Page 81 of The Omega's Fake Mate

I entered Rhys' room without knocking.

There were four beds in the room. I spotted my brother in the one closest to the window on the right—and didn't care about the others. Rhys seemed to be sleeping, but he opened his eyes when I approached the bed.

“They told me they called you.” He sounded almost apologetic that he'd caused me any trouble.

“I'm glad they did,” I said, drawing up a chair so I could sit by his side. “Lara and Carole and Dean are here too. And Zander.”

“You all came?”

Carefully, I reached out to stroke some hair back from Rhys' forehead. He looked awful. Both of his eyes were bruised, he had bandages wrapped around part of his head, and it killed me to see him like this. I felt like I should have been able to prevent this somehow. Like I failed him. Rhys had never had many social skills and no ability to read people. It was my job to make sure that the other kids didn't bully him. But we'd drifted apart. I'd let us drift apart. And this was the result.

“You didn't have to come,” Rhys said. “I'm okay.”

“No, you're not.” I picked up a glass of water that sat on the bedside table. “Drink something. You look like you could use it. Did they give you enough painkillers?”

“They've been good,” Rhys said, taking the glass from me.

While he drank, I pulled the curtains around his bed closed so we could have some privacy. Part of me wondered about Zander and the others being so slow to catch up. Were they trying to give us a moment of privacy too?

Whatever the reason, I was glad to have my brother to myself for a minute.

“Tell me what happened,” I urged him. “Why are we in Massachusetts?”

“Pit stop,” Rhys said. “I was passing through here on my way to Maine.”

Was I hearing that right? “You were on your way to Maine? To Oceanport?”

“Yeah.” Rhys gave me a small smile.

“What happened?” I asked again, because none of this made sense to me. “Were you trying to escape? Did your husband catch up with you?”

“Escape makes it sound so dramatic.” Rhys started to shake his head, but then he winced and stopped. “You've always had a flair for the dramatic.”

“Just tell me.”

“My husband and I had a fight, yes, and I left. But the people who did this to me... that wasn't him.” His eyes strayed to the side. I wondered how much he actually remembered of the attack and how painful it was to recall. It was only a few hours ago. Too soon to make him talk about it, maybe.

But I didn't need details. I only needed to know who the culprit was. I desperately needed someone I could blame who wasn't me. “Do you know who these people were?”

Rhys licked his cracked lips. “His brothers.”

I swallowed, my hands balling into fists. I understood being upset for your brother. I wasmightyupset for my brother right now, but beating up his spouse because they had an argument? Or broke up?Hell no.

I didn't understand how anyone could hurt Rhys. He might be a bit of a social recluse at times, but when he interacted with someone, he was always gentle, always kind. He couldn't hurt a fly—or the bugs he used to collect as a child.

“I'm so sorry,” I said, because I didn't know what else to say.

“It's not your fault.”

Then why did itfeellike it? I was hell-bent on getting my brother away from the Vinists... until I got distracted by falling in love with Zander. I got complacent and I lost focus of my original goal.

Before I could say any more, though, there was a knock at the door. “I guess that'll be the others. Are you up for more visitors?” He looked tired. Of course he was. I kind of just wanted to cuddle up with him and hug him until he fell back asleep, the way we did as young children when one of us had a bad dream.

Only this was so much worse than a bad dream and I didn't know what to do about it.

“Let them in,” Rhys said. He even managed to smile. “I haven't seen them in so long.”

“Okay then.” I forced the corners of my lips upward. If my twin could manage to stay optimistic through all this, so could I.