Scared of Forever (Scared #2) (17 page)

“Let it go!” Tyler
yells. “Just fucking stop, Blake!”

I ignore him. Shoving
him off me, I take another swing. The rage that I feel is
unparalleled.
Nobody touches
what belongs to me. Not motherfucking ever.
He should know
that by now! Tyler realizes that the fight isn’t over and ducks,
seconds before swinging at me. I duck as well, but not low enough.
His fist connects with a thud into my cheekbone.

I pull my hand back to
retaliate, my vision blurred by my watery eyes reacting to the pain
of Tyler’s punch. I nearly follow through with my next punch, until
my vision clears enough to see Aria standing between us. I stop,
stunned.
I could have hurt her,
badly
. She doesn’t face Tyler; she faces me.
With
a murderous glare
.

“Stop,” she says
menacingly through gritted teeth. “What the fuck are you doing
here, Blake?” Her words are controlled, but laced with rage.

“What the fuck am I
doing here?” I laugh sardonically. “What the fuck is
he
doing here?” I point an accusatory finger at my brother.

“No,” Tyler
interjects from behind me. “The point is, what are
you
doing here, at two o’clock in the morning? When your
fiancée
is at home.” He looks at me with disgust. Aria averts her eyes and
takes a step away. She’s obviously not getting into that side of
things.

“Don’t fucking
question me,” I say steely. “It’s none of your goddamn
business.”

“Maybe I should make
it my business,” Tyler scoffs. “I’m sure your trusting fiancée
has no idea, does she? How long has this been going on?”

No
way am I answering this fool
.

Instead, Aria does.
“Since you left,” she says. My jaw drops.
She
fucking sold me out
.

“How dare you?” she
says, turning to me. “I told you once before that I don’t accept
any man telling me who I can and cannot speak to. And then you walk
in here, trash my shop—”

“Your shop?” I
laugh. “You ungrateful bitch.
My
shop. Who pays the bills and the rent in this fucking joint?” I
gesture around the room.

Tyler’s face
registers shock as the words fly uncontrollably out of my mouth.
“What the fuck are you gawking at? Put a shirt on, for fuck’s
sake! And get the hell out!” I spit angrily at him.

“Tyler, stay,” Aria
commands. “Blake, let me clear a few things up. You insisted on
paying the bills here. I rejected your money so many times that you
started paying my suppliers and my landlord directly. I may have
accepted, but hey, why look a gift horse in the mouth?” Aria takes
a fearless step towards me. “You told me that your fiancée was
only in your life for the sake of your family. You begged me not to
leave you when I found out, remember that? You told me that you would
only
ever
love me.”

Aria points an
accusatory finger at my chest. “You lied. It was only ever about
you. And I was stupid, because I love you. Tyler is here tonight
as
my friend.
Who is paying me to ink him. I
never
gave you the right to question my friendships. I suggest, unless you
want to be arrested for trespassing, you get the hell out of
my
shop. And lose the address!”

Aria glares at me
furiously. “And by the way, I actually did care about you. It’s a
shame that you had so much dick anxiety that you thought you had to
buy me to keep me around.”

Fuck
her, and fuck Tyler
. At least without her, I can focus on
Emily.
The woman who really
truly loves me.

“Fuck both of you,”
I spit and walk out. My jaw aches. My shirt is a bloody mess.
How
the fuck am I going to explain this to Emily?

Tyler.
Tyler will tell Emily. I drive back to the apartment
building, my anxiety rising, causing my heart to race unnaturally.
He’ll destroy everything
.
He’s already destroyed my relationship with Aria. He’ll do it
with Emily, too.
He hates me
.
He wants everything I have; Emily, Aria, our mother’s love, her
money. I’m the one that sticks around here and upholds the Carson
family name while he flies off into the sunset, running away at the
first sign of a problem.

I watch and wait. An
hour later, Tyler’s motorbike pulls into the underground parking
garage. I start my car and follow him in. As he dismounts, I open the
door and walk over. He hears footsteps and turns, registering a
surprised look as he sees me approach. He stands, poised for a fight,
fists clenched tightly at his sides.

“I’m warning you,”
I say lowly, standing face to face with my brother. “If you dare
mess with my relationship with Emily or Aria again, I will fucking
kill you.”

“Threats,” Tyler
laughs. “Empty threats. Aria bolted when she saw the real you.
Emily will do the same. And as always, Eliza will help you bathe your
wounds. And then redirect you to your next path in life. Blake the
fucking puppet.”

I glare at him
menacingly. “Jealousy is a real bitch, isn’t it, Tyler?”

“Jealous? Of
you
?”
Tyler shakes his head. I want to wipe the sarcastic smile from his
lips with a fucking bullet right now. “You are so self-righteous,
you know that? Paying your mistress off so that she won’t dump your
ass? Lying to Emily, playing Mr. Nice Guy so that she won’t ever
see this side of you, and probably leave you, too. And as for Eliza,
don’t even get me started. You can keep her controlling ways. I
have zero problems with you being the favorite son. Hell, you’re
doing me a favor, distracting her away from meddling in my life.”
Tyler points a finger threateningly at me. “I swear to God Blake,
if you hurt Emily, I will fucking tear you apart. Don’t even
consider that a threat. Take it as a motherfucking promise!”

I stand, unsure how to
reply.
There’s some truth in
every lie
. “Stay. Away. From. Emily. And from Aria. Or
I’ll end you before those promises can be kept.” I say through
gritted teeth, before turning and walking away.

Resolving to give
myself some much-needed space from Tyler, I dress and leave early for
work, knowing that he would probably still be out on his morning run.
To my surprise, Blake had already left for work. And he took his own
laundry to the Laundromat. I frown as I speculate as to why. Blake is
a creature of habit. And that’s definitely not one of his habits.
The morning air is fresh as I walk through the scores of people
already out on the sidewalk.

The birds chirp, happy
that springtime is upon us, and that summer will soon arrive. The
trees and shrubs that line the parks and streets are all beginning to
bloom. Cherry blossoms are my favorite, and every year I wait for
that one week when they all awaken at once. When the normally bare
branches explode in small pink flowers of varying shades. Just before
the wind blows the flowers mercilessly to the ground, and they carpet
the bases of their trees so beautifully.

Today, none of that
matters. Not the rising sun, nor the clear blue sky. It may as well
be overcast and grey outside. My actions last night were
reprehensible. Tyler is Blake’s brother. The true weight of my
betrayal had settled in this morning. Tyler was right. In fact, I
breathed a sigh of relief when I saw that Blake had already left. I
wasn’t sure that I could face him. Look him in the eye.
Kiss
him
.

The worst part about it
all was that I felt like I was now cheating on Tyler with Blake.
It
was all so fucked up
. Tyler is all I can think about. I
truly felt like being with Blake is wronging Tyler in so many ways.
The beauty salon is not yet open when I arrive, and there’s no sign
of Janie anywhere, so I make my way around to the side entrance and
up the set of stairs that flank it to Mac’s apartment. He lives
above the salon, a perk that he had insisted Janie throw in on
account of the fact that she pays us minimum wage.

Mac answers the door
groggily, looking ridiculous in a teal satin robe, his chest hair
peeking through the crossed fabric. If I weren’t so miserable, I’d
have laughed.

“What the hell,
Emily?” he says with a scowl. Mac loves his sleep.

“I was early,” I
say without much gusto, before pushing past him into the apartment.

Mac makes coffee and we
sit at the counter, watching the morning news.

“Spill it,” Mac
says with a sigh.

“What?” I reply.

“Whatever it is that
ails you so,” he says, rolling his eyes. “The least you can do is
fill me in, given that you woke me up!”

“It’s just, I—”
I have to tell someone. And I
trust Mac with my life
. I breathe in deeply, and expel my
breath, along with the painful admission. “I slept with Tyler.”

Mac plonks his cup down
unceremoniously onto the countertop. His mouth hangs open in an
exaggerated, slack-jawed way. He ponders on the statement for a
minute before responding.

“The hot one? Was it
good?” he asks with a cheeky grin.

“Mac!” I say,
whacking him in the arm. “Extremely, but that is not the point. The
point is that I am engaged to his brother!”

“Calm down,” he
says, fanning me as tears spring to my eyes and I begin to
hyperventilate. “First of all, you know I dislike Blake. And from
what I’ve seen, I do like Tyler. So let me start by saying I’m
biased. Also, let me make it clear that I strongly advise that you
marry Blake before you ditch his ass to ensure that you retain half
his fortune.” Mac grins ridiculously.

“I already signed a
prenup. I was never interested in his money,” I inform him.

“You what!” Mac
looks reproached, as if I’d just admitted to torturing baby
kittens. “Oh hell, in that case, leave his ass and hook up with the
hotter one. Pronto.”

Mac sees me looking as
though I may burst into tears at any moment, and softens his
approach. “Honey, if you loved Blake as much as you thought you
did, this would never have happened.”

“See, even you think
I’m a terrible person,” I say, beginning to sob.

“I don’t,” Mac
replies softly. “I just think that you may be confusing commitment
with love. The two are not always mutually exclusive. I get it. Blake
has been good to you. You have no family. You came here with nothing.
And not long after, he gave you this amazing life, practically
sweeping you off of your feet. But I’m just saying, if you’re
sleeping with someone else, spending the day with someone else
without telling him, then there’s already something wrong there.”

“You’re right,” I
say sniffing. “It’s not fair to Blake. But leaving him,
cancelling our engagement, is not a decision I can make irrationally.
I need to talk to Tyler first.” I walk back over to the door.
“Cover for me with Janie,” I yell as I barrel down the stairs.

Arriving at the
apartment, I take the elevator up and knock on Tyler’s door. I half
expected no answer, but a few seconds later, he opens it. I lose my
train of thought for a moment when I see his tanned biceps exposed, a
striking contrast to his white sleeveless tank. My eyes do a quick
onceover, lingering on the way his black track pants do a poor job of
concealing his crotch.

He steps over the
threshold and pulls me into a deep kiss. I surrender to it, unable to
stop the physical reaction of Tyler’s close proximity. His lips
cover mine. He tastes of mint and clean. He smells like soap, and a
fresh ocean breeze. I realize suddenly that we are still in the
hallway. I push him back and into the apartment. He slams the door
shut with his foot, hands wandering to my waist.

“Tyler, stop.” I
say breathlessly, pulling away.

“Sorry,” he says
sincerely. “I have little to no self-control around you anymore.”
I know the feeling!
I
take a step back and look at Tyler properly, wanton lust aside. I can
see how swollen his cheek is, and there is a bluish rim around his
left eye. Plus swelling on his upper lip.

“What happened?” I
ask, leaning in to touch his battered face.

“You should see the
other guy,” he laughs.

All I want to do is
reach out and touch his beautiful face, and knock out the asshole
that defiled it in such a way. I came here to talk, but as I stand
here, face to face with a man nothing short of a dream come true, my
tongue is tied. My vocabulary has gone AWOL. Tyler takes a step
towards me.

“I know why you’re
here,” he says softly, pulling me towards him gently by the hand.

“You do?” I reply.

“You’re here to
tell me that this has to stop,” he says with a sad smile. “And I
get it, I truly do. The problem is, that I don’t really think I can
quit you.”