Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101662 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 508(@200wpm)___ 407(@250wpm)___ 339(@300wpm)
“Gabriel—”
“Did I hurt you?” he asked. The pained expression in his eyes showed the level of guilt he was feeling. “Was it my fault?”
I rushed over to him and took his hands into mine. “No. Oh my goodness, no. Not at all. I swear. It was me, Gabriel. I was the one who left. You did nothing wrong. You could’ve never done anything wrong.”
“Then why didn’t you stay?”
If only I could tell him everything. But I knew Amma would’ve hated all the details to come out, and it would’ve damaged her relationship with her son. I didn’t want to cause her more pain than I’d already had. Still, I couldn’t continue acting as if Gabriel and I didn’t have the connection that we’d had for the longest time. He was one of the largest parts of my life—if not the biggest, after Ava.
Truthfully, a part of me resented Amma, too. Her keeping such a massive secret hidden from Gabriel seemed so deeply cruel to me. The more I thought about how much Gabriel had missed out on, how he didn’t have memories of his little brother, the more it irritated me.
“I made a lot of mistakes back then. I was young and scared.”
“Sounds like a bullshit excuse,” he murmured as he rubbed his hand against his temple. “So, wait. Time out. If we were that close, did you know my mother?”
“Yes.”
“And when you two met again, did you recognize each other?”
I knew where he was going with this. I knew that his mind was starting to piece together the deceit that had taken place over the past few weeks since we reconnected at the dinner party.
I nodded slowly. “Yes.”
“So. My mother knew you but pretended she didn’t?”
“Gabriel, it’s more complicated—”
“Thanks for sharing this,” he said, his voice growing colder than before. I saw the shift in his body as he tensed and stood taller. “I should get back to the shower.”
“Gabriel, wait—”
“No, it’s fine. It’s not a big deal. I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“How the hell would you know? You knew me before, Kierra. You don’t have a damn clue who I am now,” he snapped.
That hurt, but I couldn’t blame him. I’d just watched him go through a tailspin of emotions within a few minutes. It was a lot for him to take in all at once, and now he was transitioning straight into anger.
But he was Gabriel, after all, so his anger wasn’t loud. It simmered behind his stare. It raked repeatedly through his hair. It sat against his clenched jaw.
“You’re mad,” I whispered.
“I’m not,” he lied.
He wouldn’t look at me. I couldn’t blame him. I went weeks without telling him the truth. I didn’t expect him to simply roll over and take the reveal without an array of emotions.
“Gabriel…”
He held up a silencing hand and began to pace. He rubbed his hands against his face repeatedly, mumbling under his breath.
“Gabe! We are about to cut the cake and we can’t find the…” Amma came around the corner to find Gabriel and me standing in the hallway. Her gaze locked with mine for a second, confusion swirling in her brown eyes, before she looked at her son. “Is everything okay here?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Gabriel huffed, shaking his head as a short chuckle left his mouth. “Did you know that Kierra and I were in love in the past?” He kept laughing. “Who am I kidding? Of course you knew, but for some reason, you both thought it would be best to lie to me about it. So, yeah. Everything’s fine. I’m just surrounded by fucking liars. Let me go help with the cake.”
He stormed off, leaving me standing there speechless. Amma’s eyes locked with mine. I saw nothing but rage shooting through her.
I took a step toward her. “Amma…”
“What is wrong with you?” she whisper-shouted. “You told him?”
“I had to. He kept going on about how he felt a connection with me, and it felt wrong to lie to him.”
“I didn’t ask you to lie. I asked you to stay away.”
“I know, I know. It was impossible to do that, though.”
“No,” she said. “It wasn’t. You’re just so selfish that you couldn’t stop yourself from pushing back into his life.”
My stomach knotted up and I shook my head. “I didn’t tell him about Elijah, Amma, but I you need to. You should tell him everything. He deserves to know. I love him, and I can’t keep Elijah from him. You shouldn’t want to, either. Even though it’s hard. He deserves to know his brother.”
“You can’t do that…”
“One week,” I warned. “I’ll give you one week to tell him. Otherwise, I will.”
“We were fine while you were gone. We were good.” Her eyes shut and she shook her head in disbelief. “You were dead to us. Why couldn’t you just stay dead?” she whispered, her body slightly trembling.