Trinity(56)
I have no response, because I haven’t thought that far into the future, but apparently, Dev has.
“Reese is nothing but a heartache waiting to happen. He’s going to hurt you, Kayla. Mark my words. There are things about him you don’t know. Get out while you still can. Choose me. Right now. And we can start a life together. A rock-solid life with no secrets.”
“Reese doesn’t keep secrets from me.”
“Yes, he does, Kayla. He loves racing more than anything. More than you, and one day, it’ll come between you, or worse, just completely take him away.”
“Why are you trying to poison me with your jealousy?” Angry tears cloud my vision. “Why are you trying to turn me against him? Do you think that’s going to make me choose? It just pisses me off!”
“I’m trying to make you see.” He grabs me by the arms hostilely.
“All I see if a selfish man who proved me right.”
“Proved you right how?”
“I knew you would hurt me, and you have. You are.” Hot tears escape from my eyes, cooling on my face in the cold March wind. “What happened to me being your future?”
“I do want you to be my future.” He shakes me. “I love you more than anything. I’m not trying to hurt you. I just want to be with you. That’s what I envision. You and me. And this is the only way,” he professes.
“No, it’s not.” I argue. “It’s your way! I won’t choose. I love Reese as much as I love you.”
“So be it then.” He pushes me away. “You just condemned yourself to unimaginable heartbreak.”
“Oh, I think I can imagine it. I’m feeling it now,” I seethe.
Dev steps back, ruin written all over his beautiful features.
“Good-bye, Kayla.”
Those three words utterly destroy me. I feel it; they are final.
“Dev,” I mutter his name, an emotional mess. But he just ignores me and climbs into his car. “Dev!” I scream at him after he shuts the door. The V8 rumbles to life just before he pulls out, leaving me standing there entirely broken.
I can only watch, fragmented, as he drives away, still the owner of half of my heart.
The pain grates away at my insides as I hurry to my truck. In a fit of tears, I call Reese.
“Hello?”
“Can you come to my house?” I choke.
“Kayla? What wrong?” There’s alarm in his voice.
“Just please come over. I’m leaving work now.”
“I’ll come. Just tell me what’s wrong.”
“I can’t, not now. I’ll see you in a few,” I snivel, then hang up.
I drive home in a daze, the wound still gaping and fresh. As promised, Reese is waiting for me when I get there. I barely put the car in park before I jump out and retreat into his arms.
“Baby, what happened? Tell me what the hell is wrong.” He hugs me tightly.
“It’s Dev.”
“Did something happen to him?” he asks panicked.
“No. He’s done,” I try to explain.
“Done? Done with what?”
“Me.” I break down, sagging in his arms.
Reese carries me inside as I continue to fall apart. He directs us into the kitchen and plants me on the countertop.
“Please take a breath and tell me what happened.” He wipes my wet face with his palms. “Does this have something to do with last night?”
“Yes. He wanted me to choose, and I wouldn’t.”
“Choose?” He tries like hell to interpret. “Between the two of us?”
“Yes. He said he couldn’t share anymore. So it was basically all or nothing. But I won’t choose. I love you both. So much.” I ball his shirt in my hands, holding on for dear life.
“Fucking idiot,” Reese mutters lividly. “Kayla, I need you to calm down. Can you do that for me?” He clutches my face. I shake my head. The pain is just too much.
“Relax.” He kisses me tenderly, soothingly. “Relax, I’m here, and I’m never leaving you.” He forces me to look him in the eye. “Tell me you believe that.”
I hesitate, Dev’s warning unforgettable. “Reese is nothing but a heartache waiting to happen. He’s going to hurt you, Kayla. Mark my words. There are things about him you don’t know. Get out while you still can.”
What if he’s right?
“Kayla.” Reese jostles me.
“I do,” I squeak out.
“Good.” Satisfied, he pulls me into a bear bug. As I rest my head on his chest, emotional exhaustion begins to set in. I sigh deeply, wanting nothing more than to curl up next to Reese and go to sleep.
“Do you want to lie down?” He senses my surrender.
I nod.
We retreat to my small bedroom. It’s been ages since I slept here. I crawl bone-tired onto the bed with Reese right beside me. I lay my head on his chest and draw on his warmth. On his love. Listening to the sound of his erratic heartbeat.
Reese runs his fingers through my hair, lulling me to sleep.
I close my eyes, welcoming the slumber.
I slip out of Kayla’s bed close to ten p.m. I’ve had my mind on one thing the whole night. Actually, I should say one person. I leave her a note ensuring I’ll be back, then drive straight over to my brother’s. He’s a dead man walking for what he’s done.
It puts last night into perspective, though. He was completely off the wall. Selfish motherfucker. Kayla is devastated, and he’s going to fucking fix it.
“Dev!” I burst through the door. “Where the fuck are you?”
I storm through the house until I find him standing on the back deck.
“What the fuck?” I stomp across the wood and shove him. “You just broke her fucking heart!”
“I was trying to save her, but she made her choice.” He doesn’t back down, getting right back in my face.
“You forced her hand! She’s fucking loyal! Which is more than I can say for you!” I shout with our noses an inch apart.
“What are you more upset about, Reese? That I hurt her, or you now have sole responsibility?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I spit.
“It means you don’t have me to push her off on when you leave to traipse across the world or to dump your problems on when they become too much of a headache. Isn’t that why you suggested this whole situation to begin with? So I can pick up your pieces and cover your ass?”
“No!” I shove him. “Kayla is not some problem! And what you and I have conspiring between us has nothing to do with her!”
“Doesn’t it? Your decisions, your actions, your life directly affects hers.” He stalks back toward me. “That’s how relationships work, Reese. Why don’t you just put an end to all of our misery, and do the inevitable now.”
“Which is?” I ask defiantly.
“Walk away. Leave Kayla and me be, and go commit suicide on the track. You’ll never truly be happy until you push yourself to the point of death.”
I seethe at my brother. Mainly because he’s right. I did have a death wish, but I don’t anymore. I meant it when I said Kayla changed me. She’ll never know the depths of the transformation. But one day soon, I’ll tell her. I’ll expose everything. She’ll be the only other person besides Dev who’ll know the truth. My truth.
“I’m not walking away.” I stand my ground. “Not this time, and not from her.”
Dev glares at me but says nothing.
“I wish it didn’t have to be like this,” I waver.
“But it does,” he replies obstinately.
“You’re a fucking moron!” I lash out. “When the regret sets in, remember you did this to yourself.”
His blue eyes flash. “I already regret it.”
I shake my head at my stubborn-ass brother. When did the tables turn? He’s always been the sensible one, and now, I barely even recognize him.
I leave the house on a mission. If this is how it ends, so be it. I know what needs to be done, and I’m not going to waste a minute.
I creep back into Kayla’s condo. I hear the shower running as I make my way back upstairs. She’s just turning off the faucet when I walk into her small bathroom. I grab the towel from the rack and wrap her in it as she steps out. She looks weary and tired and melts into my arms as soon I embrace her.
“I wasn’t sure you were coming back.”
“I left a note saying I was.” I kiss her hair.
“I’m in a strange place right now. Everything seems uncertain.”
I can’t say I know what it’s like to have my heart broken, but I do understand what it feels like to hurt, and Kayla is in so much pain, it’s palpable.
I lean against the bathroom counter and pull her against me. The room is still steaming and the faint smell of her coconut shampoo is lingering in the air.
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily. Dev may be stupid enough to walk away from the best thing that’s ever happened to us, but I’m not. Fuck him and fuck this place. We don’t need any of it.”
Kayla hangs on my every word wide-eyed, trying to decipher exactly what it is I’m trying to say. I take a deep breath because here it comes.
“Marry me.” I clutch her face. “Leave the land that time forgot and travel the world with me. Be by my side. It’s what I want. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”