Chapter Twenty Six
928 Words
We seemed to have gone miles without a single word passing between us. I just sat there staring out of the window at the passing countryside. The triplets were all sound asleep in the back, no doubt thanks to the constant movement of the truck. I wasn't thinking, just staring, when I felt the warmth of him. It was just a hint of heat, but it was enough to know he was trying to hear my thoughts. "If you want to know what I'm thinking, just ask."
"Sorry, habit. You've just been very quiet."
"So have you. There's not much to talk about." It's not like he hadn't made his thoughts clear enough already.
"I'm not sure that's true."
"You haven't said a word." I looked at him, slightly confused.
"I meant the other thing, about my thoughts being clear." I couldn't contain the slight edge of anger that was building.
"You've made yourself perfectly clear, Brodie. You won't forgive me for leaving and don't want us to be together anymore. It's fine. I get it." It wasn't a conversation I wanted to have, let alone one to have, when I had no way out of it. I already felt the rejection. I didn't need him to put it into words.
"It's not like that."
"So, what's it like?"
"I don't want you to feel like you have to be with me. You didn't trust me and that trust doesn't just come back. Nothing has changed, yet you've suddenly changed your mind. You and the triplets are always welcome at camp. You don't need to butter me up."
"That's what you think I'm doing? That I kissed you because I thought it was some sort of p*****t for being able to come back to camp. Get over yourself. It must be nice to live in a life where people throw themselves at you because of the power you hold, but you should know by now I'm not like that. For a start, I have more power than you. I left you if you remember. Not to mention that I do have other options."
"So, you just suddenly changed your mind?"
"No, I suddenly realised that seeing you with Cassie didn't remotely equate to the amount of times you had been selfless. That you put me first time and again. The good outweighed the bad, and I jumped to conclusions because I was emotional. After Penny healed me, everything seemed clearer. I blame the hormones. It's fine. Now I know how you feel, I will head back to my parents' place. The triplets will be safe there, even if they have less freedom." It would have been the perfect moment to storm off, if I could have done it.
"But you still believe that I was kissing Cassie?"
"That's not what I said. You wouldn't have exiled her unless you had good reason, so yes, I believe that it was all her. You were stupid, but you weren't betraying me. Can we drop it now, please?" I was too tired to deal with all our baggage. Having triplets was much more exhausting than I had ever imagined. I was hoping to sleep through the journey, but there was no hope of that after arguing with him.
"We're stopping in Carlisle. Jackson said he had booked a room there already." Great, just perfect. If Jackson had booked the room, then it would be a double room. He would have booked it before he knew it would be me and Brodie staying in it. I couldn't help but think I would have been safer sharing a room with Marcus. Even he couldn't hurt me to the extent Brodie had managed.
"Fine. The sooner we get back home, the better." I went back to looking out of the window and hoped he would take the hint and leave me alone.
"Can you stop giving me the cold shoulder?"
"No."
"Real mature."
"You're the one that accused me of trying to use you. What exactly do you expect, Brodie? You blame me for assuming you were cheating, but you assumed I was using you." I was so angry and hurt. I wanted to lash out at him. Instead, I just sat there with my arms crossed aggressively and refused to look at him. "You're such a jerk!"
I expected him to say something, but he didn't. For some reason, him saying nothing seemed to hurt more than him continuing to piss me off. "No witty come back?"
"No. I know better than to piss you off."
"Well, it didn't stop you."
"It wasn't intentional. I was just trying to explain. I just wanted to be sure of your motives."
"Well, now you know how I felt for all those months. One minute you hated me, kidnapped me, threatened me. Then the next thing I knew, you loved me and it was all an act. Yet you expected me to know which one of you was the real you. You talk about me switching my attitude quickly, but it was nothing compared to the switch in you." It amazed me that even when he could read my mind, we still couldn't seem to communicate well enough. Nothing seemed to get through.
We had both been through too much. It had made us wary and mistrusting. I wasn't sure anything could fix that. It didn't help that every time we tried to talk, one or both of us lost our temper. We were very alike in that regard. Both pigheaded and stuck in our ways.
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