Shouldn't Have Gone - BOOK III

Chapter 21 - Blood Versus Water

"Say something, please," he hears her say.

Hunter stands frozen with his back to her and with only his robe warming his wet skin, his eyes set on the open horizon. A breeze of wind is stirring the strands of hair that fall graciously over his forehead, partially covering his brooding gaze. Angel stands behind him with her hands clenched together, praying for a miracle from the heavens.

Her words—the truth that left her shaking lips—pain him to the point of his tears trapping themselves at the ducts of his eyes. They burden him extremely, and although he wants to get rid of the tears and the pain, his honor wouldn't allow it.

"He was my boyfriend," she said. "I loved him even before you came."first."

He is the reason they broke up... because of his escort deal. He's no longer surprised. Ever since he saw them two together at the family reunion several months ago, he's always wondered why Damien was so distant and indifferent. He's always been enthusiastic about Hunter's girls, and he would be the first to flirt with them even if they don't belong to him. Damien would just joke around them, attempting to sabotage his onslaught, the typical adorable bubble head he was not when Angel came with him. He was so silent and unhappy, and cold and remote.

Now, Hunter knows why. Now, Hunter understands why Angel did not want to do it, why she was always against his proposal, why she was so difficult to persuade. It's because he is Damien's brother. It's because they had something together before. Because she was trying to escape the past, he ruined. There was more reason than mere disgust. It's because she had loved someone else... it's because her heart belonged to someone whom he least expected to be his own blood, his own flesh, his very own brother.

How could he not see it?

How could he turn a blind eye on it?

Was he foolish enough to have not noticed how Angel shakes and worries whenever Damien was around like she was afraid to be caught? Had he not noticed how she always asked about his relationship with him as a family? Yes, she could be just worried about that like a typical caring girlfriend, but how could he not see it? Was he too confident to have not seen through things? Was he too in love?

That night when they had dinner with James and Mary, Angel was flustered and petrified. She suddenly looked pale when Damien appeared with Candice bearing the news of their engagement and her pregnancy. What did she feel then? Hunter could only recall the forced emotions on her face and how she tried so hard to look well and smile.

Damien could be spitting on him now. His brother has been talking about Angel, his only love, the only woman who has caught his heart, who has wrenched and broken it to pieces like no other, the only one who brought him to tears and on his knees, and who have nearly caused his demise. He talked about all this in front of him without having the slightest idea that they love the same person. And all this while, Damien's been loathing him, cursing him, wishing him ill. He's even spoken about the man who stole away his love, and foolish he, he did not know it was him!

They've made him a joke.

Damien could be laughing his ass out when he's sharing to him his derailed love affair. He could clearly remember that moment. Shoot him right here, he said to him, without missing the heart. Then he'll be dead, and Damien could get Angel back. How stupid of him to have said that. He told his brother to kill him and take away Angel. What an asshole he was!

Fuck! He wants to smash his head against something hard. Perhaps the pain would go away if he does.

He took something so precious from his brother, and he did not even know that.

He does not understand what he's feeling. He does not know if he should be angry, or be sad, or just cry. He does not know if he could do three things at the same time. He wants to go to Damien and punch him in the face for keeping secrets from him, for lying in front of his face, for making him a fool. He wants to beat him down until they're breathless and tired that none of them could get up on their feet. They'll find out who's the better and stronger man then.