Every Which Way (Sloan Brothers) (25 page)

With Lily by her side, Severine stepped away from Macsen and moved toward the blonde. Lily latched onto her forearm and followed. “What’s your name?”

There was nothing vindictive about this small girl. She looked just as lost as Severine. Right then Severine knew she wasn’t to blame. She had no idea Macsen belonged to somebody else. Even as Severine was running through her thoughts, this girl probably thought he was only exclusive with her. When she finally spoke up, her voice was meek—very timid. “Verity.”

Lily tsked lightly and glared darkly at Macsen who was watching the conversation unfold like it was a horror story. “Well, Verity,” Lily uttered with disgust, “from the shocked expression on your face, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that McSleazy over here didn’t tell you he had a girlfriend?”

Severine could see the insecurities playing across the blonde’s face, as she shook her head no.

“Sev-” Macsen pronounced slowly with his hands in the air. He appeared innocent, but Severine knew he was treading lightly. Soon he’d try to reason with her.

Verity stared between the two of them with wide eyes. Severine was humiliated. Macsen was the reason for this pain.

Lily held Severine’s wrist to hold her back, but she moved closer to Verity. “You know, you look nice and I’m sure this isn’t your fault, but if you don’t leave, you’ll more than likely be walking away with pieces of your Jessica Simpson clip-on extensions in your hands.”

Verity shifted nervously before she abruptly turned back to the coffee shop. “Mac, I’m gonna head out.”

“Yeah. I think that’s best,” Lily remarked coldly. With one squeeze on the shoulder, Lily moved away from Macsen and Severine. Her phone was glued to her ear, and she talked at a rapid pace.

She could’ve been talking to Ben, her mom, placing an order into Dominos...Severine would never know. Her eyes stared unblinkingly at Macsen, trying to figure out what he could possibly say to make any of this better. Her trust was solidly placed in him, and he had destroyed it all.

“Have you known Verity long?”

Macsen’s eyes filled with pain. “No, only a month.”

It didn’t take long to do the math and figure out when the betrayal had first started. “During Thanksgiving break?” she whispered. He nodded his head. “And when my grandma died, you were with her?” she asked with a crack in her voice.

“Severine, I’m sorry.” He didn’t know about her dad or brother. He didn’t know the pain that came along with seeing Christian. When his voice broke, Severine wanted to pound her fist all over him for doing this to them—to her.

Controlling her anger had never been her strong suit. Tonight, her rage was boiling. It broke free from her emotions and guided her actions. When she stepped forward, she went at Macsen with everything she had. She had never thrown a punch before, but it came naturally. Maybe when a person went into self-preservation mode their body took over and controlled all movements. Her fist extended back and met him square in the jaw.

Her hand throbbed and hurt like hell. But it was worth the pain—worth seeing Macsen grab his jaw and rub.

Severine was ready for round two. She wanted to connect more punches to his face. She heard Lily’s yelp, but it came out muffled in her ears. Her anger made everything hazy.

A pair of large hands banded around her body and kept her immobile. “Down, girl,” Thayer muttered into her ear.

It was the irony of Thayer holding her back from Macsen made her laugh out crazily. She didn’t know which way was up, which way to go. Severine leaned her head back against his chest and clenched her eyes shut for a quick minute before she looked at Macsen.

“He’s a liar!” Severine screamed out. When she tried to jerk out of Thayer’s hold, he pressed her closer. It made her fight back more to get away. “He was fucking another girl! Shy, sweet Mac!”

“Severine, don’t,” Thayer remarked firmly.

She stopped fighting, long enough to pant out her words. Ben and Lily stood next to Severine’s car with identical expressions of shock. “I assume that I was one of those stupid girls and everyone knew but me?” Severine yelled out. She didn’t care who answered, she just wanted a response.

“Severine...it was just once,” Macsen disclosed quickly. “I promise you, I-”

“Silly me. Just once, why, that makes it all okay! Cheating on me is a completely normal thing to do.”

“Fuck,” Thayer muttered behind her.

“I...care for you so much, Sev,” Macsen declared his words with so much pain, Severine was surprised it didn’t bleed out of him.

Sleet picked up around them, and Severine could feel it coating her hair. It plastered around her cheeks, making her cold. But his words were more frigid than what the sky produced. It was just doing its job. Macsen had gone out of his way to bring her pain—whether he knew it or not.

He had never loved her and had at no time declared it. Severine had thought she was close to feeling that way with him. It hurt more than she wanted to admit, that she knew nothing about the word
love
. All it showed her was that cruel four-letter word was the color of onyx.

“But you ‘cared’ for her more. Clearly. I mean, you screwed a random girl but not your girlfriend.”

“Severine...” Thayer said gently in her ear. “I’m asking you to stop.”

Severine turned in his grasp and stared at him fiercely. “Yes, he did!” She made no sense. All she wanted was to get everything off her chest. “We never went far. He never did anything. That should have been my first clue!”

Thayer cringed and tucked her tightly underneath his arm. “Have Lily take you home.”

She didn’t want to leave—not when she was just getting started. Severine never had the opportunity to reply.

“You wanna step in now?” Macsen shouted at his brother. His rage came out as he clenched his fist. “You’re gonna sweep in and take her?”

“You can’t take what’s not yours, Macsen!” Severine screamed out.

Macsen didn’t back down like she expected. He pushed forward. Maybe he knew it was all coming to a close. He tried to touch her, but Severine recoiled away. It led her back to Thayer.

With his baseball cap in his hands, he held the bill with a knuckle white grip. “So you’re done then? You’re gonna walk away?”

Severine leaned toward his face. Her pain showed clearly. “With you? Yes. I’d rather walk alone!”

Thayer held both shoulders back, but she kept going. She was on autopilot and couldn’t stop if she wanted to. “I was stupid enough to believe that I could trust you!” Severine yelled out. Macsen recoiled back from her, and she quickly spoke before her voice became hoarse. “So go back to Haley, Verity...I bet one of them will still be waiting for you.”

“Let Lily take you home,” Thayer repeated again. His words broke through her anger, and she nodded as she stared at Macsen with a dead expression. Fitting, because that’s what he was to her.

Lily stepped forward to hold her hand tightly. Severine gave one look at Macsen, and his mouth was wide open like he couldn’t believe she was truly walking away. She couldn’t believe it herself.

“You’re a quitter, Sev! You’re running away!” Macsen’s harsh words felt like a whip had been cracked across her face.

“Just get the fuck out of here!” Thayer shouted. “You’re making this worse than it has to be!”

Macsen laughed darkly and gave his brother the finger. Severine didn’t know the person in front of her. “Fuck you, dude. You just want her for yourself.”

Severine shoved her face close to Macsen. “Stop it,” she hissed out. “You messed up. I’m not running away from anything! I’m leaving. Leaving because YOU,” her finger jabbed forcefully at his chest, “fucked up! You ruined everything!”

Both of his hands reached out to cup her face. Severine pushed away, but he held on. “I’m completely crazy about you, Severine! I made one fucking mistake! Just one!”

Ben yanked him away, and Lily slipped a comforting arm around her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

They walked across the pavement to Severine’s car. Behind her, Thayer talked to Macsen. She wanted to know what he was saying.

Severine finally had both Sloan brothers out of her life. And God, it hurt.

“Severine. Wait till we get home. Wait. Let loose then.”

They were close to her car when Ben looked back, “Ah, shit.”

He ran back, and Severine watched just as Thayer tackled Macsen to the black asphalt. It was a perfect place for him to be. His heart was as black as tar.

It didn’t hurt to watch Thayer throw punches onto his brother’s face. It also didn’t feel good. She was watching a relationship diffuse in front of her.

*    *    *    *    *

“I’m pathetic,” Severine’s voice hiccuped as she slammed her elbows on the kitchen table. All of this felt humiliating. What hurt the most was how she had trusted him.

“You’re not pathetic,” Lily said firmly. She rubbed Severine’s back and leaned down next to her chair. “He’s pathetic. He did this. No one made him.”

Severine moved her face away from her hands and glanced at her friend miserably. “I never thought he would do this. I gave him a chance.”

Lily nodded in understanding and wrapped a solid arm around her. “I know, honey.”

A pounding sounded in Ben’s house. Severine whipped her head toward the door.

“Ben,” Lily warned, “don’t you dare let him in!”

Ben was caught in the middle. He stared at Lily, and the door opened up behind him. Macsen walked across the room.

“Are you kidding me? Always lock the door behind you, Ben!”

“Sev, you and I need to talk about this,” Macsen pleaded as he walked closer.

Severine stood from the seat. It crashed to the floor behind her. Lily stood next to her and pointed a finger at Ben. “If you can’t lock a door, at least get him out of here!”

“Come on, bud.” Ben placed a hand on Macsen’s shoulder. “Let’s cool off outside.”

Macsen shook him off and walked in the kitchen. “We need to talk alone.”

“You’d love that, wouldn’t you?” Lily bit out.

Macsen flicked an annoyed glance in her direction. “None of this even affects you. Back off, Lily!”

“You cheated on her. I encouraged her to date you, to trust you!” Lily shouted out.

“Just let me talk to him for a minute.”

Lily shook her head no. “You don’t have to talk to him. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“I want to do this.”
When this is done, maybe he’ll leave me alone
.

The need for some explanation made Severine want to talk to him, nothing else. All she wanted to know was why.

Why, why, why
.

“Okay.” Lily leaned down and whispered into Severine’s ear, “I’ll leave, but I’m gonna camp out in the hall. The minute you want him gone, he’ll be outta here.” She turned away and settled her wrath on Macsen. “And you. Say anything out of line, and you’ll regret it. I’m short, but I gotta lot of anger I wanna get out. And you’re my target!”

“Come on, let’s go.” Ben rubbed her shoulders, but Lily kept talking. “Ben has a shovel somewhere! Believe me when I say no one would miss you!”

“Easy, Cujo,” Ben gently said.

They walked away, and Macsen ventured closer. The light revealed his swollen eye and lip. Severine felt nothing for his damaged face. It was all fair. Maybe he’d feel half the pain she was experiencing.

“Just talk. Get this over with.” Severine leaned against the kitchen counter.

“God, Severine, you have to know this was not planned. I fucked up once. I know that.” He was wise and stood on the opposite side of the room. His eyes still touched her even with the steps in between them. “I’m sorry. I can’t take this back. If I could, I would.”

“This changes everything.”

“It doesn’t have to,” Macsen pleaded. “It’ll take a while, but you could trust me again.”

“Maybe you’re confused. There’s no
again
!” Tears fell down her cheek as she spoke, “Being with that girl made it permanent. There’s never an ‘us’ again.”

Macsen nodded his head. Maybe he had come into the room expecting her to say that. It didn’t matter whether he had been careless one time. Severine was the one to have everything stolen from her.

“I can’t walk away from you.”

Severine’s mind was made up. Her words still came out on a choked whisper. “You have to.”

“I can’t.” Macsen’s face crumbled. His shoulders were pressed against the kitchen wall. With his fingers linked behind his neck, he stared up at the ceiling. “I’m too fucking selfish to walk away.”

Finally, something the two of them could agree on.

“I think there’s no way back to us. I think that path’s been destroyed.”

“I’ll give you time.”

“I don’t need time. If I thought for a minute that I could believe you, I’d ask you to stay.” Severine couldn’t breathe. Her lungs burned, and her head felt like it was being shoved underwater. Too many emotions. Too many feelings for one month. “I think you need to go.”

“Sev-”