Page 90 of Twisted Assist

"No," he cried.

Tears were streaming down his face, and he started pacing in front of me. His body was shaking, and it looked as though his knees were ready to give out.

"Sit down," I demanded, realizing he knew I'd figured it out and we were about to talk about it.

"I'm sorry," he cried instead, falling to his knees in the middle of my living room.

"For what part?" I yelled, unable to hold back. "Fucking my boyfriend? Drugging Tripp Maddux? Slicing my tires and scaring the shit out of me?"

His tears got heavier, and his wails were louder. He grabbed his head and covered his eyes, curling into a ball on my floor.

"You're my brother," I cried in return. "I trust you with my life, to protect my heart, and to always have my back. But you've been behind everything, using me to get what you really wanted, even as I confided in you. You're no better than Mom. Actually, you're worse, because the only person Mom hurts for her own gain is herself."

"I'm so sorry," he cried again. His breathing had gotten intense, and I was afraid he would pass out, but I was too angry to care.

"You'd rather me be unhappy with Hunter, just so you could have access to him, than you would me be in a truly happy relationship. Now, I don't get either. Do you think Tripp will let this go? You think he will ever be able to look me in the eye and love me knowing my brother put him in a situation that completely fucked him up?"

"It was never supposed to be like that."

"So you admit it, huh?" He looked up as I sat down on the couch and buried my head into my own hands. "It was just a hunch, but you just admitted it."

"How do you know?”

"When you told me there were three pictures, and there were only two. While you were in the shower, Tripp texted me and said he found the third picture wadded up in his hallway, and it had been there for a while. That meant you knew there were three pictures before I did, and it didn't take me long to realize I had to get the hell out of here."

“I’d never hurt you," Colton explained, like I ran in fear from him.

"Not physically, but you've hurt me mentally. So hard that I'm not sure I will ever trust you again. We may never be the same after this."

"I was so scared that if Dad knew who I really was, he would leave for good. Every day of my life, I was scared that I would be the one thing Dad couldn't return to and it'd break Mom's heart forever. So I just never said anything, trying to be the person I said I was, while Hunter and I accidentally found something we had in common. He was struggling too, and when he came back to Miami, I thought maybe now that I was no longer living at home, he'd want to be open with me."

"But he didn't, did he?"

"He wanted Tripp Maddux. Then you wanted Tripp Maddux. It got so twisted I didn't even know what I was doing anymore, just trying to somehow bring Hunter back into my life, even if it meant he was with you, and not me."

"You need help, Colton."

"I know, and I will do anything to make this up to you."

"Just take care of yourself, and leave me alone."

He stood up, dejected and nodding, then grabbed the bag he always carried. Before he opened the door to leave, I approached him and put my hands on his shoulders to make him look at me.

"I love you. No matter who you love, I will always love you. But this isn't about who you love, this is about who you are. You aren't the person I thought you were."

He nodded again, and I couldn't resist pulling him into a quick hug because I knew it might be the last one for a while. Then I let him go and walked toward my shower, shedding the clothes I had been wearing for far too long.

Once I was sure I was alone, I broke down and fell to my knees, letting the tears flow again. It felt like I would never be done crying, not just at what Colton had done, but the fact that I had most likely lost Tripp.

ChapterForty-Five

Tripp

Not only was I reinstated, but I was offered a contract extension. The only condition was that I had to see a doctor twice a week until the drugs were entirely out of my system and sign a report for the league explaining what happened to me. Per Tatum's marketing plan, it would serve as a teaching moment for the league to be careful and watch out for ourselves. We were targets, whether we knew it or not, and they made it my job to speak out so that others would not suffer the same fate.

No one ever knew about the pictures of Hunter and me, except those who saw them when it was posted to the bulletin board. Colton's name had been kept out of everything, and I ensured it stayed that way. He needed to pay for what he had done, but I couldn't bring myself to hurt Tatum any more than she had already been.

Especially when the outcome didn't bother me as much as it should have. In the end, I met her, and without all the drama, who's to say if I would have allowed myself to get close enough to her to fall in love. Maybe I was the one that was twisted, thinking of it that way, but I'd fall victim to anyone again if it meant I got to meet her.

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