Crazy Stupid Bromance (Bromance Book Club #3) - Lyssa Kay Adams Page 0,87
here! Cayden accused you.”
“And you wanted to make sure it wasn’t true.”
His footsteps on the hardwood floor sounded a defeated retreat to his kitchen. Hers were the frantic march of a battle not yet over.
“That’s not fair. I know you didn’t do it. How many times do I have to say it?”
“How about one more time,” he said, gripping the edge of the kitchen counter. “Admit it. For one moment, you actually thought I was responsible for this.”
“Fine!” She threw her hands in the air. “I admit it! I thought maybe you did it. Why does this matter?”
“Because it does.” He barely recognized his own voice, but the emotion rising inside him, tightening his chest and heating his skin? He recognized that. And he hated it.
“That is so unfair,” she said, crossing the kitchen to jab a finger in his chest. “Of course people would suspect you. Even me, for just a tiny, split second. You have the means. You have the access. And you hate people like Elliott.”
“But I love you!”
Alexis jumped. He’d never raised his voice around her like that. And certainly not to declare that he loved her for the first time. But the words were out there now in the worst possible way, and instead of the beginning of something, they felt like the end of it.
“I would never hurt you like that, Lexa, because I love you more than I could ever hate him.”
Lexa’s eyes glistened with a sudden sheen as she raised trembling fingers to her lips. She reached for him, but for the first time since he’d met her, he didn’t want to feel her touch on his skin. He stepped back and shook his head.
“Noah?”
The crack in her voice nearly broke him. Not nearly as much, though, as the devastating reality of what this all meant. A bullet ricocheted off his heart and hit all the important places inside of him where scars had healed over. New ones opened. And he started to bleed.
It became a hemorrhage at her next words. “The surgery is off. Cayden told me to stay away from them. That they want to find another donor.”
That sonuvabitch. Rage on her behalf momentarily replaced his own self-pity. “Christ, Lexa. And you trusted people like that over me?”
Her silence gutted him. Turned him into something ugly, mean, bitter. And so were his next words. “I warned you, Alexis. I told you they were just humoring you, that they didn’t really see you as part of their family.”
“Candi does.”
“They knew about you for three years and never once contacted you, not even when your name and your face were all over the news. He refused to let Candi find you. He denied your existence. Until he needed a kidney.”
She tried to reach for him again. “Noah—”
He stepped away. “Why did you let your DNA results be shared with possible relatives?”
She blinked, face pinched in confusion. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“You wanted to find a family.”
“No, it was a whim.”
“You were hoping your father would find you.”
“I have no idea why you’re bringing this up right now.”
“Because I want you to be honest about everything that is happening here.”
“I have no idea what’s happening here!”
Another tear slipped down her cheek. Noah had to curl his hands into tight fists to stop himself from wiping it away or, worse, holding her. As he watched, helplessly, she sucked in her bottom lip and began to worry it with her teeth, and like some kind of cruel, ironic joke, he was struck by how much she looked like Candi in that moment.
They really were sisters.
“I know what it’s like to be lured in by a false family, Alexis. To feel a void so deep that you’ll risk everything that matters to you to feel some kind of acceptance again. But it’s all a charade. The minute things go wrong, they abandon you. All their promises, gone.”
“I have no idea what you want from me right now.”
“I want you to be mad at him!”
“Why? To justify your anger?” She advanced on him again. “Would it make you feel better if I descended into some kind of rage spiral? I’ve learned to pick my battles.”
“You walk away from battles. There’s a big difference.”
“Wow,” she breathed, backing up. Her hand fluttered to her chest and began to rub. “How long have you been holding that in?”
Fuck. Fuck! Noah dragged a hand over his hair. “I didn’t mean that, Lexa. I’m sorry.”