The Queen Of Bad Things (Book 2)

Chapter 14. Man To Man

            Two months had passed since Aria wrote the numbers. Aria had no recollection of writing the numbers or where they came from. She thought too hard about it, and I figured that was the reason she didn't remember the numbers or writing them down. We also fired Nicolas, but we gave him two weeks to find a new job.

Austin came into the study and plopped down on the red velvet couch. "We need to have a man to man," Austin said.

Angel sat in front of my desk with blocks. Angel stopped stacking and looked up at Austin.

Austin chuckled. "I'm not talking about you, buddy, but I'm sure you and I will have those one day too."

Angel grabbed a block and threw it at Austin. The block hit Austin in the knee.

I chuckled. "Okay, what is it?" I dropped my pen. "Hurry up, though. Benny is going to be here soon."

"For what?" Austin tilted his head.

"To try to figure out what the hell these numbers are."

Austin sighed. "Okay. Something has been different with Kalia and me lately. She's been avoiding me. I'm starting to think she is seeing someone else. Yesterday after she ignored me for the tenth time in a row, I went for a walk on the beach."

"And?" I arched a brow.

Austin swallowed hard. His eyes pierced mine. "Guess who I ran into?"

From the look on his face, I somehow knew. Call it twin's intuition or that I knew my brother well, but for whatever reason, I knew. "Carley," I stated confidently. Carley and Austin hadn't spoken much over the years. Eons ago, Austin and Carley dated. We were still practically kids when the two had been in a relationship. Austin and Carley took each other's virginity, and Austin broke it off with her out of fear. Carley was devastated, but things got better for her when she started seeing Jax, but he died a couple of years ago.

"Yeah," Austin said. Austin intertwined his hands and stared down at his feet. Guilt filled his expression.

"Hell, Austin, you didn't—" I stopped. "Damn, man. How fucking old are you? You could have just broken it off with Kalia or something. I can't believe Carley would do that to—"

"Ace, stop. I didn't, okay? I mean, we didn't—" Austin stopped and groaned. Austin buried his face in his hands. He took a deep breath before his eyes locked with mine.

"Okay. . ." I trailed off and pursed my lips. I leaned back in my chair and placed my hands on top of my head. "I'm lost. If you didn't cheat, what is the problem?"

"Carley and I got into a pretty deep conversation. I had gotten to the beach in the afternoon and didn't leave until midnight. We talked, laughed, and just hung out. I almost kissed her, but I stopped myself. It was really close," Austin said. "How the hell is it possible to still feel this way? What happened between us was years ago."

"You and Carley had something pretty strong, though, Austin. Everyone knew that, including the two of you. Even Jax knew it. He just didn't like to think about it."

Austin leaned back against the couch and crossed his ankle over his knee. "I care about Kalia, and I don't want to hurt her. Over the last couple of months, I've thought about settling down, but I'm not so sure that I want to with Kalia. I love her in a way, but not the way that I did. . ." Austin trailed off and frowned.

"Not in the way you did, Carley. I can't say I'm surprised, but what if you came to this realization too late? Carley may not love you that way anymore, Austin," I said. I hated saying that to him. When I pointed it out, Austin looked as if he might break in half.