The Fight In Us: A Brother's Best Friend College Romance (The Four Book 4) by Becca Steele (little readers .txt) 📕

Taking a deep breath, I began to relay my story, explaining why I’d reacted the way I had to him. I didn’t stumble, I didn’t falter—I needed to make him understand. His expression morphed from shock, to horror, to anger, to disbelief, and by the time I’d finished speaking, he was leaning against the wall next to me, breathing heavily and gripping the stone so tightly that his knuckles were white.

“Fucking hell,” he said shakily. His eyes met mine, wide and distressed. “How could you have let me touch you at all?”

I shook my head, the sudden lump in my throat leaving me unable to answer.

“I’m so sorry. So sorry.” He lifted his arm as if to touch me, but hesitated and let it fall to his side.

That small movement broke me, and the tears that I’d been able to hold at bay gathered in my eyes.

Without knowing it, he continued to twist the knife. “I think it’s better that we don’t see each other for a while,” he said in a low mutter.

I broke a little bit more. The thing was? He was probably right. “Okay.” My voice came out as a whisper. “And, West, for what it’s worth, I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you I was Mercury.”

“No. We’re not talking about this now.” He shook his head emphatically, then released his death grip on the wall and began to back away from me. “Get in the car. Text Winter or Cass as soon as you get home.” A heavy breath escaped him as he lifted his hand, and the moment felt final. “Bye, Lena.”

He waited until I was safely inside my car.

Then he was gone, taking a piece of me with him.

SEVENTEEN

Two weeks had passed, and I hadn’t spoken to Lena, but I was living back at home, and my relationship with my friends was back on track. Yeah, I still had some resentment and hurt there, but it helped to see how cut up they’d been about it all. Cade, in particular.

“Here.” My brother slid a large mug of coffee across the table to me as I sat, rubbing at my brow. My headache wouldn’t shift, and I wasn’t making any headway with investigating this guy. “What’s up?”

“Just not getting anywhere with this guy, Martin Smith. Have you heard of him? He works for Alstone Holdings, but everything about him is perfect. Too perfect. Not even a parking fine.”

He lowered himself into the seat next to me. “I vaguely recognise the name but couldn’t tell you anything about him. So Dad’s asked you to investigate because he can’t pin anything on this guy legally?”

“Yeah, pretty much. Except he doesn’t know it’s me investigating.”

He studied me. “Don’t you think you should tell him?”

“No.”

“But you had a problem with the fact that Lena was keeping her identity as Mercury hidden.”

“That’s not the same,” I snapped.

“Isn’t it?” He raised a brow.

“Okay, look, I’ll tell him afterwards, okay? But you know I won’t be able to get anything done if he knows it’s me. You, you’re the responsible older one, but me? He doesn’t see me as capable. Yet.”

“That’s also true.” Leaning back in his chair, he kicked up his feet and rested them on the edge of the desk. “You want some help? I’ve got your back. You’re my brother, and you know what? You are fucking capable. You’re a computer genius, and we wouldn’t have got anywhere with the whole Christine thing without you.”

“Feet off my desk,” I told him, and he stuck his tongue out at me. Shaking my head, I tutted. “And people think you’re the mature one.”

“Fuck off.” He grinned at me. “Wanna follow this Smith guy and see where he goes? Or track him down at Dad’s work?”

“I do…” I glanced at my phone to check the time. “I’ve got to meet James at the uni library soon, want to come? We can check out Martin Smith afterwards.”

“James who?” A suspicious expression crossed his face, and I couldn’t help my smirk.

“Granville.”

“Fucking Granville,” he muttered. “Why?” He threw his head back, staring at the ceiling as if it had the answers.

I laughed. “Because I want to talk to him about Lena. You know, say thanks and all that. Cassius thanked him already, but y’know. She’s our best mate’s sister. We’ve known her all our lives. We owe him our thanks.”

His expression sobered as he lowered his head. “Oh, yeah.” Lena had asked Winter to give the others the details of what had happened to her. Winter had told me that talking about it and people knowing had really helped Lena. It made me sick to think of what she’d been through, and despite the fact that we’d both fucked up things between us, I owed James my thanks. I didn’t even want to think about what might have happened if he hadn’t been there.

“Let’s go now. I’m not getting anything done here.” Standing, I stretched. “We’re taking my car, by the way.”

“Mine.”

“Mine.”

We argued all the way to the front door and ended up driving separately since, apparently, both of us were stubborn bastards.

In the library, I met James up on the top floor, dragging along my unwilling brother. Before we could even sit down, Caiden opened his big mouth. “I would say it’s a pleasure, Granville, but we both know that would be a lie.”

James rolled his eyes. “Seeing your face always brightens my day, Cavendish.”

My brother bit back a smile, and I laughed. At this point, I was 80 percent sure that they were just pretending to dislike each other.

We threw ourselves into the seats at the small table James had commandeered, and I took charge of the conversation before they could trade any more insults. “I came here to meet you today because I wanted to say thanks for what you did for Lena.”

Understanding crossed his face. “I did what anyone would have done.”

“Even so, thanks.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Caiden added reluctantly, after I kicked him under the table.

James nodded.