refused to come back for birthdays, holidays, and deaths.” I’ve done that at least. I’ve come back for all holidays, everyone’s birthdays, and even Great-Great-Aunt Beatrice’s funeral. Did I avoid the guys and Declan at all costs? Fuck yeah, I did. But I had my reasons.

“Well, he came back last year too. For a bit,” Mom says, and Noelle looks from Declan to me. What the fuck? Kade came back home last year? And why wouldn’t anyone tell me?

When it’s apparent no one plans on explaining, I ask for some clarification.

Declan sighs. “Last year, at our listening party for Reckless Desires—after we started up Rebellion Records—Kade randomly showed up,” Declan says with a shrug, and my stomach spins. “He tried coming up to me multiple times, but I wasn’t having it. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, especially with Lucas there and it being such an important night for the guys and me.”

“Why was he in town?” I ask the room.

Dad shakes his head and excuses himself from the table, and it’s clear that my incessant questioning has ruined the meal for him.

“He was only in town because he and Melanie needed a loan from Mom and Dad, and he wanted to ask them in person,” Noelle chimes in, crossing her arms over her chest and rolling her eyes. “What a lovely son.”

Melanie, Kade’s wife, probably isn’t super fond of the fact that he came all the way home to prevent his ex, Declan, from getting married. I toss my head back and let out a long groan as realization flashes in my mind. “He and Melanie are getting divorced, aren’t they?” Fucker.

My brother and I have had a tumultuous relationship for years. We were undeniably close before he asked Declan to be his girlfriend in high school. Kade and I were two years apart and the best of friends until that moment. It wasn’t that I had any right to Dec, but it still felt like he crossed the imaginary, literal bro code line.

Dad straightens his tie after putting his plate in the sink—ever the investment banker professional. “Apparently, Melanie kicked him out. Your mother and I didn’t ask for details, and it didn’t seem like he wanted to talk about them. He’s got nowhere else to go, no family in Minnesota, so he’s coming home. I don’t think he even knows what his plan is, but he has to go somewhere.”

Noelle stands from the table. “Yeah, pretty sure I just lost my appetite.” She clears her plate and stomps up the stairs toward her room.

Noelle took it the hardest when Kade left—the hardest aside from Declan. Kade and Noelle were always close; he was her protector. It’s not that I didn’t want my baby sister safe, but Kade went above and beyond, always checking in on her and making sure she got to school and back home safely. Being older than me, he just understood more about the world sooner than I did.

“Everything is going to be fine,” Declan says, refusing to look at me because she knows I’ll read straight through her shit. Instead, she addresses my parents—probably because they won’t stop staring at her like she’s going to break into a million pieces. Declan is a strong woman, stronger than anyone I’ve ever met, and for multiple reasons. Her past and the things she went through when we were younger shaped her, forced her to be the strong woman she is today.

But Kade is the one person who can shake her up and throw her off her axis.

After all, he was talking about having a life with Declan. The two of them were talking about potentially getting engaged one day, and not even a month later, he was on a flight to Minnesota, taking a job in IT, choosing that job over her and the life they had talked about building together.

And that would fuck anyone up.

***

5

***

DECLAN

“I’d like to get away, too,” I say. “Most of the time, I want to get away.”

His expression changes, no longer lighthearted as the handsome smile giving me butterflies fades. “Do you want to talk about it while we’re still just strangers? Or would you rather wait until we’re actually friends?” He flashes me a smirk, and for some reason, I feel compelled to talk to him when I haven’t even wanted to talk to most of my friends back home about anything that’s been going on.

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