Love Everlasting

Chapter 7.

One Last Goodbye.

Shanelle was sitting at her desk going over her business model for Rys International with a fine tooth comb, when her phone started to vibrate. When she looked at who was calling her on FaceTime she rolled her eyes. It was her best friend's twin brother Cassian, who just happened to be her childhood ex-boyfriend.

"Hello?"

"What the hell is wrong with you Shanelle?" he asked.

"Excuse me?"

"When were you going to tell me Nina was in rehab?!"

Shanelle looked around like she was hearing things.

"First of all, who the fuck are you talking to like that? Second, I didn't tell you because it wasn't my story to tell."

"I had a right to know!" he snapped at her.

"Cass. You got one more time to raise your voice at me before I make you a distant memory."

Cassian backed down.

"When did this all happen?" he asked.

"The night she came home," Shanelle replied.

Cass shook his head.

"Well, that explains why you walked right past me and didn't say anything that night at the hospital."

"Your memory must be slipping. Because I stopped talking to you long before she came home. Why the hell would I have talked to you that night?" Shanelle asked.

"Because I'm her brother Princess," he replied.

"That's Queen you dick!" she hissed.

"You should've told me, Shanelle."

"Okay, I'm gonna say this again. No, I shouldn't have."

"I'm her brother. I should've been kept in the loop."

"Exactly. You're her brother. Not your father. Although you constantly like to act like your dad."

Shanelle watched him roll his eyes.

"How did she even get to rehab?" he asked.

"Not that I owe you an explanation but, remember when she moved in with me when I worked in D.C. for a few months?"

"Yeah, what about it?" he asked.

"That was the cover story we came up with to put your parents at ease. The truth is she wasn't staying with me, at least not the whole time. She was an hour away at an inpatient rehab facility in Virginia. And before you go flying off the rails, I called and checked on her every day. And she was allowed to come to my place on weekend passes. I made sure to keep up with the staff treating her. And when she got clean and felt strong enough, she went back to New York, and moved in with Chut and continued at an outpatient rehab facility."

"And you didn't think I needed to know any of this?" he asked Shanelle.

"Nope. Not in the least. My priority was her and her well-being not you and your need to know. Besides, the last thing she needed at that time was you and your constant condescendence." she replied.

"That is not fair and you know it Shanelle."

"Yeah well, neither is life, Cass. But hey! We all gotta deal with it somehow."

"Whatever."

"Yeah. So are we done here?" she asked.

"No. I'm not letting you off the hook that easily," he replied.