Love Triangle Six Books of Torn Desire - Willow Winters Page 0,253

for him to say why he’s calling me. Nerves knot my stomach.

“I came by your place again today but no one was home.”

“I drove home to Phoenix.”

“Phoenix? Isn’t it hot there now?”

“Incredibly, but I’m in the air conditioning. And it’s not that much hotter than Vegas right now. Did you get my phone number from my best friend to ask me about the weather?”

He chuckles. “No.”

I let silence settle clumsily between us for a few beats as I wait for him to talk.

“I just…I don’t know, Reese. I’m a fucking disaster right now and it’s your fault.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That one night with you. Goddammit, I can’t get you out of my head. And now you’re with Brian and it’s all so fucking wrong.” His voice is laden with passion and my heart breaks in my chest. I want this—I want this so, so badly, and I want it to be real and true. I want him to want to be with me. I want to believe what he’s saying because I felt it, too.

But Brian’s words are stuck in my mind, haunting me as they twist around the grey matter.

This is what Mark does. He manipulates women, sleeps with them, steals them from his brother.

“I made him tell me about Kendra.” I avoid saying his name.

Mark bites out a laugh. “What did he tell you?”

“That she cheated on him. With you.” I pause. “Is this some sort of pattern?”

“No, it’s not. Is it serious with you two?”

“Why don’t you ask your brother that?”

“I don’t want to hear it from him. I want to hear it from you.”

I pick at a loose thread on a fifteen-year-old pink comforter. “I don’t know.”

“If he wasn’t in the picture, would you give me a chance?”

“You’re Mark Ashton. That’s not a fair question.”

“Something’s there, Reese. Something is between us. This shit doesn’t happen to me. I lost my shit during the middle of our opening song last night. I stared out at that crowd, scanning every face there for yours. You weren’t there, and I lost the words. Fucking Steve had to step in and finish the second verse while I acted like I was focused on a guitar solo.”

His anger and confusion are palpable even over the phone. I don’t know what to say. I don’t know if he’s throwing more lines at me or if this is real.

“Come back, Reese. Let me see you again. Come to my place and we’ll talk like we did that night we met. I just…I need to talk to you, to figure out what the hell it is that’s got me so fucked in the head. Please give me a chance.”

Tears heat behind my eyes. If I didn’t know his voice so well, I’d have a hard time believing the womanizing Mark Ashton I read about in the magazines is the same man as the sweet, almost desperate Mark Ashton on the phone.

He nearly has me convinced. Like Jill, I’d do pretty much anything just because he asked me to.

I have to decide which brother to trust. Mark’s public image precedes him, and Brian doesn’t have a reason to lie to me.

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“I understand,” he says, his voice broken. “When will you be back?”

“It’s sort of open-ended for now. Probably before the weekend.”

“Can I see you when you get back?”

“I don’t know, Mark. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

He sighs.

“Why me?” I whisper.

“I wish I knew,” he whispers back.

He ends the call with that, and I’m left a fucking disaster as he so eloquently put it.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Rachel doesn’t make it over after her dinner, and I slip into bed a little after eleven, spent from the emotional conversation with Mark. I managed to fend off my mom’s incessant grilling about the new boy in my life, instead getting her to talk about my aunt and my cousins. She can go on a bender when I get her started, so I faked listening while I continued to sort through my very confusing feelings for two men who happen to be brothers.

I text Brian to say goodnight, and my phone tells me he’s calling a minute later.

“Hey,” I answer.

“Hi.”

“How has your day been?”

“Busy. I’m coming home tomorrow.”

“You are?”

“Yeah. I miss you.”

My heart ripples with some mixture of excitement and fear.

I shouldn’t fear seeing the guy I’m dating, but things have been weird between us since I asked him about his ex. Oh, and I kissed his brother while he was out of town.

The guilt