Love's Suicide (Love's Suicide #1)(27)

“I don’t give a f*ck who’s here.”

“Brooks, please don’t get angry.”

He stood up and started pacing. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this to happen? Kat, wake up! I want you. How people feel about it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t give a shit about anyone else. You’re all that matters.”

I opened my mouth to speak and heard someone knocking on his door. When I started to freak out and run to the bathroom, I decided to stay on the bed. I’d known we’d been loud enough that they would know he wasn’t alone.

Brooks pulled up his boxer briefs and went toward the door, while I covered up and waited for him to send whoever it was away.

“Where is she?” It was Branch, and he wasn’t happy. Before I could hide my shocked face under the covers, he came walking in.

“Branch, don’t hurt her. It was my idea. I made her do it.”

He stood over the bed, staring at me, knowing that I’d spent the night with his twin brother. He was fuming and my crying became very apparent. In that instant I was afraid for my life, but especially Brooks’. “The night before our wedding, Katy? How could you do this to me?” His anger was felt through his words and I didn’t know where to begin to explain.

Brooks took the lead, defending our actions as if what we’d done was okay. “You did this, bro. You kept her from me for all these years. I told her everything. She knows you kept us apart to have her for yourself.”

Branch turned around and shoved Brooks against the other bed. “Get the f*ck out of my face, Brooks.”

Brooks stood up and got right up in his face, challenging him. When I knew it was about to explode into something horrible, I jumped up and got in between them.

Maybe I should have kept the sheet on, because standing there naked wasn’t exactly helping the situation. “Please don’t do this. We all need to talk this through.”

Branch looked down at me and shoved me down on the bed. Brooks had him by the neck and threw him to the floor. “If you ever touch her like that again, I’ll kill you.”

I’d never seen Brooks act so violently, and realized that he’d been trained to kill. His years away had changed him, and after losing me and knowing I was living a life with his brother, he’d built up so much animosity that it was bleeding through him.

I ran up and put my arms around his back, calmly coaxing him to release Branch’s neck. “Please, don’t do this.”

Brooks calmed and sat back on the floor across from his brother. I grabbed a sheet and sat across from them. “Branch, we need to talk.”

“Bullshit. You need to get dressed and go get ready. This shit never happened, do you hear me?”

I stood up before Brooks could come at him with anything else. “No! I’m not marrying you. I can’t. I don’t love you like you need me to. I’ve never loved you like I love him, and you’ve always known it, haven’t you? Why did you tell me he never wanted me? How could you do that to your own brother, and to me?”

Branch stood up and got close to me. I knew Brooks was ready to pounce again, so I held up my finger to keep him from making a move. “Are you really going to bring up shit from when we were teenagers to justify you f*cking my brother the night before our wedding? I should have known you’d whore yourself out to him. You always did want things that were beneath you.”

I slapped him as hard as I could across the face. “Get out! Get out of my face!”

He grabbed my arms and Brooks had finally had enough. He placed his hand on Branch’s back. “Let go of her, Branch.”

“Screw you.” He looked from me to Brooks. “You two make me sick. If I never see you again it will be too soon. Get your shit out of my apartment before I get home, Katy. After I’m done telling my parents about the two of you, I’ll be the only child that this family has. You just ruined your lives. I hope that * was worth it.”

Brooks hit him so hard Branch fell to the ground. Then he picked him up and threw him out of his room. When the door was shut, he turned to see me falling back down on the floor, unable to breathe. I was having another attack, and this time it was because I knew we’d ruined our happy lives.

It wasn’t about me, but more about Brooks losing more respect from his parents when he’d done nothing but love me.

In that moment I knew what I had to do and neither of us were going to like it.





Chapter 12


I started pulling my dress down over my head, before Brooks could say anything. He approached me with a worried look. “What are you doing? You don’t have to leave. We can do this together. Did you think I’d expect you to face them by yourself?”

“I need to get my bag out of my room, before they all come looking to kill me. I’ll be right back, I promise. You don’t have to worry.”

He grabbed my arm as I began to reach for the door handle. “Kat, you are going to come back so we can talk, right? You’re not just saying you are?”

I gave him a look, as if he was crazy for thinking it. “Of course. Stop worrying. I’ll be right back.”

He leaned down and kissed me passionately, like we had all of the time in the world. I savored it, knowing I wouldn’t be back. This was our last kiss, and I had to remember it forever. His love radiated through me and I couldn’t help but start to cry. He had my heart and I wanted him to always remember that. Without it he wouldn’t be able to move on and I wanted him to be happy, even if it would take him a while to open up again.