Page 31

Jesus Christ.

“It matters.”

I link my fingers behind my head, looking up. Silence hangs heavy in the air.

“You said no to me so easily,” he says.

I laugh. “We were kids. Stupid kids.”

He nods, removing his smoke. “What if I asked you now?” He pushes from the wall, coming toward me. I freeze.

“What if I asked you to leave him. To marry me instead.” He reaches up and puts a windblown hair behind my ear. “What would you say?”

My heart pounds, nearly jumping from my rib cage trying to get to his.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’d die for you.”

I shake my head. “It’s too late, Danny. It’s too late for us.”

“It’s never too late.”

“But it is.”

He holds my face in his hand. “Tell me you don’t want me. Tell me you don’t think about me when you’re with him.”

I shut my eyes for a brief moment. “He’s your brother.”

“You were mine first,” he says. “You were mine!” I jump. He moves his hand. “Don’t you remember what we had together? Don’t you remember what it was like? I knew you first.”

He’s killing me. He’s ripping my heart out and crushing it. “We’ll always have that, but my future isn’t with you.”

He turns away from me for a moment but then looks back, asking, “You in love with him?”

I take too long to answer. “I’ve always loved him.” I cross my arms again, and his eyes jump to my wrist. Recognition flashes in them and his brow furrows, but he doesn’t say anything.

He looks away from the bracelet he gave me when we were kids and there it is. That evil smirk only Danny O’Brien can pull off. “You can’t lie to me, love.”

“Danny, you know I love your brother. Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Oh, I know you love him. We all love him. But are youinlove with him? Is he the man of your dreams, Bexley?” He steps closer to me. “Is he the guy you fantasize about when you come?”

“You motherfucker,” I say slowly, my jaw tightening with anger. “How dare you. Yes, Samuel is the man of my dreams.” I step even closer to him, lifting my chin so I can look right into his dark eyes. “Not only is he the man I think about when I come, but he’s the only one who makes me come.”

I see the twitch in his eye, and I feel the energy rolling off of his body. “Really?” he says, his expression turning black. I know I’m being ridiculous, and now I’m just trying to hurt him, but how dare he come here and put me in this situation. How dare he ask me to choose.

“I’ve loved Samuel since I was a girl, and now I’ll be his wife.”

Stop it.

Fuck off, I reply to my conscience.

Danny may scare a lot of people, but he doesn’t scare me.

He looks at me for a moment, his jaw ticking. “Fine,” he says, but it’s not convincing.

Wait.