Love’s Suicide(22)
Author: Jennifer Foor

It was beautiful and I knew I’d never experienced anything like it for as long as I would live.

When we’d rested, it happened again and then once more until the rising sun was peeking through the curtains. I’d given myself completely to Brooks and it had been more than I ever anticipated. Years of pent up feelings rushed through us, until we’d finally stopped fighting it.

I knew then that my heart belonged to Brooks. It had been him all along, but I was too naïve to let myself admit it. We’d been cheated out of our chance, and once we stopped battling what was right, the truth had set us free.

Afterwards we lay there naked, wrapped like a pretzel together. The covers had fallen off the bed, but we didn’t need them. The heat still radiated off of us. Brooks brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it a dozen times. I moved it away, touching his face and staring into those blue eyes.

We’d made beautiful love and had been so caught up in each other. I hadn’t taken a moment to accept that this connection between us was going to end again, before we’d ever have the chance to see how good it could be.

Then I started to cry.

Brooks wiped away my tears. “Please don’t do that.”

“I can’t help it,” I sobbed. “It was a mistake. It was all a mistake.”

Brooks sat up and looked at me like I’d just stabbed him. “Us? This?”

“No. Branch. Being with him was a mistake and if I’d just admitted that a long time ago, I wouldn’t have to say goodbye to you.”

His eyes filled with raw emotion. “What are you saying, Kat? Are you still marrying my brother today?”

I shook my head. “No. I can’t marry Branch. I couldn’t live with myself and how I feel about you. He deserves to be with someone that isn’t hiding the fact that they’re in love with someone else. I know it doesn’t make what we did any better, but he should have known this would happen, eventually. I mean, did he really think this would never happen? Is this why he kept us apart? Did he do this to us, Brooks?”

He tightened his lips and I watched tears falling down his face. “I’m sorry, but all I heard from that was you saying we couldn’t be together.”

“You know it isn’t possible. What we did will destroy the family.”

“Last night was the best night of my life. I won’t regret it, and I won’t let you walk away from this. I’m tired of letting him have you. He doesn’t deserve you. I deserve you, Kat. You’ve always been mine and you know it. How could you lay there saying you can’t be with me?”

I shook my head and cried harder, feeling his pain and knowing that his heart was also breaking. “I’m sorry. I can’t look at your parents knowing what I’ve done. All these people are here to see me marry your brother and I’m in bed with you.”

“I don’t give a f**k who’s here.”

“Brooks, please don’t get angry.”

He stood up and started pacing. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this to happen? Kat, wake up! I want you. How people feel about it doesn’t matter to me. I don’t give a shit about anyone else. You’re all that matters.”

I opened my mouth to speak and heard someone knocking on his door. When I started to freak out and run to the bathroom, I decided to stay on the bed. I’d known we’d been loud enough that they would know he wasn’t alone.

Brooks pulled up his boxer briefs and went toward the door, while I covered up and waited for him to send whoever it was away.

“Where is she?” It was Branch, and he wasn’t happy. Before I could hide my shocked face under the covers, he came walking in.

“Branch, don’t hurt her. It was my idea. I made her do it.”

He stood over the bed, staring at me, knowing that I’d spent the night with his twin brother. He was fuming and my crying became very apparent. In that instant I was afraid for my life, but especially Brooks’. “The night before our wedding, Katy? How could you do this to me?” His anger was felt through his words and I didn’t know where to begin to explain.

Brooks took the lead, defending our actions as if what we’d done was okay. “You did this, bro. You kept her from me for all these years. I told her everything. She knows you kept us apart to have her for yourself.”

Branch turned around and shoved Brooks against the other bed. “Get the f**k out of my face, Brooks.”

Brooks stood up and got right up in his face, challenging him. When I knew it was about to explode into something horrible, I jumped up and got in between them.

Maybe I should have kept the sheet on, because standing there naked wasn’t exactly helping the situation. “Please don’t do this. We all need to talk this through.”

Branch looked down at me and shoved me down on the bed. Brooks had him by the neck and threw him to the floor. “If you ever touch her like that again, I’ll kill you.”

I’d never seen Brooks act so violently, and realized that he’d been trained to kill. His years away had changed him, and after losing me and knowing I was living a life with his brother, he’d built up so much animosity that it was bleeding through him.

I ran up and put my arms around his back, calmly coaxing him to release Branch’s neck. “Please, don’t do this.”

Brooks calmed and sat back on the floor across from his brother. I grabbed a sheet and sat across from them. “Branch, we need to talk.”

“Bullshit. You need to get dressed and go get ready. This shit never happened, do you hear me?”

I stood up before Brooks could come at him with anything else. “No! I’m not marrying you. I can’t. I don’t love you like you need me to. I’ve never loved you like I love him, and you’ve always known it, haven’t you? Why did you tell me he never wanted me? How could you do that to your own brother, and to me?”

Branch stood up and got close to me. I knew Brooks was ready to pounce again, so I held up my finger to keep him from making a move. “Are you really going to bring up shit from when we were teenagers to justify you f**king my brother the night before our wedding? I should have known you’d whore yourself out to him. You always did want things that were beneath you.”

I slapped him as hard as I could across the face. “Get out! Get out of my face!”

He grabbed my arms and Brooks had finally had enough. He placed his hand on Branch’s back. “Let go of her, Branch.”