Page 58 of White Raven (Nevermore Duet #2)

“My point is…now I do understand. And while you and Athan might live longer than us, I understand more now, than I ever did about how short life is, and how we should be living it differently.” His hand involuntarily rested on his lower abdomen where a scar now sat as a constant reminder of how close he came to death.

“So, he made a mistake, Sarah. He’s wigging out.

That’s scary enough without having to figure out a way to tell you that the two of you might be spending an eternity in that ‘precarious situation’… not a short life.”

Sarah’s shoulders sagged, and Wren smiled at him, raising an eyebrow as if she were surprised to hear a response like that in Athan’s defense. She seemed…proud.

“I’m not saying that what you’re trying to tell me doesn’t make sense, Brent.

And I appreciate what you’re trying to do.

But he promised me that honesty. What he kept from me before was hard enough for me to accept.

Starting a marriage? We can’t do that this way.

No matter how scary it is, or how much it might hurt.

The fact that nobody seems to feel like I’m deserving of the fucking truth makes me want to rip throats out. ”

“What did you tell me in the alley?” Wren cut in. “You asked me what my relationship was worth to me. Asked if I’d be willing to lose this fool over here, to the publicity?”

Brent smirked, snorting.

“I told you no. Now you’re gonna have to ask yourself the same thing. You know Blood Daddy worships the quicksand you walk on, Sarah. He’s scared. Men don’t ask for support. I wouldn’t give it even if they fucking did, but that’s just me.”

“Sometimes the mask doesn’t cover everything, Sarah.” Brent reached an arm around Wren, pulling her close. “How many times did you believe me when I told you I was fine after all this shit with my dad?”

She shifted on the couch and blew out a long breath. “Athan said as much the day we dropped you off from the hospital. We knew you weren’t okay.”

As much as he always wanted to hate Athan Kane, the dude just gets it.

He offered words when they were needed and shut his mouth when they weren’t.

But he couldn’t remember a single time—even when they battled it out—that he’d been wrong.

So then…who was going to be there for him , when he needed it?

And why did it still seem so fucking crazy to believe that person was his… fiancé’s ex-fiancé ?

“Take some time to calm down. Is it safe to assume you’re staying here tonight?” Brent asked, raising up from the couch and taking Wren’s plate.

“Yeah,” Sarah replied, handing hers over to him.

“Well,” he shrugged. “Then I guess that means I’ll have to activate bro code.”

Wren nearly spit out her soda. “I’m sorry…what the fuck did you just say?”

“I think he said bro code,” Sarah laughed.

Wren’s finger followed him all the way to the kitchen. “Don’t ever use that phrase again, Stratford. Not unless you’re interested in finding out what a chastity belt is for.”

“I’ll assume it’s not for strapping me to a bedpost?” he winked as he grabbed his coat off the kitchen chair.

“Where are you going?” Sarah asked.

He zipped his jacket up and peeked around the breakfast nook. “Your place. I might be the last one he wants to see, but…he needs a brother tonight.”

The look on Wren’s face was enough to run him through. If they’d been alone, he was sure she’d have him stark naked. He must have finally said something right. Sarah looked like she was about to cry and got up from the couch as he started for the door.

“You don’t have to do this for me,” she said, tugging his elbow.

“I’m not. Not really. Don’t take that the wrong way, Sarah. You know I’ll always care about you, but Athan…he’s a decent guy. Whether he wants to admit it or not. We all fuck up. God knows I’m the poster child for that shit. But I owe him. You know I do. He shouldn’t be by himself.”

She smiled softly and nodded. “Thank you.”

“Yeah…” His mouth curled in the corner, and he turned away, unlocking the door and jumping when he saw a raised fist, ready to knock as he opened it. “Holy shit!”

Rhaena lowered her hand, pressing it to her chest in shock. “Brent! Damn, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—” Her eyes caught Sarah behind him, and she swallowed. “Sarah?”

Choosing not to be in the room for that particular conversation, Brent stepped past her, switching places as she and Sarah faced off. “See you guys later.” He cleared his throat and headed for the elevator.

“Brent,” Sarah called, stopping him at the elevator doors. She jogged down the hallway and paused in front of him. “Look, I don’t know why you’re doing this, and I’m not sure why I care about your opinion, but…am I wrong here?”

That piercing hazel gaze made him feel small, somehow.

She used to have that effect a lot. But her eyes seemed different now.

She was different now. And so was he. It made him realize a million different things at once.

He grabbed her hand and looked down at it when his thumb landed on a large stone on her finger.

Kane had taste. It looked like it was made for her.

It probably was. Brent himself hadn’t even had the courtesy of picking a ring for her when he’d proposed.

Everything they had—it was never the real thing.

It only made him wish he could do more to make sure that she got that for herself.

“You remember the night you broke it off?” he asked, turning her ring on her finger.

“I do,” she breathed.

“You said I never told you I loved you. You reminded me that I didn’t even say it the night I put that ring on your finger.” He pulled his hand back and stuffed them into his pockets. “Does he fill all those empty spots that I was too selfish to fill myself?”

Her chest moved up and down with heavy breaths, and every emotion stamped on her face betrayed her deep urge to cry. He knew it. “He does.”

“You forgave me, didn’t you?”

“…I did.”

Brent smiled, reaching out and flicking her nose. “You’ll be okay.”

Rhaena had stood speechless at Wren’s door, a million apologies firing off for a million different things in her head—but how much did Sarah know?

She had to know at least a little something, if that look on her face said anything.

She could have frozen to death with the cold stare Sarah had given her before she rushed past her to catch Brent at the elevator.

Wren got up from the couch and approached her as she stood puzzled against the wall by the kitchen doorway.

“Hey,” Wren urged, reaching out and gently placing her hand on her arm. “What’d the doctor say? Where’s Brandon?”

“He got called into work. I think Blakely stays fucking sick, or he’s just full of shit and doesn’t have any vacation time left. Brandon’s just too nice to tell him to go fuck himself.”

“You hungry? We’ve got Chinese.”

Damn, it sounded good. Smelled like heaven in a paper container, but Rhaena shook her head, clutching her upper arms. “I’ll take some coffee if you have it?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Wren busied herself with the coffee maker and Rhaena made herself small at the kitchen table as Sarah came back inside, sniffling. The door shut, and she locked it before turning towards them in the kitchen and locking eyes with her.

“Prolonging the torture might work for other people, but it doesn’t for me,” Sarah admitted, pulling a chair and sitting down next to her. “The how does bother me, Rhaena…but it isn’t your fault. I guess it really isn’t Athan’s either. You fucked. You’re adults. I wasn’t in the picture then.”

“It doesn’t make it okay,” Rhaena added, biting her lip and hanging her head. “I started that shit that day. Made him feel guilty. It still isn’t fair to you.”

Sarah was quiet for a moment, and Wren never turned around, but she knew she was taking in every word. “That’s not exactly true. I was with Brent. What I find unfair is the fact that I seem to be the only one excluded from this little circle of important knowledge.”

“Hate to be the bitch, but again, that wasn’t Rhaena’s responsibility to tell you that part, either.” Wren turned and grabbed the can of coffee next to the sink. “Athan should have been honest about that if it was important enough for you to know.”

“For what it’s worth, Sarah…I didn’t deny that we had been sleeping together when you called me out on it.” Rhaena flashed back to that car ride, and how uncomfortable it was to know that practically everyone had figured out that she and Athan were fucking.

“It doesn’t matter now,” Sarah said, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table. “Are you pregnant?”

That war inside her about whether or not she was happy about the answer, for now, subsided. It felt like more of a relief than it had all day when she finally answered. “No. They did an ultrasound. No baby. False alarm.”

The way Sarah’s whole demeanor changed, and the long breath that followed after, gave her a tremendous break from the weight she’d been carrying ever since the night Athan had come by the house. That being said…where was he?

“Is he here?” Rhaena asked, looking around.

“N—no, he’s…at home. Brent just left to go talk to him.” Sarah rubbed her temples.

“When did he tell you?”

“I mostly beat it out of him tonight. At Nell’s. We had a big fight. I told him I wasn’t coming home. Now I feel like an asshole.”

If the blame game was gonna be played, Rhaena figured she’d more than earned her share, regardless of what anybody else thought.

The guilt of being the center of their conflict was rearing its ugly head again.

“Sarah, I’m really sorry. I never meant for any of this to come between you.

Truthfully, I didn’t even think about that one incident until Athan had freaked out and reminded me about it.

I was scared enough just thinking about the fact that my life might be over. ”