My Summer in London (My Summer #1)(33)

“Is it?” He finally looked away from the window and strolled towards me, his eyes as cold as ice. “You knew I was there, and yet you kissed him right in front of me even after I asked—begged—for you to halt your relationship with my brother. How do you manage jumping from one sibling to the other? You do it so seamlessly it’s astonishing. It deserves a round of applause.”

“I—I’m s—” His strong accusations left me stuttering before a loud knock came at the door.

We both froze, staring at each other in shock and panic.

“Serena?” Archer’s voice could be faintly heard from the other side of the door.

Hadn’t I said good-bye to him? I hadn’t agreed to him coming upstairs, so why was he there? I was wracking my brain for answers when I saw Cruz’s nostrils flare in unmitigated impatience.

“Serena, may I come in?” Archer kept pushing me further into hell.

“Give me one sec,” I shot back, buying time to figure out what to do next or how to get rid of one of them.

“Tell him to go,” Cruz grunted out, unbending.

My eyes grew bigger. “Shhh, he might hear you.” I glared at him as I weighed my next move.

Archer might barge in here if I didn’t let him in, and the last thing I needed to make this night any worse was for him to find his older brother in my bedroom. God, I could already see how this would seem, and I just couldn’t let that happen. f*uk my life.

In full panic mode, I considered the best possible solution on the table as I looked straight into Cruz’s displeased face.

“Can you hide in the bathroom or maybe in the closet?”

He instantly turned red. “You want me to hide?” he whisper-hissed at me, looking like he was about to blow a fuse.

“Yes!” I hissed back, glaring at him.

If it were possible for steam to come out of his ears, it probably would have happened already. He was so pissed I almost felt sorry for him. Then again, since he had come here uninvited, he had to give in, or he and I would be bringing this conversation to an end, which by the looks of it, was the last thing he wanted to happen.

“Unbelievable,” he muttered under his breath, but eventually left towards the bathroom without another word of complaint.

I didn’t release a breath until I heard the bathroom door click shut, ensuring he was safely inside, Then my gaze reverted to the door where Archer was waiting.

Brushing the sides of my hair, I told myself to calm down then opened the door.

“Hey,” I greeted with a strained smile as I held the door handle, not willing to invite him in as I had blatantly told him downstairs. If he was trying to get laid, he had best look elsewhere because that woman wasn’t me.

“I just wanted to see you again before I leave for the night.” Archer’s charms were in full swing.

“Have a lovely time. It’s nice of you to stop by, but goodnight.” I didn’t even give him a chance to respond before I smiled and gently shut the door on him.

It barely took a second before Cruz came rushing out of the bathroom, looking like a raging, manic bull out to hurt whomever he saw on sight.

“You wanted to continue what you two didn’t finish downstairs, didn’t you? He was here to shag you, for f*uk’s sake!”

Cruz didn’t waste a beat before jumping on me with guns blazing. Sometimes, I wondered what we were really arguing about. It was as if we were going in circles.

“Has Archer f*uked you?” he threw at me, unwilling to take a moment to let me gather my bearings.

This guy was all shades of crazy.

My good intentions flew out the window.

“Can you for once just shut the f*uk up and stop accusing me of things? I can’t f*uking think, let alone defend myself, when you’re being this way. So stop! Stop yelling at me! Stop being so f*uking angry! What the f*uk!” I was acting erratically it was difficult to function like I normally would when he was around. It was as if my mind short-circuited.

His silver eyes were trained on me, appearing conflicted. “I want you, Serena. I want you. I want you so f*uking much that it’s killing me inside. You must understand the struggle I am in, so I beg you to end my agony.”

Oh, God. This wasn’t good … not good at all.

Help.





Chapter Eighteen


Cruz





Serena’s lips parted as if to argue before she shook her head in disbelief, dumbfounded.

Everything I had just said was true. For weeks, I had struggled to stifle my feelings for her, but it seemed like the more I wished them away, the harder it was to banish them. So here I was, standing before this seemingly confused woman who had irrevocably captured me, with no clue as to how to proceed with this delicate matter.

“You’re … You’re getting married!” she lashed out, condemning. Her struggle was apparent in her beautiful face.

“I broke it off. I had to—needed to—once I realized how deeply I felt for you.”

“Oh, God!” she gasped as if I had struck her before immediate horror marred her stunning face. “You couldn’t—you shouldn’t have—”

“It’s already done.”

The urge to pull her into my arms was so powerful it almost made me weak. What was it about her that evoked such severe emotions? I could never figure it out, yet I was bound to it—to her—and she had clue of her influence on me.