Page 115 of My Dark Prince
A dark grin twisted his cheeks. He knew exactly why I was alone. He knew what I wanted – and that he was the reason I’d lost it. Neither of us would admit it. After I’d made the promise, we’d never spoken about it again.
“I’m alone, not lonely.” I waved my arm toward the lake, where the caterers had probably already finished setting up my dinner with the guys. “I see our parents almost every week—”
“And hate every minute of it.”
“I have friends—”
“Workout buddies who have their own families and social circles.”
Sebastian never missed a chance to remind me that Rom and Zach shared a closer bond with each other than I did witheither of them. I was the third wheel. The one who invited himself to their party of two when I discovered most people were insufferable. By then, they’d known each other for five years, growing up next door to one another.
And after Seb’s accident …
Well, I didn’t want to get too close to anyone else.
“Hookups,” I pointed out, desperate. “I have hookups. I enjoy one-night stands.”
Okay.One-night stand. Singular. Just to try it out. Spoiler alert: it sucked. I gave up after. The truth was, I liked to make fun of Zach for being a virgin, but he probably had fifty times more sex in his short marriage than I had my entire life.
“And I enjoy lengthy walks in hell with my best buddies Dahmer and Bundy.” Sebastian snorted, snatching a small bottle of bath salts off the counter. “I’m not buying what you’re selling, Oliver. You’re as miserable and lonely as I am. You’re just better at pretending otherwise.”
You asked me to be, I wanted to scream.
Instead, I swallowed my frustration, burying it beside my resentment.
He emptied the salt into the water. His body ached all the fucking time. He used industrial amounts of salts, oils, and multivitamins to try to ease the pain
I squared my shoulders. “At least I don’t hide from the world.”
He tipped his head back and released a bitter laugh. “Try living in my body for one minute and you will, too.”
That shut me up.
I knew he was right. I just didn’t want him to be.
Sebastian sat on the edge of the bathtub, watching the salts fizzle inside the water, turning milky. “Anything else, big bro?”
“Actually, yes. I need advice.”
“Skyn ultra-thin, though Trojan Magnum are okay, too.”
I ignored his joke. “Briar is being a hellion. I don’t know what’s wrong with her—”
“Have you tried unplugging her, rebooting, then plugging her in again, but this time without ruining her life?”
My teeth slammed together. I tried to keep my voice neutral. “As I said, she’s been rebellious these past couple days. She might try to venture into your wing.”
“Duly noted. I’ll fight her anytime and anyplace she wants.”
“You will not touch one hair on her head,” I countered, my tone coming out harsher and rougher than I intended.
That made Seb look up from the water. “Excuse me?”
“You cannot touch her if she comes here. Or make a scene. If you even make her feel slightly uncomfortable—”
“Then what?” He stood up. Seb lived to make me feel small, guilty, and insignificant. “What will you do, then? I’m your little brother whose life you ruined. You wouldn’t dare retaliate against me.”
Maybe it was the constant petty tricks Briar inflicted on me. Maybe it was the decade-plus of sleepless nights. Maybe it was the tension from having the hottest woman on the planet rub herself up and down on me, twenty-four seven.
