Unveiled (Torn #6)(25)
“Brody?” I said, biting my lip. “It wasn’t what you think, Dimi. He just wanted to talk about what happened.”
He became solidly silent. I couldn’t even hear him breathe.
“Dimi?” I asked when he didn’t say a word after a minute.
“You kissed him while holding his head. Now, I don’t know what kind of world you live in, but in my world, agape mou, that’s called cheating. I’m not going to lie, a lot of thoughts circled my mind, but I’m giving you another chance to prove that what I saw wasn’t real. That what I saw was just one of those rebellious, fanciful things you do when you get angry. But I’m warning you now, the moment I see you do that again, I won’t be so forgiving.”
I kissed him, but it wasn’t for romantic reasons. Would Dimitris ever understand when I tried to explain it to him? Whenever Brody was concerned, it was like a red flag being waved to a bull. He simply wouldn’t hear whatever it was I was telling him. He would succumb to the darkness that cradled his heart, bringing him back the past times I had left him for Brody. Maybe one day, when the time came, he would be ready to hear me properly without getting so intensely jealous, and then he and I could talk about it.
“I’m sorry you had to see that. I’ll prove you wrong. Until you’re ready to hear me out without getting mad, then we’ll let bygones be bygones. That aside, thank you for seeking me out and deciding to confront me without leaving. The old you would’ve just left then tell me months later.”
“I’m not going to lie that the very idea didn’t toy with my mind. Then I remembered that I rejected your marriage proposal the night prior, so I thought it was your way of punishing me, as if letting me know there’s another man out there that’s just as crazy about you as I am,” he calmly said before sighing out loud.
“It’s not that the thought of marriage to you is appalling, of course not. I wanted to marry you after two weeks of knowing you. I fell for you, I think, after getting to know you in less than a day, so no, my decision didn’t come lightly. But you must understand, my love, marriage is sacred to me, my family, and what my family stands for. I’m Greek through and through.
“When you decided to leave me on a whim without some sort of solid explanation, do you have any idea how wounded my pride was? Or how humiliating it was to explain in grave detail to my Pappou that I couldn’t hold on to my wife, that I didn’t have the power over her to stop her from going to her lover? You put me through Hell. It was f*uking hell trying to forget the very image of you almost naked with him, pulling you back into the house days after you left mine. I doubt you know what that kind of hell was. It almost killed me.
“Every day, I tried to hate you, and each time I saw my wedding ring, I just couldn’t throw it away. My love for you was too powerful, even if you clearly betrayed me. And, when it was time for me to take someone to bed, I felt dirty, Lindsey. I felt like an animal, like a dog with no feelings, f*uking just for the f*uk of it. f*uking made me forget you in that one single moment when I was coming, and yet the loathing came right after. I was livid, so beside myself I didn’t know what to do. I was lost with no direction and no care for the future. My family heavily depended on me to take the reigns of the company, and it was hard to go through such purgatory and still try to think about business.
“Claudine, when she came in the picture, helped me get through my toughest days. She held me when all I wanted was to pour my heart out and cuss your name in vain. However, I kept my mouth shut and simply let her hold me close, keeping the ghosts of you at bay. To you, it might not mean a damn thing, but to me, it meant everything then because, without her, I might not have survived. I owe her. And I know you will never understand why I feel indebted to her, but I owe her for saving me from myself.”
When he put it that way, dissecting everything, I felt like such an awful human being. It was my own selfishness that led me to stupidity, and then I was forced to pay for every single mistake I had thoughtlessly made. As much as it pained me, I knew it would mean the world to him if I at least showed some respect for his attempt to make amends with Claudine.
“All right, I hope this thing with Claudine and what you’re trying to achieve, doesn’t backfire, because I trust you. But I sure as heck don’t trust a bone in her deceitful body.”
“Good. All I need to hear is you trusting me. You don’t know how glad I am to finally hear you say that. As long as you do, nothing will happen. Trust me on that,” he promised.
And I blindly gave him my consent, my trust, hoping I wouldn’t regret doing so.
Chapter 13
Lindsey
After my call to Dimitris, I felt better. Gone was the boulder that made it harder to breathe. Gone were the doubts that had driven me insane with worry. I was genuinely happy and truly smiling when I got to Carter’s place, which was a five-minute walk from my own house.
The moment I got there, I realized Brody hadn’t been joking when he had said he invited a bunch of people to “entertain” my brother while recuperating.
“Didn’t anyone have anywhere to get to? It’s Christmas Eve, after all,” I said out loud as my eyes scanned the sea of people.
When Brody had said “people over,” he might as well have said he was throwing a party. Thank the heavens there was no alcohol in sight, though I could smell weed in the air.