Chapter 77: Sadie: Which Brother?

SADIE

"Get your hands off me." I jerk my shoulder out from under his hand and keep walking, only for Ezra to step in front of me.

"Can we talk?" His eyes stay on my face.

"No, Ezra. We can’t," I look around the space beside him.

"Why?" he asks, drawing my attention back.

I glare at him, one eyebrow lifting in disbelief. He sounds so confused by my refusal that I have to take a moment before answering. Somehow, after everything he did, he still expects me to stand here and give him my time.

"What about me made you think you could do what you did and then come back like you still have a place in my life?"

"Isn’t that why I’m here?" he asks. "To fix what I did?"

"Fix?" The word leaves me on a tired breath. "What exactly do you think you can fix, Ezra?"

"Us." He pushes his hands through his hair while I wish I’d managed to get past him.

There shouldn’t be anything surprising about his nerve anymore, but somehow that one word does it. He wants an us after being the person who ended it.

Just looking at him makes me feel sick, and my hands tighten with the urge to hit him. It wouldn’t be enough, though. Nothing I could do in this moment would make him hurt as much as I want him to, and I hate that he can stand so close without understanding any of it.

"I know I hurt you a few weeks ago," he continues. "And yeah, I shouldn’t have done that. But I’m here now. I want to make amends, Sadie. I can’t do that unless you open up to me." He glances around. "Should we grab breakfast? You look like you’ve lost some weight."

My lips part.

Surely, I’m not hallucinating. This conversation is actually happening, right? His hand was on my shoulder, so unless cosmic ghosts have started making physical contact, this really is Ezra standing in front of me.

I blink, and he’s still Ezra. I wasn’t expecting him to morph into an elephant, but I needed to be sure before trying to make sense of the rest. Breakfast? He wants to take me to breakfast and fix us?

He isn’t one to joke, but I keep waiting for him to say something that makes this a joke anyway. Not once since that night have I imagined him coming back to ask for another chance. I thought he was done with me. He made sure I believed that.

So how is he not ashamed? How does he look me in the face and ask where we should eat? There has to be something else he wants. A dare? Another chance to hurt me? Does Paige know he’s here, or will he go back and tell her how little he had to say before I believed him?

My teeth grind together before a scoff escapes. This is worse than rolling in a pile of shit, because the pile is standing here explaining why dealing with it is my responsibility.

"There is no us, Ezra," I manage. I’d like to tell him to fuck himself sideways, but I’m civilized enough to keep that part in my head. "I’d like to forget you and I ever shared a bond, so I suggest you do the same."

I move to walk around him, but he steps into my way again.

"Can you stop trying to walk away?" he snaps. "I’m talking to you here!"

"And so what?" I fire back. "Do I need your permission to leave? You don’t get to talk to me anymore."

"You do realize we were mates, right? I rejected you. I still have the right to cancel my rejection." He looks at me like I’m making this unnecessarily difficult. "What’s making you so proud? This isn’t you, Sadie. The old you would’ve given me a chance to explain what happened."

The old me? What a wonderful way of saying he thought I was an idiot and wishes I still were. And he has a right to cancel his rejection?

"Explain what happened?" I repeat. "You’re talking like you bought me a dress I didn’t like, or chocolate cake instead of vanilla. You ruined my birthday, Ezra. You tried to ruin my life. You brought Paige there to humiliate me, and you rejected me. Tell me, which part of that night can you explain?"

The questions come faster than I can stop them. "Why are you even doing this? Does Paige know you’re here? That you’re coming after me?"

"Whether she knows or not isn’t important. What matters is what I’m saying to you." He pauses before adding, "When I become Alpha, I can give you a good position in the pack. If you don’t want anything romantic with me anymore, fine. Wouldn’t you want that?"

He actually has the guts to smile as he steps closer, like he’s offered me something I should be grateful for. I back away, and his smile disappears.

"What’s going on with you?" he demands. "Why are you being so unreasonable?"

"I’d like to get to my classes, Ezra. I’m not standing here entertaining this delusion with you." My fingers tighten around my bag strap. "And just so you know, you’re only becoming Alpha if Trey decides to hand the position over to you. Maybe worry about securing your own future before you start making plans for mine."

His hand closes into a fist. "It’s him, right? Trey’s gotten into your head. He gives you a little attention, and now you think you’re important to him? You think he’s a good person who’s going to help you? You’re living with him now, so suddenly he’s everything?"

"Whatever’s going on between Trey and me is none of your business. What I think of him is my choice." I refuse to look away. "And yes, he’s better than you in every way. He wouldn’t be stupid enough to think he still had a chance after doing what you did to me."

"Couples fight, okay?" His voice rises enough to make a couple of people look our way. He notices and exhales, lowering it again. "What did I do that can’t be forgiven? Huh? Reject you? I’m back now, Sadie. Shouldn’t you be happy about that? Isn’t that what matters?"

A laugh escapes me, and I shake my head. He makes it sound so small that I almost don’t recognize the night he’s talking about.

"When you put it like that, people would think I’m overreacting, wouldn’t they?" I jab a finger at him. "You stole my project, Ezra. I almost got killed on my birthday because of you. Then you asked Howard to fire me, just to make sure you’d finally crushed me." My voice catches. "You know I can’t afford the anti-rogue injections without a job. Fine, you didn’t want me anymore. Why did you have to take that from me, too? You’re a beast!"

His brows draw together. "Who the fuck is Howard, and why would I ask him to fire you?"

"Oh, please. Don’t even think about lying." My throat hurts as I force the words out. "It won’t change your fate or what you’ve done."

He huffs. "Why would I lie? I don’t know who Howard is. Why would I care enough to get you fired?"

"You cared enough to steal my project."

His mouth opens, but nothing comes out. I wait, almost curious to hear how he’ll explain that one, while he takes a few seconds to find an answer.

"Are you sure I’m the one who got you fired?" he asks instead. "Or did someone see an opportunity after our breakup and make sure you lost your job so you’d have to depend on him? Work for him, stay close to him? Someone like my brother."

"Keep Trey’s name out of your mouth," I warn. "He would never stoop that low. That’s you."

"Are you sure?" he counters. "He might look like your savior right now, but he’s twisted, Sadie. He’s manipulative, and he’s fucking evil." His gaze stays on mine as he waits for a reaction. "I know him better than anyone. I know what he’s capable of."

I hate that I search his face. That after everything, I’m still looking for something that might tell me whether he’s lying.

Of course he is. Nothing out of his mouth deserves my trust, even if he looks like he means every word. Even if something in my head starts sounding an alarm and I remember that Howard never said which brother asked him to fire me.

No. I shake my head before that thought can go any further.

Trey wouldn’t do that. He cares about me. He hates the choices I made to stay with Ezra, hates that I struggle to stand up for myself. Why would he take away my chance to support myself? Why would he want me dependent on him when he gets so frustrated watching me let other people decide things for me?

"You’re a lying narcissist," I whisper.

"And what if I have proof?" he retorts. "What if I can prove Trey’s been manipulating things?"