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Because everything s absolutely hunky-fucking-dory in our personal life.
Eva
No, don t. She backed away from him. I just realized something. I m not the only one with
issues here. But, hey, at least I admit I have control issues, and I m willing to work through them. You
just throw yourself into everyone else s problems and completely ignore your own.
His jaw tightened. What happened to Vaughn is my problem.
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.
&
All five of them spent the evening together in Vaughn s room, eating a dinner of delivered Chinese
and vending machine soda. Reece demolished his General Tso s in no time, then began flipping
through news channels on TV, no doubt already running financial figures and damage analysis in his
computer-like brain, trying to figure out how they would salvage their business when half of their
building had been blown to ruins. Greer sat in a second visitor chair, aged a decade by exhaustion
and worry, picking at his lo mein with a pair of chopsticks. Jude skipped dinner and continued
drawing on Vaughn s cast, finishing the unicorn and peppering the top of his foot with hearts and
swirls. Nobody spoke, but as usual, their memories of a better time filled the silence the eight-
hundred pound gorilla in the room that everyone studiously ignored.
Still, it was kind of nice to be all together for a meal. Minus the hospital and take out cartons, it
was almost like a real sit-down family dinner. Or at least as close as the Wilde brothers had gotten to
one since before their parents died.
A bittersweet longing filled Cam s chest as he poked at his moo goo gai pan. He thought of Eva s
idea of a family, then thought of his own parents. He d had that ideal once and it had been shattered
by a senseless act of violence. Maybe that was why he just couldn t bring himself to believe in the
kind of future Eva wanted.
The murder of their parents had impacted each of the brothers in different ways. Jude had become
insolent. Vaughn, reckless. Reece, callous. Greer, detached. And Cam? What had he become? He had
no idea, but suspected it wasn t something he was happy with.
They d lost the foundation of their family that cold October night twenty years ago, but had gained
the kind of forged-in-battle bond usually seen in brothers-in-arms rather than in true blooded brothers.
Cam saw that bond now, so tangible he could almost touch it, but still took little comfort from it. He
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