He pocketed the ring. Her engagement-former in his mind-was just one of the matters they needed to discuss after she finished her sulk and exited the bathroom.
You are the world's biggest prick, Oliver Thurston-Hughes. Sulk? You took her virginity without being remotely gentle and gave her not an ounce of pleasure in return. She surrendered to you, and you screamed at her, accused her of all manner of perdition, and then have the gall to say that she's sulking. You promised her kindness and the minute you were through you gave her bile and vitriol. You don't deserve her.
His inner voice often made too much sense for his well-being. He looked back at the bedroom door. He'd closed it because he wanted space between them. He'd told himself it was so he didn't wrap his hands around her pretty throat, but that was a lie. He needed the doors closed so he didn't walk back, fall to his knees, and beg her forgiveness.
He couldn't do that. No matter how poorly he'd handled the thing, he couldn't give her that kind of power over him.
Why not? You gave Yasmin the power to ruin your life for eternity. She wins, you stupid prat. If you let Tori walk out of your life, that bitch wins. You should have just allowed her to kill you.
He really liked it better when he simply hated everything and everyone and wished he had died that day in the palace. But no. All of that had begun to change when Tori had walked though his door in her bright colors, smiling that sunny smile he knew so well.
She'd made him start to want more.
So return to her bedroom and start over. Knock on the door and beg her to talk to you because you really do care for her. Confess that you've handled everything horribly. Talk her back into bed and hold her, give her everything she deserves-kindness, intimacy, warmth. Do it.
As much as he wanted it, Oliver found the prospect horrifying. If he followed that voice in his head, he would be so vulnerable to her. He wasn't ready for that yet. He didn't know if he ever would be.
But he couldn't walk away if she was pregnant. He wasn't ready to leave his child defenseless again.
He was stuck, but then he had been stuck since he'd learned the truth about Yasmin and had to face his negligent complicity. He simply hadn't believed her capable of such evil. Now, he was stuck and he had no idea how to break free.
He looked at the door between them and wished he'd met her when he'd been younger, when he believed in all that love shit, when he could possibly have given her what she needed.
And he turned away because that ring of hers was burning a hole in his pocket.
What was he thinking? The fact that she'd possessed a hymen didn't make her innocent. She'd cheated on her fiancé twice in one night with two different brothers, and yet he stood outside her door mooning over her like an idiot.
Perhaps he hadn't learned as much as he'd thought he had from Yasmin.
A knock on Tori's front door drew him from his thoughts. Oliver glanced down at his watch. It was after midnight. Who would call on her at this hour? He crossed the space and opened the door, only to be confronted with the one person in the world he would have given half his life not to deal with tonight.
"Callum, go home," he ordered wearily.
"What are you doing here?" Callum glared, somewhere between shock and anger.
Rory put a hand on Callum's arm. "I think we should go, Cal."
Oliver winced. Now he could see what a massive mistake this whole evening had been. He should never have followed Tori at the fundraiser, never gone looking for her in the first place. Then she wouldn't have fled. Callum could have been the one to find himself in the trap. No doubt his younger brother would have been thrilled. Now he had to face the fact that he'd taken not only what should have been her fiancé's prize, but he'd also fucked his brother's crush.
"Tori left early and I escorted her home."
"And then you took your clothes off?" Callum accused, scowling at his unbuttoned shirt. He pushed his way into the room, and his gaze dropped immediately to the floor. He bent and picked up the designer gown Tori had been wearing earlier. "And hers."
Oliver's gut knotted. He'd hoped Tori was simply another in his younger brother's long line of flirtations, but the devastated look on his brother's face said that Callum fancied himself in love with her.
Apparently, he'd started a shit storm.
"Callum, I can explain."
"Where's Tori?" Rory asked. "Tell me she's not asleep and that you weren't trying to sneak out of her bed."
He hadn't had the opportunity to sneak out. Not that he'd wanted to. He'd planned on talking to her in the morning about setting her up as his mistress. If she turned up pregnant, he would make her his wife. Now he could see plainly how that plan would go over with his brothers. Callum wasn't the only one who thought he was in love. Rory did, too, and Oliver could see he was going to be the villain in this piece. "I think we should all sit down and talk this out. I made a mistake tonight. Unfortunately, it's not one I can take back."