Written in the Stars(92)

“I’m saying this all wrong.” Brendon dropped his head into his hands and groaned. “Darcy is a wreck, Elle.”

Darcy was a wreck? Why? She wasn’t the one who’d gotten her heart broken. Her life hadn’t been upended, her whole world turned upside down.

“Darcy told me. She told me how this started and she also told me how it changed,” Brendon said. “She told me . . . she told me everything.”

A chilling sense of understanding settled in Elle’s upset stomach, cooling her anger into frosty irritation. “Well, sorry I ruined her ruse. Wasn’t my intention.”

Just like falling in love with Darcy hadn’t been Elle’s plan. It had just . . . happened. Hindsight being what it was, Elle should’ve known better than to think she wouldn’t fall ass over head for someone like Darcy.

Brendon groaned softly. “That’s still not— Fuck, Elle.”

Elle stared. Had she ever heard Brendon swear?

“What you said on the street. You were wrong, Elle. Darcy’s not heartless, okay?”

Elle pried her hands out from between her knees and crossed her arms, shielding herself from the intensity of Brendon’s stare. “Did you ask me here to tell me off, or something? Because to be honest, I’m a little hungover and a lot miserable, and I’m not in the mood to be scolded—”

“No.” Brendon shook his head quickly. “Look, Darcy keeps her cards close to the chest.”

He kept saying that, but this wasn’t a game of poker and she and Darcy weren’t supposed to be playing against each other.

“I don’t think that’s an excuse at this—”

“Darcy was engaged,” Brendon blurted.

Elle’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“I shouldn’t be telling you this,” Brendon admitted.

A spike of irritation shot through her. Wasn’t that what got her into this entire mess to begin with? Brendon revealing state secrets. Well, and Darcy lying. “Maybe you shouldn’t then.”

Even though a part of her was desperate for him to keep talking.

Brendon shrugged and gave a weak little laugh. “In for a penny, in for a pound, yeah? I’m trying to fix this.”

She worried her lip and waited.

He took a sip of his tea. “Natasha. Her name was Natasha. They met in college, dated, moved in together. Darcy proposed. She was happy.”

Elle’s chest threatened to cave in on itself.

“A month before the wedding, Darcy came home early from work. She . . .” Brendon puffed out his cheeks, eyes dropping to the table. “She, um, found Natasha in bed with a friend. Darcy’s friend. A mutual friend. Ex-friend, now. But yeah. She broke things off.”

Sympathy spread throughout her chest, hot and achy. “Brendon. You shouldn’t—”

“Too late.” He lifted his head and blinked fast. “It was bad, Elle. It was”—he coughed—“bad. Darcy tried to make things work in Philadelphia, but it was too rough. She packed up and moved to Seattle.”

That’s why Darcy had moved. She’d mentioned a breakup and how she’d wanted a fresh start, but she’d never said that, nothing that communicated that ugly or painful of an end.

God. “That sucks.”

Brendon’s lips quirked wryly. “Understatement.”

None of this explained why Brendon was telling her this. “Why are you telling me this?”

He stared. “It’s not obvious?”

She could fill in the blanks, but that was all she ever did. Fill in other people’s blanks. Darcy’s blanks. “Spell it out for me.”

“My sister has trouble letting people in. She’s scared, Elle. She doesn’t think I know. Darcy does everything she can to keep me in the dark because she’s got it in her head that she’s got to be strong all the time, but I know her better than she realizes. I’ve been pushing her to put herself out there because if I didn’t, she wasn’t ever going to. Because she thinks it’s easier to be alone than risk falling in love and getting hurt again.”

Elle shook her head. “I understand. I get it. But your sister doesn’t love me, okay? She’s not—we’re not anything, okay?”

Brendon cut his eyes. “Nothing? You don’t feel anything for her? Nothing.”

That’s not what she said. “Look, Brendon. I love that you care about your sister. You’re a great brother, clearly. And I like you and I like working with you. You’re a good friend. But it’s not fair for you to try to turn this around and make it about what I feel, okay? Because I’ve been up-front about what I’m looking for since day one. Since day one I told Darcy what I wanted. I never stopped wanting to find someone to fall in love with. My soul mate. And Darcy knows that.” Her next inhale was shaky. “I understand that your sister has baggage, but we all have baggage, Brendon. We’ve all got shit and I’m—” She sniffed, stupid eyes watering. “I’m tired of having to constantly put myself out there and not be met halfway. That’s not fair.”

Elle wasn’t so na?ve as to believe life was fair, definitely not love, or at least the pursuit of it, but she wished she didn’t have to keep stripping her skin off and showing the whole world her tender heart to get her point across.