the first time? I have no interest in him and no interest in making him happy,” I say.
She pulls her phone out of her jeans and starts scrolling through it.
“You both got his eyes too. Dan’s blue eyes. I can see so much of you in Kirk. I know he would be so happy to meet you. He has spent most of his life hating me too. So the two of you have that in common,” she says with a dead-pan laugh.
She’s holding her phone up for me to see. There’s a picture of a man on the screen. She’s making it close to impossible for me to ignore this.
I want to look away. I don’t want to spark any interest, but when I glance at the screen and see the man’s face, I know I have seen him before.
Ella told me to stay away from her. She made it clear it was over. I have been following her wishes. She deserves to get what she wants. After everything I have put her through, I am the last person she wants to see. I know.
But now that I’ve found out it was Kirk, my brother, the guy who was with her that day, I can’t stay away. I need to see her. I need to make sure she’s all right.
My mother insists she had no idea what Kirk could be doing with Ella. She claims she knows nothing about his personal life. She wanted to call him over to my house so I could ask him myself, but I have to see Ella first.
I have a ton of questions for both of them.
Maybe I should have emailed her, but I knock on the door anyway. I saw her car parked on the street outside, so chances are she’s home. When she opens the door, she’s on the phone, smiling while talking to somebody. But then the expression on her face droops and she ends the call quickly. Was it Kirk she was speaking to? I can feel a ripple of rage run through me.
I’m in shock to see her too. It feels like we have been apart for a lifetime. My eyes flit over her quickly, taking in what I see.
She looks different. I can’t put my finger on it, what it is exactly, but it seems like she’s gone through some big change.
I almost blurt out how beautiful she is. Beautiful as ever. I’ve missed her. Those shining bronze curls that are tumbling around her face now. Her smooth milky skin, pink on the cheeks.
She’s wearing a long wrap dress with a deep neck. Only Ella can make a simple outfit like this look absolutely delicious.
“Reed…” she whispers my name. Her voice has snapped me out of the trance state I was in. I’m reminded of the reason why I’m really here.
“Are you still seeing him?” I growl.
Her brows furrow, she looks confused, but I’m not falling for that shit. I want answers.
“What are you talking about?”
“Kirk. Are you still seeing him? What kind of twisted game are the two of you playing?”
Her mouth parts, and she gulps nervously.
“How do you know his name? What is going on?”
“Is he here?” I barge in through the door, looking around frantically. It’s pretty obvious the apartment is empty. In fact, it looks too empty. Like she’s moving out.
I spin around to face her.
“I haven’t seen Kirk in months. Can you please tell me what’s going on? How do you know his name?”
“He’s my brother,” I reply.
Ella’s eyes grow big with surprise. I have no doubt in my mind now that she didn’t know about this either. Kirk is the one playing this game, or whatever else he thinks he’s doing.
Her hand moves up to her mouth, and she gasps.
“Are you serious? Your biological brother?”
“Dan and Annie’s second child. She was pregnant at the time of the crash. She had him after she gave me up. She raised him.”
Ella’s eyes are filling with tears. I want to do something. I want to physically crush something between my hands, but instead, I just sit down on her couch with a thump.
“Reed, seriously, I had no idea. He just…kinda showed up in my life, and we started hanging out.”
I can hear the strain in her voice. She sits down beside me on the couch. I rub my forehead. There’s a dull aching throb at the back of my head. When Ella places a hand on my shoulder, I snap around to look at her.