Page 120 of Rival Hearts

He pushed past me into the house, a scowl on his face.

Oh.

He was angry.

This wasn’t the warm, happy reunion after he’d been away for a while.

“What were you thinking?” he demanded right away, whirling around to face me.

“You’re talking about Alex.” Alex had told me that he’d gone to see Gabe and that my brother was furious about it.

“Yeah. I thought you knew better than that.”

I was suddenly angry. “Excuse me? Better than what, exactly? Having fun? Meeting someone? Falling in love?”

Gabe narrowed his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re in love with that asshole.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I demanded. “Am I not allowed to live my life at all? I know you’re protective, but Jesus, Gabe.”

“You deserve so much better!” he cried out. “You have no idea what the real world is like, what men can be like—”

“Do you think I’ve been living in a bubble all this time? Do you think I don’t know what men can do and what life can be like sometimes? Hell, we’ve been through it, you and me, but you left to study, remember? There was a time when I had to figure shit out for myself, without you, and I did.”

Gabe shook his head. “It wasn’t my job to stay back there and look after you forever.”

“And I didn’t expect you to. But you have to understand that it means I had to look after myself, and I know what I’m doing.”

Gabe pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned.

“I’m supposed to keep you safe.”

“No. You’re just supposed to be my brother, to be there for me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“There was nothing to tell.”

Gabe laughed sarcastically. “Yeah, sure. Because fucking my best friend is nothing, right?”

“Itwasnothing at first,” I said. “It changed after that. But there’s nothing you need to worry about now. I broke it off with him.”

“Good.”

I stared at him, shocked by how cold he was being.

“Good? You don’t even want to know why?”

“I don’t need to know,” Gabe said grimly. “My sister and my best friend isnotan image I want in my mind so the sooner I can forget about it, the better.”

“Well, it’s nice of you to be so worried about my emotional well-being.”

Gabe shook his head.

“And for the record, I’m pregnant.” The words just tumbled out of my mouth before I could even catch myself. I was so frustrated that he didn’t want to acknowledge that our relationship, our breakup, meant something, I just threw it in there.

Gabe stared at me as if I’d sprouted extra heads.

“What?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper.