“I’m going to fucking kill you for hurting her,” Nate roared.
David just looked at him, eyes accepting.
“Stop, Nate!” My feet dragged at the floor, my arms wrapped around my brother’s windpipe.
“You want him here?” Nate asked me, incredulous. “Are you fucking serious?” Then he looked at Lauren tugging at his arm. “What are you doing?”
“This is between them, Nate.”
“What? No! You saw what he did to her. What she’s been like for the last month.”
“You need to calm down. She doesn’t want this.” Lauren hands patted over his face. “Please, babe. This isn’t you.”
Slowly, Nate pulled back. His shoulders dropped back to normal levels, his muscles relaxing. I gave up my choke hold on him, not that it had done much good. My brother did the raging bull thing scarily well. Blood leaked out from between David’s fingers, dripped onto the floor. “Crap. Come on.” I grabbed his arm and led him into our bathroom.
He leaned over the sink, swearing quietly but profusely. I bundled up some toilet paper and handed it to him. He stuffed it beneath his bloody nostrils.
“Is it broken?”
“I dunno,” his voice was muffled, thick.
“I’m so sorry.”
“’S’okay.” From his back jeans pocket came a ringing noise.
“I’ll get it.” Carefully, I extracted his phone. The name flashing on screen stopped me cold. The universe had to be playing a prank. Surely. Except it wasn’t. It was just the same old heartbreak playing out all over again inside of me. I could already feel the ice-cold numbness spreading through my veins.
“It’s her.” I held the phone out to him.
Above the ball of bloody toilet paper his nose looked wounded, but intact. Violence wasn’t going to help. No matter the anger working through me, winding me up just then.
His gaze jumped from the screen to me. “Ev.”
“You should go. I want you to go.”
“I haven’t talked to Martha since that night. I’ve had nothing to do with her.”
I shook my head, out of words. The phone ringed shrilly, the noise piercing my eardrums. It echoed on and on inside the small bathroom. It vibrated in my hand and my whole body trembled. “Take it before I break it.”
Bloodstained fingers took it from my hand.
“You gotta let me explain,” he said. “I promise, she’s gone.”
“Then why is she calling you?”
“I don’t know and I’m not answering. I haven’t spoken to her once since I fired her. You gotta believe me.”
“But I don’t. I mean, how can I?”
He blinked pained eyes at me. We just stared at one another as realization dawned. This wasn’t going to work. This had never been going to work. He was always secrets and lies and I was always on the outside looking in. Nothing had changed. My heart was breaking all over again. Surprising, really, that there was enough of it left to worry over.
“Just go,” I said, my stupid eyes welling up.
Without another word he walked out.