37. CHAPTER 37
“Enough!”
A harsh gust of frigid forest air whooshes past me through the open doorway and inside my brother's cabin.
I gave them time, more time than they deserved, by the state of things. Tek is pinned against the wall, his nose bloody as he squirms to get free of Eden’s hold.
I could hear the screaming from the truck. That I expected, but the insults and accusations Tek fired at both his brother and mine came from the mouth of a stranger.
I could see him raging in the car, the hold on his anger slipping further and further the closer we got.
Then when we turned onto the dirt road that leads to the cabin, he was gone completely.
Just like the day in front of the shop when he pulled the driver out of his car because he thought I’d been hit.
And selfishly, I let him confront them alone.
I wanted his wrath to unleash on Eden for being so goddamn inconsiderate this entire time.
I knew he wouldn’t hold back, I just never expected him to fire venom at Jintae, as well.
With his fist still raised, Eden turns his head towards me, his eyes like daggers. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“Stopping this bullshit from continuing any further.”
There’s a low grumble from Tek. “I told you to stay in the truck.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snap, and take a step in from the doorway towards Jintae.
Still keeping my distance, I stare at his bare chest and the partially torn cling film wrapped around it.
He has his brother's eyes and jawline, but he’s pale, and short, and he tugs at the rolled band of—what I can only assume by their size—are my brother’s sweatpants like they’re about to fall down from his bony hips.
“This has nothing to do with you.”
I pivot back to Tek. “You’re the one fighting my brother. Or have you forgotten that this affects me just as much as it affects you?”
“That’s it! I’ve had enough,” Jintae cries, stepping into the fray. “This isn’t about either one of you. It’s my life, and it’s Eden’s. And the pair of you are gonna need to calm the fuck down about it.”
“Get your shit, and get in the truck,” Tek orders Jintae like he didn’t hear a damn thing he just said.
“Hell no!" Jintae exclaimes. "I knew you’d be mad but you’ve said some of the most hurtful things to me and… I’m not sure if I wanna even be around you anymore.”
Tek screams, “I’ll kill you, you bastard,” to Eden as he writhes in his grip. “You brainwashed him. You turned him against us.” Then, as if forgetting he’s half a foot shorter, Tek lurches forward with a wild swing that Eden easily dodges.
Jintae throws up his hands. “You’ve done this, Tek. You only have yourself to blame. We wanted to talk. You could have yelled all you wanted, but this… This isn’t how the Tek I know would ever treat me.”
I know so little about Jintae, but I do know the anguish that he put Tek through these past months, worrying about whether he was alive or in a ditch. And then when he did make contact, he gave him so little. It killed him. It tore at his family. But this isn’t how you get shit done.
Still blind to all reason, Tek tries to swing again. But this time, when he misses, his feet instantly shift on the floor as his body twists. Like a flash of light, Jintae is at Eden’s side. With his arm up protecting his ribs, he tenses just in time for Tek’s foot to smash against his side.
Jintae drops to his knees.
Tek lets out a gut wrenching groan and something snaps in me.
I cut across the room in three strides and shove Eden sideways hard enough that he stumbles.
“Calm the fuck down!” I yell, and grab two fistfuls of Tek’s shirt to drive him into the cabin wall.
His head cracks back against the wood, and for several long seconds we stare at each other.
His blood-smeared top lip curled, and my knuckles white in the fabric of his collar until I finally grit out; “You’re the one who needs to get their ass in the truck. ”
“Not without Jin.”
“You fucked up any chance of that happening when you barged in here.”
Tek slams his fists back against the wall. “What the hell did you expect me to do?”
“To use your damn brain.” I inch closer until my forearms are pressed against his chest. Staring deeply, I hold his eyes until I can see him starting to come back to me. “You’re allowed to be pissed. You probably do wanna kill Eden, but you need to think. Is that really what you want?”
Tek’s eyes dart over my shoulder to his brother, then quickly back to me. “But he’s nineteen.”
“Yes. He is nineteen.” I nod, doing everything I can for him to understand exactly what the fuck I’m trying to tell him without actually saying it, because this shit show of an afternoon doesn’t need a second earth-shattering revelation. “And you’re thirty-four.”
Tek snarls, baring his teeth. And with that, I'm done.
“Fuck this shit.” My capacity is full. Tek’s not the only one who’s angry, but he’s left no room for anything else to be said. “If you’re gonna act like a child, you can get treated like one.”
I jerk Tek away from the wall and pull him towards the cabin door.
“Don’t tell me what to do,” he protests, the whole time trying to pry my hands off of him.
In the doorway, I tug him towards me and push my forehead against his. “Someone’s got to,” I growl at him, then push him out onto the porch. “Now get in the fucking truck!”
I watch him stumble to his feet as my chest rings with how loud I just yelled.
Tek takes a step towards me, and I slam the cabin door shut.
When I twist the lock, I know it’s loud enough for him to have heard it outside.
We stare at each other through the small window in the door until Tek finally secedes and stomps down the steps.
With both hands still firmly on the handle, I catch my breath before turning to Eden and Jintae with the sweetest smile I can muster. “It was nice to meet you, Jin.”
He shuffles closer to Eden. “Ah… Same. I guess.”
I look at my brother, doing my best to keep my own thoughts inside. “For your sake, I hope this is real.”
“You think I’d put up with this shit if it wasn’t?”
“I mean, I saw you beating Tek—” My boyfriend “—into the wall, so I’m not sure what you were putting up with.”
“I don’t have to answer to you.”
That might be true right now, but trust me, big brother, we’re gonna have this out.
I point outside with my thumb. “I don’t have to take him home.”
“He was out of line.”
“And to him, you’re out of line.” I point my index finger at Eden.
“So maybe just consider it from his side.” Because the next time I see you, I’m gonna let you know exactly what the fuck I’ve been getting up to while you’ve been playing house with a runaway.
“Do you have an ETA on when you’ll be home? ”
Eden tugs Jintae closer to him, and as they look at each other with so much love in their eyes, I’m flooded with the most disgusting feelings of jealousy.
Fists and hurtful words might have just been flying around, but now they’re freely standing together. Able to show themselves to me while I’m forced to keep the exact same secret they just let go of.
“March first,” Eden says, and my stomach churns.
Why do they get to keep living their fairytale after lying to us all for months? All I did was fall in love. I never lied. I never hurt anybody, but I have to stifle my own joy because of the selfishness of others.
Unable to look at them any longer, I turn back around and unlock the door.
“I’ll sort Tek out,” I say softly.
“And you expect him to listen?”
I zip my head around to Eden. You might have been his best friend for twenty years, but two months ago, I became his number one priority. “Yeah. I do.”
As soon as the door is closed behind me, my eyes home in with laser focus on Tek in the truck’s driver seat. Head down, back hunched, like the gravity of what he just did has finally sunken in.
With each of my daily fucks having already been allocated, I crunch through the half melted snow and tear open the driver’s side door so hard it creeks when it bounces on its hinges.
Tek’s eyes snap up to meet mine, and they look pitiful. But drying blood and a swollen cheek bone will garner no sympathy from me.
“Get out,” I spit, my anger seeming to cloud my breath more than normal in the cold air.
He doesn’t move.
“I said get the fuck out, Tek.”
“Carey, I’m—”
I don’t let him finish. I reach inside the cab and grab onto his shirt like I did just minutes ago. For a second he resists, then his body tumbles out. “What the hell?”
“What the hell?” I mimic, dragging him around to the opposite side of the truck. “You’re asking me, what the hell, after what you just did in there?”
“He was hiding him.”
“And I’ve been hiding too!”
Tek’s mouth opens, but it just flaps in the wind.
I open the passenger's door and shove Tek inside.
Once I’m buckled in I throw the truck in reverse. The wheels spin on the snow covered earth before catching, lurching us backward. Then I spin the wheel hard and speed down the narrow track away from the cabin, letting my frustration weigh heavy on the accelerator.
“They’re insisting on staying out here till the first of next month, so you’ve got till then to sort this shit out,” I rouse at Tek as we jerk over the uneven ground. And he just sits beside me, rigid, staring straight ahead through the windshield.
Good. Let him stew.
The snow-laden pines blur as I push the truck faster than I should.
Slush sprays from beneath the tires, hitting the glass.
“You’ve made it so much harder to be able to tell them about us, now…”
Tek braces his hand against the dashboard, but he doesn’t tell me to slow down.
“…We’re meant to be a partnership, so you don’t get to keep doing this shit. You always talk about being the responsible one, so why do you keep making messes for me to clean up? I’m your boyfriend, not your fucking parent.”
The track bends sharply, and I take it too fast. The back end of the truck fishtails, and for a heart-stopping moment, we’re sliding.
Tek’s hand shoots out to brace across my chest on instinct.
I correct the skid, but his hand remains.