Her gaze found mine again and her gray eyes sparkled like silver from unshed tears. “You too, Kate. Whatever happened with Nick does not define you. There’s a better relationship out there. You’ll find it.”
“Maybe,” I whispered. But what I really thought was no. There wasn’t a better relationship out there. I’d been given a good one… a great one and I’d mismanaged it. I’d poisoned it.
I’d destroyed it.
I didn’t deserve a better relationship after how I’d treated this one.
“Well, if it isn’t the shrieking harpy effectively destroying my brother’s life.”
The harsh, guttural tone came from above me. Feeling the coffee I’d just finished swirl and churn in my belly, I slowly lifted my eyes to stare up at the very last person on earth I wanted to see.
Jared Carter. Nick’s little brother.
“Hi, Jared,” I smiled patiently, despite the rotten feeling inside me, despite the urge to run screaming from the coffee shop, waving my arms over my head like a lunatic.
Jared looked so much like Nick; it actually hurt to see him here. Although, where Nick’s muscles had always been lean and lithe, Jared’s were bulky and compacted. Nick had run college track, Jared had played football at a division two school, where he hit people so his teammates could score points. They had the same light brown hair, though, highlighted by streaks of the sun. Jared’s eyes were a darker blue than Nick’s too. Nick’s eyes looked like blue flames and Jared’s were so dark that you had to lean close just to be sure they really were blue. Jared was also younger by five years. Nick’s body had filled out with manhood. Jared’s, just like his attitude, was still working on it.
“Kate, wish I could say that it’s nice to see you,” he sneered.
“No, you don’t.”
His mouth spread in a cruel grin, “You’re right. No, I don’t.”
“You know my friend, Kara.” I tilted my head in her direction.
Jared nodded once, “Kara.”
She clicked her manicured nails on the wooden tabletop. “Jared.”
“Do you know what I’m doing here, Kate? Why I would choose this particular Starbucks in the middle of my busy Friday?”
“Because you don’t have a job?” I leaned forward, uncharacteristically mean-spirited. “Or a life?”
His grin disappeared. “I’m picking up a coffee for my brother. He had to work today. They’re letting him work on production. They like him there. They think he’s a natural.”
I struggled to swallow against my closing throat. “That’s very thoughtful of you.”
He loomed over us, not moving even after the barista called his name.
I let out a frustrated sigh. He was ruining my afternoon. “What do you want, Jared?”
His jaw flexed, just like Nick’s would have. I licked my dry lips and tried not to slam my hands down on the table and demand that he leave.
“He’s miserable,” Jared finally ground out. “He… He’s not over you.”
My heart pounded against my chest cavity once, painfully, then stopped beating altogether. “I’m not over him either,” I finally admitted. “That’s not what this is about.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing,” Jared persisted.
Kara let out a sound of pure irritation and I snapped, “I know exactly what I’m doing. And Jared, so does he. I don’t know what he told you, but he wanted this too. We came to this decision together.”
“Then why is he doing everything in his power to stop it?”
My eyebrows shot to my hairline. “Is that what he’s doing? He’s trying to win me back by taking everything from me?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” he muttered.