Wicked Reunion (Wicked White Series Book 2) (18 page)

Panic fills me. I don’t want them fighting any more over me. I have to try and stop this before the whole situation spirals out of control.

“Wes . . . please don’t—I’m sorry,” I plead.

He shakes his head and licks the corner of his mouth, a move he always does when he’s frustrated. “I’m done, London. Done. This ends tonight. I want him out of our lives forever. No more interference from him!”

He turns on his heel and walks out the door, not giving me a chance to say one more word. I know it’s not fair that I told Jared about the baby first. It was wrong of me to do that, but at the time I felt like it was the right thing to do. I’ve played with Wes’s heart for far too long, and by telling his brother about the baby first, it pushed him over the edge.

I start to chase after him, but he’s too fast and he’s already made it out to his car by the time I make it to the front door. When I open the door, Wes revs the engine of his blue Mustang and squeals the tires as he backs out onto the street.

I rush back into the kitchen to grab my keys. I know exactly where Wes is heading, and there’s no way I want them to fight again over me. I have to stop this.

NOW

JARED

I
stare at the beautiful Nova parked in the garage, and my thoughts instantly drift toward my father. He never did get to make it home to see how I got this thing up and running for him while he was gone. We worked on this car every spare moment we had together, other than the times he spent with me tossing a baseball or showing me how to play a guitar.

Dad was my hero. In my eyes he could do no wrong and was a superhero. I hope someday when I’m a father I can be half the man to my kid. Wes will be a good dad too. He’s caring and smart, and I know he’ll be around for the baby London’s carrying no matter what, because that’s the kind of guy he is. He’s not some asshole like me who loses his mind and bails when things get tough. Doing something like that was never in Wes’s blood. I didn’t think it was in mine either until things got hard and I felt like I had no other choice but to leave in order to get my head straight. Now I’m trying like hell to make sure that I change that part of myself. I want to be the guy who’s dependable.

The front door slams shut, and my back stiffens.

“Mom?” I call, but she doesn’t answer, so I walk through the open garage door into the kitchen. I pause the moment my eyes land on Wes standing in the middle of the kitchen.

Wes rushes at me and grabs handfuls of my shirt. “You! I want you to stay the fuck away from London. She’s
mine
. You got that?” he growls.

“I’m not going to fight you.” I throw my hands up in the air. “She chose you, didn’t she?!”

God that stings to admit out loud, but it’s the truth. She made her choice to be with my brother—to start a family with him—and I have to respect that even though it kills me to know that I’ve lost her forever.

“I hate that she loves you—even after all this time.” He shoves me backward into the fridge, and my heart thunders in my chest as I stare into my brother’s wild brown eyes. “You got everything while I was overlooked! I always came in second compared to you. Do you know how much it hurt to know that Dad loved you more than me? If that wasn’t enough, how about when the girl I’ve been in love with since elementary school falls for my younger, hotshot, baseball-playing brother? You had everything I always wanted, and you fucked it up like what you had meant nothing! When you walked out on this family, you didn’t even bother to check and see how we were dealing with things because you were too wrapped up in your own grief to see that we were all hurting. Hell, you even turned your back on London, the one person who loves you more than anything else in this shit-hole world. She went through hell when you left, and I had to pick up all the pieces. I won’t let you hurt London again.”

His words sting because I never knew he felt like this. There’s so much pent-up rage in him, and it’s all directed at me. Wes is usually the calm one between us. It’s hard to stand here and watch him fall apart like this, but I have to be honest with him.

“I won’t apologize for loving her,” I say. “But if you want to hit me, do it. I treated you like shit and I deserve your anger. So if you want to hit me, so be it, but it won’t make me stop loving London. I’ll always love her, even if she’s with you.”

“Ahhhhh!” Wes screams in my face as he draws his arm back, fist curled tight, ready to blast me.

“Do it!” My chest rises and falls as I await the pain that’s sure to follow the blow as I give my brother permission to unleash his rage on me.

The next few seconds happen so fast. Wes’s fist flies forward, and I squeeze my eyes shut, knowing I have this coming, knowing that deep down I deserve much worse than this. The force of his punch to my face causes my head to snap to the right. Warm blood fills my nose and then runs down over my top lip and drips to my mouth. The metallic taste fills my mouth, and I open my eyes just in time to witness Wes drawing his elbow back yet again.

I’m not angry with him—not at all—and I want him to know that. “I’m sorry.”

Blow after blow, I don’t try to fight any of them, and I apologize every time I get the chance. I welcome the pain. It’s a reminder of how much I hurt everyone. Just as I’m about to lose consciousness, I hear an angelic voice scream my name. The voice rips through my foggy brain, and my eyes snap open just in time to see London rush through the kitchen and lunge after Wes just as he draws back yet again.

“London, stop!” I protest, but I can’t get the words out fast enough.

As she leaps onto Wes’s back, he draws his elbow back at the same time, landing it directly into her stomach. Instantly Wes realizes he’s hit her on accident and releases me to turn around. Wes and I both watch in horror as London grunts from the pain of the blow and drops to her knees. She releases a sob and instinctively wraps her arms around her stomach.

Wes drops to his knees beside her and attempts to comfort her. “Oh my God. London, are you all right? I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were there. Are you hurt?”

I slide down the wall, barely able to see out of the one eye that isn’t swollen shut, and watch as panic engulfs my brother.

London sits there on the floor, crying so hard that she can barely catch her breath. Every muscle in her body shakes violently as she lifts her chin to lock her gaze with Wes’s. “What were you thinking? Look at his face!” she shouts before she sucks in a ragged breath. “Look at what you’ve done to him, Wes!”

My heart squeezes in my chest when I hear her defend me. I wish I could thank her—hold her—comfort her, but I know that would only make things worse with Wes, so I sit there, quiet.

Wes walks over to London and stretches out his hand. “I lost it. I’m sorry. Come back home with me.”

The word “home” might as well be another punch in the gut. The thought of him taking her home and being the one to comfort her hurts so fucking bad.

Tears stream down London’s face as she takes his hand and allows him to help her up. The sight of them together is almost more than I can take. When he pulls her in against his chest, I drop my eyes down to the floor by their feet so I don’t have to watch this tender moment take place right in front of me.

It’s then I notice blood trickling down London’s legs, just above her knees. Oh my God. She’s hurt. Energy surges through me and I shove myself up from the floor to stand on my own two feet. “London? Are you all right?” Her beautiful green eyes point in my direction, and I motion down to her legs. “You’re bleeding.”

“Oh, God. No!” is all she manages to say before Wes and I look at each other with wide eyes as the realization of what’s happening to her hits us.

“Come on. I’ll drive us to the hospital,” I say and grab the keys to my rental off the counter.

Wes leads London out the door but doesn’t once fight me on being the one driving them. The entire fifteen-minute ride over to the hospital, Wes apologizes to London, blaming himself for what’s happening to her.

I can empathize with the agony he feels. Five years ago, I was the one who lost control and hurt London, which was how I knew I was no longer the right guy for her. I allowed my own pain and anger to blind me to the point where I physically lashed out at others.

It’s hard for me to know that I’m the source of my brother’s rage, and more than anything I wish he knew how truly sorry I am for hurting him all those times in the past.

The tile below my feet is worn from the high traffic that comes in and out of the emergency room. I pace while I wait to hear how London’s doing. She’s been back there nearly an hour, and I’ve received no word.

I look up just in time to see Mom walking toward me with a worried expression on her face. She cradles my face in her hands as she examines me. “Wes did this? Are you sure you don’t need to see a doctor too while we’re here?”

I pull her hands down, away from my face. “I’ll be fine, Mom. Nothing a little time and ice won’t heal. I’m more concerned with London right now.”

“How is she?” Mom asks.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. Wes hasn’t come out to tell me anything.”

“Mom?” I turn around when I hear Wes call for our mother. “She’s asking for you.”

Mom pats my arm. “Don’t worry, honey. I’m sure she’s going to be okay.”

I nod as she takes off back through the double wooden doors with Wes. Needing some fresh air, I make my way outside of the building and find a quiet bench to sit on. I rest my elbows on my thighs and allow my head to drop down while I say a little silent prayer that London will be okay.

“Do you mind if I sit?” I look up to see Wes standing there with his hands shoved deep in his front pockets.

I scoot over. “Sure . . . unless you want to hit me some more.”

I’m only half kidding, because I don’t think I’ll be able to take many more punches to the face.

After a couple seconds of debate, Wes sits down. “You don’t know how bad I wish I could hit you, but for some crazy reason I can’t make myself do it. You are still my brother, and other than Mom, you’re the only family that I have left. I won’t hurt you, no matter how I much hate you right now. I know we both care for London, and right now she needs us both to be strong for her. She lost the baby.”

Tears form in my eyes. “I’m so sorry, Wes.”

Wes is more of a man than me. When I was angry, I forgot all about the strong bond of family, and it took me five years to man up and face the people who I pointed all my anger on, Wes included. I took my anger out on him—he became the target of my rage because he was one of the people who was closest to me. Family is the most important thing in this world. We need to figure out a way to heal all the wounds in ours and find a way to move forward.

“I’m sorry, Wes. I’ve apologized to London, but I need you to hear it too. I know that I was wrong to leave the way I did. All I can do is ask for your forgiveness.”

“How can I forgive you when you return home after five years to the person I love most in the world, and she wants you more than she wants me? Do you know how much that kills me?” he says.

I can tell that he’s hurting, but I am too. “The same way I can forgive you for moving in on the one woman I’ve loved since I was just a kid while I was gone.”

He raises his eyebrows in surprise as he thinks about what I’ve said. “I always hated that she picked you over me. She never even looked in my direction until you were gone. I was her consolation prize—the next-best thing to you that she could find. I know that she still loves you. She made that very clear to me over the years, and I hate that. I hate that she couldn’t move on past you and see that I loved her too. We both want her, and I don’t know how to fix this, because no matter who she chooses, someone’s getting hurt.”

I frown as I think back to the first time London traipsed into our yard to play baseball with Wes and me. We both did our best to impress her—to win her over—so we’ve been fighting over her for so long, but only she gets to decide who wins. “It’s not up to us. It never has been. It’s always been her choice.”

That gets me thinking about how things are different now that there’s no baby. London made it clear to me that the reason she was picking Wes was because she was pregnant and wanted Wes in the baby’s life. I would’ve never stood in the way of that if that’s what London really wanted, but now I see a glimmer of hope that we may be able to get back together.

Wes rakes his fingers through his blond hair. “As much as I hate to admit it, I know you’re right. I know she still loves you. I’ve been fighting hard to get her to see that I’m a better choice for her than you, but I can see it when I look in her eyes that her heart still belongs to you. That doesn’t stop me from loving her and praying that even though you’re back, that it’s me that she chooses.”

I stare at my brother, and I can completely relate to what he’s feeling, but it still doesn’t mean that I will just step aside and let London go without a fight. I know she’ll need time to heal after all this, and time is one thing that I have on my hands right now.

“I can understand that,” I say. “But before I leave this town again, I will make damn sure that she knows how much I love her and pray that she’ll give me another shot with her heart.”

Wes shakes his head. “And what if she doesn’t want to be with you? She could just as easily pick me.”