H.A.

11

He swore heavily under his breath. His stupid ex-fiancé had dared call him back to Dublin under the pretence that she was in hospital. Well she had made her brother Caleb, his best friend, call him. "Cynthia's in hospital, she wants you to come back." Had been his exact words before he hung up. She had bribed him to make the call, and of course there was the fact that Caleb didn't know about their breakup yet. He would be furious at his sister when he found out she cheated on his best friend.

Connor had taken the earliest flight back, worried about Cynthia's welfare, even though he regretted not being able to talk to Adalyn before he left, only to find her, in hospital, yes, but for a mere toothache that had already been remedied by the time he arrived.

As he entered her room to see her sit there on the bed proudly, smirking at him, he snapped. He didn't care that her brother had entered the room right after him and was listening in on them, he snapped.

By the time he was done putting her in her place, Caleb was standing right next to him, just as angry with his sister as Connor was. As Connor walked out of the hospital room, Caleb followed him repeatedly apologising, embarrassed by his sisters behaviour.

"It's not your fault Caleb, you don't have to apologise for what your sister did, and neither does she, I just want to be done with her." Caleb shut his mouth and silently followed Connor out of the hospital.

"Did I call you out of an important meeting?" he questioned after a long silence. Getting into his waiting car, Caleb followed him inside and he told the driver to get him home.

"No, the congress wasn't all that important, it was mostly an opportunity to get to know potential business partners from around the world. I asked an acquaintance to brief me about the presentations of the last day so that's all covered. I'm sorry btw for snapping like that..."

"No, I would too if I was in your place."

"No... I wouldn't... I met a girl, back in France... she's the reason I snapped, I hurt her and left in bad taste. I'm not even mad at your sister... I just..."

"Well, I would be mad, I am mad!" Caleb said heatedly balling his fists until his knuckles were white.

"That's because she's your sister... but please, I really just want to forget her for a moment."

It was quiet for the rest of the ride to Connor's house. Both the men got out and went inside, leaving the driver to park the car.

"you want something to drink?" he asked already grabbing two canned beers then changing his mind and grabbing some whisky before turning on the coffee machine. He saw Caleb raise his eyebrows but he stayed quiet.

"So you met a girl?" Caleb was frowning at him. "Is it serious? I mean you just broke up with my sister?"

"It's not 'just' I found her near a month ago, sleeping with another guy, I just didn't know how to react and we tried working it out. We haven't been living together for nearly three weeks now. I'm sorry I kept it from you all this time..." I handed him his mug and the bottle of whisky, he didn't like it when I made his drink – too much alcohol – he said, and he poured some in his coffee before handing it back.

"So you met a girl?" he repeated glancing at me sideways while sipping his coffee.

"I messed up. I shouldn't have slept with her... I treated her like a whore..."

"if she slept with you after you'd known her for only a day or two then she also sounds like a whore." Caleb stated and the next thing he knew Connor had him pinned to the wall eyes ablaze. They glared at each other for several minutes before Connor had calmed down enough to let go and step back.