Chapter Twenty-Five
I wake with my heart already racing, dread sitting heavily in my chest like there’s a fist wrapped around my lungs.
The room is dark and still—too still. No noise, no light streaming in from the gap in the curtains. For a moment, I don’t move, I just lie there and listen to the click of my heater as it comes on, humming lightly.
Beside me, Gareth’s steady breathing is a calming beacon, one I snuggle into further. At my contact, his breathing shudders, and he drapes a heavy arm across my middle.
The warmth of his body loosens something inside of me, the slightest bit of tension dissipating enough for me to take a full breath.
Visions of yesterday slam back into my thoughts in broken flashes—the dirty backpack, the threat in the assailant’s eyes.
The way I froze.
I swallow thickly, struggling to escape from the memory.
I’m safe in Gareth’s arms, but my nervous system hasn’t caught up yet.
Carefully, I turn over and face him. Even asleep, he tightens his hold, fitting me against his chest. His chest is solid and warm, heartbeat slow and steady.
Safe—I’m safe. I’m his. I’m in his arms.
I’m his.
“Go back to sleep,” he murmurs, barely conscious. His fingers flex at my hip, his chin resting on top of my head. A second barely passes before he’s snoring softly again, his soft breaths lingering on my skin.
Closing my eyes, sleep takes me under.
When I’m startled awake the second time, the fear crashes into me like a violent wave.
In the distance, a door slams hard enough to rattle the frame, heavy footsteps moving quickly down the hall.
My eyes snap open, body reacting before my brain as I jolt upright, adrenaline flooding my bloodstream. Gareth jerks awake at the same moment, instantly alert.
He jumps out of bed, heading toward the door.
“What was that?” I whisper.
“I’m not—”
My bedroom door bursts open
“Hey sis, I’m back!”
Dylan’s gaze swings to Gareth—completely naked, standing in the middle of my bedroom—then slides to me, still in bed. My brother’s expression flickers through different stages of emotion before it finally transforms into rage.
My stomach drops, the world tilting on its axis.
“What the fuck?”
Shit.
“Dylan,” Gareth says, equally as stunned.
“What are you doing here?” I blurt, crawling out of my bed. Tugging down the hemline of Gareth’s T-shirt I’m wearing, I shuffle to my feet.
Dylan’s eyes narrow. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he huffs with a disbelieving laugh. His eyes snap between me and Gareth as he reaches calmly for his jeans, tugging them up his legs as if he has all the time in the world—not like it’s burning down around us. “You two?”
Panic floods my bloodstream.
This isn’t how I wanted him to find out; this isn’t how I wanted to tell him.
My hands begin to tremble. “Dylan—”
“Why the hell,” he cuts in, voice dangerously low, “is my best friend in your bed, Indy?”
Silence stretches, the whoosh of my heart the only thing I can hear as I stare wordlessly at my brother.
Dylan’s attention shifts from me to Gareth. “Get out.”
“Dylan,” I snap.
He ignores me.
Gareth doesn’t say a word—doesn’t move, either. I can tell he’s restraining himself in the way his muscles flex subtly, his jaw hardening.
My head spins—I don’t know how to handle this. I wasn’t ready.
“I said get out,” Dylan repeats, taking a step closer to Gareth.
My heart beats so hard it hurts, rattling my chest like it’s about to explode. “Stop, Dylan. Let us explain.”
“There shouldn’t be anything to explain!” Dylan roars, the force of his anger booming.
Gareth closes the distance between them in two quick steps, but he doesn’t lose his composure. He just stands there—calm and collected. “Calm down,” he urges, keeping all emotion out of his tone.
Dylan laughs, ugly and condescending. “You want me to calm down?” He glances at me with the fakest grin on his face. “The man’s got jokes.” Then he glares at Gareth. “No, Gareth, I don’t think I will.”
The room feels like the air’s being sucked out of it. My mind frazzled with the weight of yesterday’s fears and the disaster unfolding in front of me. I feel useless, every word in my vocabulary evading me.
Gareth turns away from Dylan and comes to my side. Threading his fingers through mine, he squeezes my hand. A silent promise—we’re in this together.
We choose each other.
The contact grounds me, instantly releasing some of the tension I’ve been holding onto.
Dylan’s face hardens, and something inside of me breaks.
I’ve never seen him this angry—this hurt.
“I love her, Dylan,” Gareth says simply, but I feel the weight of his words in my chest. “I’ve always loved her.”
Dylan shakes his head. “You don’t get to say that.”
“It’s true. I’ve loved her for years.”
“So you’ve been sneaking around for years then? Is that seriously what I’m hearing you say right now?” Dylan snarls.
“No,” I say quickly, but it falls on deaf ears as my brother continues to glare at Gareth.
“No,” Gareth repeats calmly. “We didn’t act on it until now.”
“I trusted you,” Dylan says, his voice laced with betrayal.
“Stop talking about me like I’m not in the goddamn room!” I shout, fed up with being left out of the conversation. I step closer, shoving my brother’s shoulder. “Listen to us, Dylan.” My chest heaves, adrenaline pulsating through me. “Please.”
Dylan turns to me mechanically—looking through me rather than at me.
After a moment, his eyes widen, almost as if he forgot I was here—like this is an A and B conversation between him and Gareth.
His features twist in a way that turns from anger to disappointment. “How long?” he asks me, voice strained.
“I’ve loved him since the day I met him at thirteen years old. But we just recently decided to give this a try.”
He shakes his head, his gaze dropping to the floor. “Unbelievable,” he mutters. “I leave for three weeks and I can’t even trust that my best friend and my sister won’t be fucking when I come back.”
His words are like a punch to the gut.
“How can you even say something like that to me?” I fire back, a burst of rage igniting.
“I’ve spent my entire life pushing aside what I wanted to make you happy.
Because your stupid, insecure teenage self said you’d never forgive us if we ever so much as looked in each other’s direction.
” I toss my hands into the air. “For thirteen years—literally since I was thirteen years old, Dylan—I’ve pretended like Gareth wasn’t the love of my life just to appease you. ”
“Then you had to go and shove the knife in my back anyway, didn’t you?”
“I choose myself, Dylan. I choose love.”
Another angry burst of laughter leaves him. “You’re the same Indy as you were when you were a kid—desperate for attention.”
“Excuse me?”
“Enough,” Gareth growls, low and possessive.
“Stay out of this,” Dylan snaps again. “We haven’t even started on your betrayal yet.”
Gareth’s nostrils flare. “I’m not betraying you.”
“How can you stand here and be this disgusted over the two people you’re closest to being in love?” I ask.
“You’re not in love with him,” Dylan sneers. “You’re in love with the idea of him.” The words sting like a slap in the face. His arms fold over his chest. “This will end faster than it started.”
“You’re wrong,” I bite out, my voice strained even though I’m so desperately trying to keep it steady. Dylan’s cracking my heart wide open—the worst-case scenario happening right before my eyes.
“You’re acting like a child,” Gareth cuts in, his tone low and firm.
“What Indy and I have is real, Dylan.” He squeezes my hand, eyes softening when they meet mine.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he tells me, not him.
“I love her, and I’m sorry you had to find out this way, but like she said, we’re done tiptoeing around your feelings. ”
My throat tightens, and I blink against the sting in my eyes. God, I love this man so much.
“So much for loyalty,” Dylan spits bitterly.
“I spent years putting our friendship first, Dylan,” Gareth says evenly. “Now my loyalty is with her.”
“Being loyal to someone doesn’t mean you let them control your life, Dyl,” I add, sadness seeping into my tone.
I don’t even recognize my brother right now.
He lifts his hand, pointing it in my direction. “I didn’t make your decisions, you did.”
“You’re right.” I lift my chin, quickly growing tired of the back and forth.
My mind is in overdrive, my nervous system’s still not recovered from yesterday.
I can’t do this right now. I don’t want to.
“I let your feelings dictate everything for too long. But I’m an adult now, Dylan. We’re not kids anymore.”
“Could have fooled me. Sneaking around with my best friend, luring him into your bed like a goddamn whor—”
“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence,” Gareth growls, taking a protective step in front of me, his entire body a giant wall.
Dylan steps closer, closing the distance so they’re chest to chest. “Or what, Gareth?” he challenges.
I can’t believe what I’m witnessing right now. The cruelness my brother’s showing…this isn’t the Dylan I’ve idolized my entire life. This man in front of me isn’t my brother.
My heart dips, the sad realization crashing over me like a wave I can’t control. The wave that was pulled back into sea, slow and silent, until it came crashing back to shore as a catastrophic tsunami.
I don’t think our relationships with Dylan will ever recover from this.
“You’re going to end up saying something you’ll regret. She’s your sister—show some damn respect.”
Dylan’s lips twist into a cruel smile. “The only thing I regret is bringing home the stray dog our freshman year.”
The insult lands like a punch to the gut. Pain flashes across his eyes, but he quickly buries it.
My stomach churns. I expected anger, but I never expected this level of ruthlessness.
“Do you hear yourself?” I burst. Any and all composure I was holding onto now gone. “Get over yourself. This—right here—is why we never acted on our feelings before. We knew you’d lose your mind.”
He barks a merciless laugh. “Says the ones sneaking around like teenagers.”
“We’re not hiding our relationship,” Gareth counters. “I’ve never treated Indy like a secret. I show her off—shower her with love. I’ve introduced her to my teammates. I kiss her in public. That’s not sneaking around.”
“Yet you hid it from me,” Dylan retorts.
“You were out of the country,” I argue. “And you know what? Even if you weren’t, I don’t need your damn permission to be with him, Dylan.”
“Yes,” he says, his glare turning lethal. “You absolutely do.”
“She doesn’t,” Gareth states from behind me, firm and final.
Dylan’s eyes darken, something unrecognizable flickering just below the surface. The shift in him is abrupt.
There’s no warning. No more cruel words.
And before my brain can catch up, he lunges forward, fist already in the air.