Tell Me You're Mine (The British Billionaires #1) - J. S. Scott Page 0,28
were reversed, I know you wouldn’t let me go.”
My brother shot me a glare that would have made anyone else in the world back the hell off. “I would have kept my promise, Damian. You know I would if our circumstances were reversed.”
I tried not to let myself be manipulated. “Do you think I’ve ever betrayed you, Dylan? I haven’t. Not once. Now, all I want is my twin brother back.”
Dylan stood, and walked unsteadily to the bar to grab himself another beer. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don’t want to be saved, Damian? That I don’t deserve to heal?”
I tossed back the last of my whiskey and slammed the tumbler on the side table before I got to my feet.
“Why in the world would you feel that way?” I said, irritated. “Talk to me, Dylan. I’ve never really understood—”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he snarled as he tore the top off the bottle. “Take Lancaster International, Damian. Give me enough money to live on and you can have the whole damn empire. It’s not what I want anymore. I don’t want to live in a fishbowl. I don’t want to be one of the richest guys in the world. I just want to be left alone.”
Oh, hell no! Left to his own devices, Dylan would continue to spiral downward until he hit rock bottom, and there was no telling whether he’d survive that fall or not.
I snatched the beer from his hand, and started to pour it down the sink as I answered, “Not happening, brother. No more alcohol for you tonight.”
I’d keep my word because Dylan was nowhere near ready to step back into his old life. In fact, doing so might completely destroy him right now.
But I’d be damned if I was going to let him go down without fighting for him.
Dylan had just given me a ray of hope. He was angry, and I hadn’t seen that emotion from him in a long time.
Before, all I’d seen was apathy.
I’d take his outrage over his indifference any time.
In fact, I welcomed it, and I’d be more than happy to do everything in my power to irritate the hell out of him in the future if that’s what it took to see some kind of emotion from him.
Maybe my biggest mistake had been leaving him alone in the first place.
I didn’t regret giving him his space and privacy from other people. He did need that right now. But maybe I shouldn’t have backed off, even though he’d requested that, too.
I’d empathized from a distance for two very long years.
I’d probably given him too much space from me to screw up his life when he hadn’t been thinking straight.
I tossed the bottle I’d emptied into the trash can. “From now on, no more drunken orgies, setup or not. No more alcohol until you can handle it. No more hanging out with people who just want to party and don’t give a damn about you. You don’t need another beer; you need help. It’s time to get your head on straight, Dylan, and start acting like an adult instead of a spoiled adolescent.”
It wasn’t easy for me to say that because I knew what my brother had been through, or at least, I knew the basics. But he wasn’t helping himself at all, and most likely wouldn’t if somebody didn’t step in.
And I was that somebody. It would be better to gain his hatred than to see him end up dead somewhere.
“Who in the fuck made you my boss, Damian? You can’t tell me what to do. I’ll live my life exactly the way I want.” His voice was dripping with acrimony as he fisted my linen shirt like he meant to threaten me.
Again, his irritated tone did nothing except encourage me. “I’d be interested to see how that all works out for you since you gave me power of attorney to handle everything, so you’ll need my approval to transfer funds into your bank account. Judging by the amount I last deposited for you, I’d say you’re going to be running low very shortly. Which is really too bad because I’ve just decided you’re cut off until you get yourself sober and at least presentable again.”
I almost hated myself for threatening the brother who should be my partner with poverty, especially when he was entitled to half of Lancaster International’s wealth.
I let the considerable guilt I felt cover me, but not break me.