Breslin’s panicked eyes lock with mine through the chaos before we both rush toward them. However, Landon wraps an arm around each of our waists, holding us back. “This shit between them needs to get settled. Let them fight it out.”
“Are you crazy?” we both shout.
For Pete’s sake, this isn’t Monday Night Raw. Although right now it certainly seems like it.
Barbaric grunts fill the room as they start rolling around, each brother trying to overpower the other.
Thick veins pop out along Preston’s neck as he pins Asher to the floor. “I’m gonna break your fucking arm.”
Oh, God. This is bad. Real bad.
Asher growls, his face red with fury as he gains the upper hand and flips Preston belly down on the carpet.
Preston struggles underneath him. “Get off me!”
Asher doesn’t let up, though. “Not until you apologize for threatening to break my arm.”
“Get off me!” Preston screams again, only this time the torment in his voice has Asher jumping to his feet.
Preston pounds the floor with his fist. “Get off me!”
We all exchange confused glances and Asher holds his hands up.
I take a step in his direction, but freeze when Preston lets out a torturous, gut-wrenching sound that makes my heart stop cold.
Everyone is speechless. Too taken aback by what’s happening.
My chest feels like it’s cracking right down the middle. “Preston.”
Faster than I can blink, Preston’s on his feet. He looks disoriented, like a feral animal who’s been captured and stuck in a cage against his will.
Without warning, he charges toward the front door, only stopping to grab my keys off the table in the foyer.
Shit.
Asher blows out a heavy breath. “What the hell just happened?”
I think it’s safe to say none of us know.
The only thing I do know is that I have to get to him.
“Quick. Give me your keys.”
Asher doesn’t protest as he takes them out of his pocket and tosses them to me.
I make it to Asher’s sports car just as Preston peels out of the driveway.
I quickly climb inside and gun the engine, following him.
My heart’s in my throat when I realize he’s heading toward the bridge.
Leaving me.
I accelerate, inching closer to the back of my car.
Adrenaline rushes through my veins as I press on the gas.
A moment later, we’re neck and neck, but the bridge is coming up fast…and it’s only one lane.
I know if I don’t get ahead and cut him off before he reaches the bridge…he’ll be gone for good.
Preston honks his horn as I surge forward, nearly sideswiping him in the process.
My heart races when I crank the wheel, and the tires screech as I spin out, blocking him from exiting.
I scramble out of the car at the same time Preston does.
He’s so angry, he’s practically vibrating with it. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Emotion clogs my throat when I catch the pained look on his face and the raging storm brewing in his eyes.
What happened before wasn’t normal. It was the scariest, most heartbreaking thing I’ve ever witnessed.
Whatever it is he’s bottling up inside is slowly eating him alive.
“What happened to you?”
He rears back and I can tell he wants to reject my question, just like he always does when I broach this topic.
“I know something happened.” His pain is so palpable, I clutch my chest as a bolt of anguish fires through me. “I feel it.” I take a step closer, desperate to reach him. To fix him. “Please, Preston. I’m begging you. Please, let me in. Please, tell me—”
“He raped me.”
The words are ripped from his throat with such raw agony, he drops to his knees.
Everything inside me stops. My brain. My breathing. My heart.
I was prepared to hear anything. Except that.
Preston punches the ground. “Fuck!”
He sounds so broken. So destroyed.
My response is instinctive. A gravitational force that pulls me to him.
The moment my arms wrap around his shaking frame, he wilts and a strangled sound leaves him.
I hug him tighter as he falls apart. So tight I can feel every ounce of his pain siphoning out of him and into me.
“I’m gonna kill him.”
The swell of violent wrath rising within me is so thick I could choke on it.
I didn’t think Asher could ever be capable of something so vile.
So inhumane.
But now that I know the truth, I’m gonna make him pay for hurting my Preston.
With his life.
His rough voice is a strained rasp. “He’s already dead.”
I’m confused because Asher was very much alive when I left the house…
Which means he isn’t the one who did it.
I’d say I’m relieved, but I’m not.
Because a monster still did this to him.
Preston’s words from before flash through my mind.
You covered for a monster who took advantage of a kid and mentally fucked him up.
I assumed he was referring to Kyle when he said that, but he wasn’t.
He was talking about himself.
And his father.
“Oh, God.”
Preston grabs my shirt in his fist. “Kit.”
“I’m here,” I whisper. “I’m right here.”
And I’m never leaving.
Cradling his face in my hands, I take in every inch of his face.
His jaw is clenched, and his harsh gray orbs are dry. I’m grateful he’s not catatonic…but his detached, indestructible mask has firmly slipped back into place.
My heart sinks to the depths of hell with him as I wrap my arms around him again, wishing I could take every ounce of pain away.
But I can’t. Because this isn’t something I can fix.
All I can do is hold him...
While I cry every tear he won’t let himself shed.
Preston doesn’t make eye contact with anyone when we return home.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” Asher says as he passes, his expression equal parts lost and confused.
Head down, Preston makes a beeline for the stairs.
I step in front of Asher when he starts to walk after him. “No.”
His puzzlement quickly turns to anger. “What do you mean no? He’s my brother—”
“He doesn’t want to talk to anyone.”
Preston made it clear to me before we left the bridge that he had no intention of discussing it with any of them, and I’m going to respect that.
And protect him.
I lock eyes with Breslin, hoping she’ll back me up on this. “You need to leave and let him be for now.”
Asher starts to protest again, but Breslin and Landon come up beside him.
“Let’s go home,” Landon urges.
Asher shakes his head. “No. I want to make sure he’s okay.”
“I know, baby,” Breslin whispers. “But right now, you need to give him space.”
Asher looks my way. “Can you at least tell me what happened before? Why he…you know.”
I do know. But there are some things you just can’t talk about.
Not until you’re ready.
And it’s solely Preston’s decision as to whether or not he ever discloses what happened to anyone else.