“What happened to Vaughn has nothing to do with us. That’s a whole other can of worms that I’m sure as hell not opening right now, but you’re using it as an excuse to push me away. Which is just fucking priceless after all of your talk about wanting me.” She struggled to pull his ring off her finger—damn thing was stuck and panic sizzled through her. She didn’t want it. Didn’t want a reminder of everything they’d had that he was suddenly so willing to toss away.
Finally it popped off over her knuckle and she shoved it at his chest. “We were doomed from the start as friends and as lovers.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Without another word or glance in his direction, Eva stalked past his brothers and jabbed the elevator’s down button, then slipped inside when the doors immediately opened. A hollow ache started in his gut and moved to his chest, and he couldn’t help but feel like those goddamn metal doors had severed the last remaining thread of friendship between him and Eva as they clamped shut.
He stared down at the ring in his palm. He should go after her, but a fuckton of nasty emotions weighed down his shoulders, keeping his feet planted firmly to the floor.
Christ, it hurt to know his inability to act during those first few months of their acquaintance was the reason she’d gotten together with Preston at all. Hurt even more to know that Preston was the only reason she’d ever come to his bed.
His brothers’ voices got louder as they approached, and he stuffed the ring in his jeans pocket. The damn thing all but broadcasted his idiocy, and they sure as shit didn’t need to see it.
“I tried calling you,” Reece was saying. “You ignored me.”
Jude, a bit sunburned and still dressed for the tropics, threw out his arms in an act of pure frustration. “Because I thought you were gonna bitch at me for not completing those expense reports before I left. Not because one of our brothers got blown up! Leave a fucking voicemail next time.”
“I wouldn’t call you about expense reports on your honeymoon,” Reece said through clenched teeth, “and I didn’t think this was the kind of news to relate via voicemail.”
“And finding out from CNN was that much better?” Jude demanded.
“We didn’t know it had made national news.”
“Car bombs in the nation’s capital usually do. And I’ve spent the last six hours airport-hopping, unable to get a hold of anyone, not knowing how bad Cam was or even if he was alive—”
The break in his youngest brother’s voice was the kick in the ass Cam needed, and he gave the argument his full attention. “I’m sorry you had to find out like that.”
At the sound of his voice, Jude spotted him, launched forward, and grabbed him in a hard hug. “Holy fuck, you’re okay.”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” He peeled Jude’s arms from around his shoulders. “There was a mix-up at the scene—Vaughn was driving my car, not me. But he’s going to be fine, too.”
“Wait, Vaughn’s injured?”
“He’s going to be fine,” Cam repeated. “A broken leg and ribs, lots of bruises inside and out, lots of swelling. He’ll be here for a week or so.”
“Okay.” Jude sucked in a breath and squeezed his eyes shut for several moments. Steady again, he opened his eyes. “Okay. But I gotta see him. Just to make sure.”
Nodding, Cam led the way to Vaughn’s room and leaned in to see if his twin was asleep, but Jude, in typical Jude fashion, didn’t wait for permission. He shoved inside and stalked to the foot of the bed.
Hands on his hips, he scowled as he studied Vaughn’s bruised and battered body. “Hey, asshole. I’m supposed to be the troublemaker in the family.”
Vaughn’s lips stretched into something that might have been a smile if his face wasn’t so swollen. “You’re a married man now. Libby won’t—” He stopped, sucked in a sharp breath, and winced, struggling to shift into a more comfortable position. Cam helped as best he could, stuffing pillows behind Vaughn’s back and raising the head of his bed so he sat up straighter, but sweat still rolled down the side of his face and his breathing hitched with the pain. Unfortunately, according to the doctors, he wasn’t going to be comfortable again for a long while. And neither was Cam because seeing his twin in so much pain caused a physical ache in the center of his chest that his argument with Eva had not helped.
“Libby won’t let you get in trouble anymore,” Vaughn continued hoarsely, “so I had to take over the job. Gotta keep Reece and Greer on their toes.”
“And you did a helluva job of it.” Jude’s expression softened and he tapped the end of the bed twice with his palm before going to the door. “I’ll be right back.”
“Where the hell is he going?” Greer asked.
“I doubt we want to know,” Reece said.
Jude returned ten minutes later with a package from the hospital gift shop and tugged on the sheet covering Vaughn’s legs. “Now I believe Cam mentioned a cast…”
Vaughn groaned. “Don’t you dare. I’ll make you bleed.”
“You couldn’t make a hemophiliac bleed right now, bro.” With a grin, he produced a ten-pack of neon markers from the gift shop bag. “And I’m thinking you need a pretty pink unicorn on your cast.”