Over the Edge (Bridge #3)(52)

I turned back, shocked that he’d make such a rash decision. “Why would you do that? You’ve been here forever.”

“Why the f*ck do you think?” He slammed down the spatula he was using and squared his body with mine.

I tensed, preparing for the fight that he wasn’t ready to give up. “You’re making this worse than it needs to be. Do you realize that?”

His lips curled into a grimace. He took a step that brought his face too close to mine. “It’s going to get a lot worse if you don’t get the f*ck away from me right now.”

I held my ground, my fury rising with his. “You need to back down. Right now.”

“You’re the one who needs to back down. If I weren’t happily married, I’d go f*ck one of your sisters just to make a point.”

The fury that simmered in my veins before had come to a full boil. He was so f*cking out of line. I wound up to slug him, but he ducked out of the way just in time. He shoved me back hard into the counter. I was ready to go at him again when Ray, one of the guys from the engine, rushed between us.

“Boys, whoa, whoa. Calm down. Let’s talk about this.”

Darren squirmed away, his eyes wild with rage. “I already tried talking. He didn’t understand when I said stay the f*ck away from my sister.”

Ray patted him on the chest, shooting a sideways glance at me. “All right. Listen, this kind of stuff happens on the department. You’re not the first one to get all riled up about family ties. I mean, Greeley knocked my sister up. Twice.”

Greeley hollered from a nearby recliner. “She’s my wife, you dumb f*ck.”

Darren ignored them, fully committed to his anger. “Yeah, well, I’m not you, and Ian’s not looking for a wife. How many women have you f*cked?”

“If I had to make a guess, I’d say about as many as you have. You think because you’re married now that you’re on some moral high ground? I’m pretty sure you weren’t husband material when you started seeing Vanessa. I hate to break it to you, but Liv’s a grown woman. She can make decisions for herself.”

“Yeah, and I have to see your face every day and think about the two of you…” He shoved his hand through his hair violently.

Ray glanced back at me, his expression betraying his concern. I’d never seen Darren this way. Except when he almost lost Vanessa. He’d gotten reckless and violent, but that rage was focused on himself. Not me.

I drew in a series of steeling breaths, willing my adrenaline down. He wasn’t capable of being the bigger person, and Liv didn’t want to hear about us coming to blows over this situation.

“Darren, I know you’re angry, but we need to figure this out. Can we talk about this…privately? Without you trying to bust my face?”

Ray nodded and gave Darren a little more space. “Good idea. Let’s take this down a notch. You guys are friends.”

Darren straightened his posture and returned to the stove, ignoring me. He wasn’t ready now, but hopefully he would be soon.

“I’m ready to talk when you are,” I said, before leaving him and Ray alone.

I sat in a folding chair outside the station, watching the sunset melt into the horizon of buildings. Oranges and pinks and purples cascaded into each other on the canvas of the sky.

I wondered where Liv was and what she was thinking, if she was sharing the view. Not knowing was killing me. I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture before the sky lost its bright colors.

It had grown dark by the time Darren walked out. He stood several paces away, hands deep in his pockets, eyes avoiding mine. I’d already attempted to make peace. He had to be the one to talk first now.

After several moments of pacing back and forth, he stopped and turned toward me. “Help me understand, because I can’t fathom how you could do this to me.”

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “Believe me when I say I tried everything I could to avoid this.”

“Except f*ck her. You couldn’t seem to avoid that. Oh, and then you let someone else f*ck her too. Sounds like this all just happened. I’m sure you didn’t coax any of it along at all.”

I cursed under my breath. He wasn’t going to make this easy for me. “I don’t expect you to understand.”

“Good, because I’m pretty sure I’m never going to understand how you can disrespect my sister this way and still have the balls to face me. After everything we’ve been through. I mean f*ck!”

I met his glare with resignation, because all I had was the truth. “Darren, I’m in love with her.”

His lips thinned as he worked his jaw. “You can’t love her. I know you.”

“People change. You stood here not that long ago and told me to stop wasting time and focus on her, to see where it could go.”

He shook his head. “That’s before I knew the woman in question was my sister. I would have given you different advice had I known.”

I stood and faced him. “You changed. For the right person, you changed. She’s that person for me. I can’t help that she’s your sister any more than I can help the way I feel about her.”

“And Will? You expect me to believe he feels the same way and he’s not just taking everything he can get from her?”

“It’s not my place to speak for Will, but I’d never let him hurt her.”