#Rev (GearShark #2)
Cambria Hebert
“A revolution is a struggle to the death
between the future and the past.”
—Author unknown
Drew
I was no quitter.
I refused to quit Trent.
So angry. I was so goddamned angry.
He was pushing me away when all I wanted to do was pull him close. It was almost laughable he tried to break up with me. I felt the laughter bubbling up inside me, ready to explode. It was like I was so incredibly infuriated I couldn’t yell… I couldn’t cry… I couldn’t even speak.
But I wanted to laugh. The kind of laugh only villains in movies did. The kind that bespoke of internal madness.
That’s what tonight was. Madness.
He was jumped. Beaten.
He told me he loved me.
Then he laid out intent to withhold that love.
Trent was trying to protect me. In his mind, he wasn’t keeping the love he felt from me, but rather showing it in the best way he knew how. I respected that. I did.
But I wouldn’t have it.
We’d gotten one week together. I wanted more.
I suppose thinking we could keep our relationship a secret was naive. Merely wishful thinking. When you loved someone the way we loved each other, it was impossible to hide.
It showed in every way.
Not just in the way we looked at each other. Or the way we spent every spare moment together. It showed in ways I never wanted to see until now. Ways I thought no one else would notice.
I’d been fooling myself.
It was the way he put ketchup on his plate so I could eat his fries. The way I automatically pulled the tomatoes off my burgers and slid them onto his plate. It was the fact that I went to him first whenever something happened I wanted to share. And the way we made each other’s coffee exactly as we drank it.
Love is in the details. It’s in the everyday. It’s the way you treat someone when they aren’t even looking and the way they fill your head when you’re apart.
Of course people were going to see it.
Joey saw it almost from day one. Braeden and Ivy already knew. The reporter from GearShark knew from just one conversation…
Hiding our relationship was almost not an option.
Dissolving it wasn’t either.
My hand throbbed and my knuckles were slick with blood when I slammed out of the room. I was so intensely frustrated I couldn’t look at him another minute.
We weren’t over. No way in hell.
But I needed a minute.
My mind was so clouded with anger I didn’t see him. I didn’t notice him at all until he cleared his throat. My body jerked to a stop and my head whipped around to see Romeo leaning against the wall as if he were resolved to be there a while.
I was sure he heard everything.
Trent and I had been yelling. And the sound of my hand going through the wall hadn’t exactly been silent.
“Guess I don’t need to ask how he is,” Romeo said, straightening off the wall.
“You agree with him?” I challenged, my hand flexing. It was already f*cked up from going through a wall, but I’d use it again if I had to.
“I understand why he thinks he’s doing what’s right.”
At first, his words didn’t sink in. They just pissed me off even more. All I heard was Romeo understood Trent. I growled low and stepped forward in an aggressive movement.
Romeo’s eyes narrowed, watching me close, but other than that, his body language didn’t change.
That’s when I realized he was no threat. That’s when I realized he was on my side.
“We’re in a relationship,” I said point blank. I kind of wanted to shock him. I wanted someone other than me to feel the sting of words tonight.
I also wanted a fight.
Just not with Trent.
Never with Trent.
“I know.” The amusement in his tone took a little heat out of my oven. “You can’t keep secrets like that from family. Family who really loves you.”
I tilted my head to the side and regarded him. Was he saying he knew before he walked into this house a little bit ago? Was he saying he didn’t care?
“You should probably get that hand cleaned up. You’re bleeding on the floor.”
I glanced down at the blood dripping off my knuckles.
“I’ll talk to Trent.” He went on.
Romeo stepped off the wall and toward the bedroom door. I moved fast, silently snatching his arm and turning him around. He didn’t pull away or act like my roughness was a threat, but his muscles tensed beneath my arm, and I felt tension coil in his limbs.
“He cares what you think,” I said quietly. “Your opinion matters. So if you aren’t sure how you feel about our relationship or the fact there are two gay guys in your family, walk away. Walk away right now.”
Romeo stared at me level, his blue eyes bouncing between mine.
“He’s already f*cked up enough right now. If you can’t offer him the brother he needs tonight, I won’t let you in that room.”
Romeo’s lips curved up into a knowing, almost pleased expression. “He pissed you off so bad you put your hand through a wall and he’s pushing you away, yet here you are, standing guard at the door, protecting him.”
“That wasn’t an answer,” I growled.