Worth the Wait (McKinney_Walker #1)(32)
Well, he was hurt too, damn it, so he said what was at the surface, dying to come out. Low, rough with years of emotion. “You left me.”
Her chest rose with a sudden breath. Her eyes widened for one second before closing him off. “And you let me go.”
They stared at each other, letting both accusations sink in. More hurt. More regret. He was two steps out the door, thinking this is what he wanted. For him to be the one walking away this time, but it only added to the mountain of wrongs.
He turned back. “Mia—”
She was on the phone and didn’t look up. Probably didn’t even hear him whisper her name. Just as well.
Chapter 11
THE CROWD WAS LIGHT, the air of the pool bar dark and heavy like his mood. Nick glanced over at the sound of a cue ball cracking. It was rare for him and Zach to be off on the same night, even more rare for Luke to be with them. He was hoping for some beers to take the edge off this day. Seeing Mia had screwed with his head to say the least.
He hadn’t gone to her office to fight with her or accuse her, but damn it. It hurt that she’d been seeing Hannah, made him feel cheated in some way.
High-pitched laughter came from the bar, and they turned at the sound of Zach’s name on women’s lips.
“Think you have some fans,” Luke said, lining up his shot eight feet from a dart board illuminated by a beer sign above.
Zach shrugged and took the darts his brother passed. “What can I say? I’m good at making friends.”
Luke made a sound of disagreement as Zach took his shot. “I think friends might be a bit of a gray area.”
“Fifty shades,” Zach said, grinning.
“Good God,” Nick murmured, thinking how Mia had always said the opposite about him. That he was straight up black or white. Right or wrong. Always needing an answer, a reason.
“What? You always wanted me to read. Informative book, that one.” He raised his beer bottle at his brothers. “You might want to give it a try.”
Luke cracked a smile, and Nick just shook his head.
Zach finished his turn and came over for his beer. “You know,” he started slowly. “You looked like you’d seen a ghost in that hospital room. Like you wanted to run and wanted to fall on your knees at her feet all rolled into one. I’ve actually never seen a guy with such obvious problems.”
Nick stared at the label on his beer. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen her, talked to her, in years.”
Luke sent him a long, appraising look. “That doesn’t always tell the whole story.”
No. It didn’t. But he wanted to snap that Luke didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, that he’d barely met Mia before he’d left to join the military. But that would only bring up another black mark of his past.
“I’ll get the next round.” Luke drained his beer and abruptly pushed away from the table.
“What’s got his balls in a wad?”
Knowing it wasn’t the type of question that required an answer, Nick just sipped his beer as Luke made his way to a seat at the bar. He’d had no idea his brother was coming home on leave, had no idea when he’d be gone again. He was quiet. More so than he’d always been? Maybe. But if something was going on with Luke, he wouldn’t know it. He’d screwed up things so badly with his brother, he was afraid to ask.
It’d been over twenty years, but some things couldn’t be fixed. Some words couldn’t be taken back.
He’d been nineteen years old and hanging by a thread. Taking care of Hannah and going to school, Nick had been eager for Luke to step up and take on more of the responsibility. That dream ended when Nick arrived at the high school stadium for Dallas’s and Zach’s football game. Nick cringed at the memory.
The game clock showed twenty-eight seconds, the other team had the ball, which meant he’d missed seeing Dallas and Zach play. Again. Both gifted athletes and so damn proud to have made varsity as freshmen. His parents wouldn’t have missed a game. But he’d had a lab to make up, then a study group to get notes from a class he’d missed when Hannah had a cold the week before.
And there was Luke, angry and bitter about their parents’ senseless deaths and about Nick taking control. Or trying to. Nick spotted him from a distance, tall and proud, like a prize stud surrounded by adoring females. Good old Luke, living it up while I bust my ass. Would it kill him to give his little brothers some attention? He stalked across the backfield, pissed at Luke, pissed at himself, and frustrated with his whole damn life as the home team counted down the last ten seconds on the game clock.