But Michael ducked and threw out his hands, knocking over a display of teapots before he did it again to a shelf of canisters.
“What the fuck are you doing? Get out of here. Stop it.” Ryan shouted the words and tackled his brother to the floor, knocking over another set of teapots in the process.
He had his brother on the floor but looked over at Abby, who had her phone to her ear, probably talking with the police. She was pale and not saying a word to him, just telling whoever was on the other end to come over. The fight must have been loud—though Ryan couldn’t hear anything over the pounding of the blood in his ears—because the Montgomerys were soon over at the store, ready to help out.
Mace had Adrienne behind him even as she tried to push through, probably trying to see what the fuck was going on just like the rest of them.
“Mace, let me in. I need to make sure Abby’s okay.”
Landon pushed his way through, his shirt off even in the cold, new ink on his shoulder. Ryan had forgotten that Mace was working on Landon’s tattoo today, meaning the whole merry bunch was there, even Dimitri and Thea, who apparently had been at the bakery. As each person looked at Michael, they paused, glancing between Ryan and his twin.
It wasn’t every day that his friends saw a distorted mirror image of someone they knew.
Everyone was front and center to see his fucking drug-addicted brother lying on the ground, everything torn, shattered, and broken around them.
And Abby looking at Ryan as if she had seen a ghost.
Or maybe as if he were beneath her.
And that would be true.
Because without Ryan being there, Michael probably wouldn’t have come into the shop at all.
If Ryan had been faster or smarter, he would have gotten Michael out of there before he destroyed anything. Instead, all Abby’s newest and most expensive displays were ruined, and it was his damn fault.
“The cops on their way?” Ryan asked as Mace and Landon and Dimitri all circled him. Thea and Adrienne went over to Abby, holding her close and whispering to her. They were probably making sure that she was all right and telling her that everything would be okay.
And it was going to be okay.
As long as he had nothing to do with her. As long as he walked away and made sure that she would always be fine, that this would never happen again, she would be okay.
“I called the police,” Abby said, her voice wooden. “They’re on their way. If you would just keep him here…”
“What the fuck is going on?” Mace asked, anger in his voice.
“Meet my brother, Michael.”
“You’re going to pay for this. No one fucks with me.” Michael shook under Ryan’s hold, and the other guys in the room came closer, ready to help.
“Shut up.” Ryan put his hand on the back of Michael’s head and pushed it to the floor. Maybe he would have tried to be a better brother and not hurt Michael, but he was so fucking tired. So fucking tired of all of this.
Why couldn’t his brother just leave him alone? The more Ryan had helped in the past, the worse Michael got. So Ryan had stopped. He had pushed his brother away, just hoping that Michael would be able to find peace.
Ryan had never looked for his own. He had thrown himself into his work and tried not to make others care about what was wrong with him or worry about what he needed. Then he made a mistake. A big fucking error when it came to Abby.
He deserved anything he got.
But Abby didn’t.
“Well, damn,” Dimitri said, his voice low. The guys knew about his brother, at least some of the details. It was hard to have drinks and wings twice a week for over a year and not share at least some things about yourself.
They had wanted to know about Ryan’s life, and he had mentioned Michael. And that meant the guys’ women probably knew about Michael, too.
“I’m sorry,” he said, looking at Abby. She just gave him a tight nod, and he knew that this was the beginning of the end. He’d fucked up. Then again, that’s what his family did.
“Let me help clean up,” Adrienne said and then stopped herself midstride. “No, I guess the police need to see this, don’t they? Ryan, do you have him? Should the guys be helping you?”
“We’ve got it,” Mace growled, and soon, all four men were helping keep Michael down, their eyes on the women in the room since the aggression in the air intensified with each passing moment. It only calmed slightly when the police arrived.
All of them talked with the cops and gave statements as the authorities pulled Michael out of the way, taking in the scene and doing their job. Ryan had a feeling that this wouldn’t be the end of it. Jail time, and a little slap on the wrist for destruction of property and threatening wasn’t going to stop Michael. It never did.
Ryan couldn’t look at Abby. He was afraid that if he did, he’d see the disgust in her expression, the hurt.
He was so fucking embarrassed. So fucking ashamed.
It was one thing to say that, yes, he had a brother who was a drug addict, it was another when he showed up in your life and screwed everything up. It was yet another thing when he was suddenly there in your face, screaming and saying crude things that no one should ever say or have to hear. It was still more when that person came in and destroyed the things that you loved.
Ryan knew that Abby was doing well in her shop, but it was still early enough that he was afraid that if insurance didn’t cover what had happened, she would lose everything. Well, he wasn’t going to allow that to happen. At least he would do his best to never let that happen.
As the police took Michael close to the door, his brother looked Ryan in the eye. “You’re a fucking betrayer. Look what you did to me. Look what you left me with. You think you deserve this life? You’re nothing. One wrong move, and you’re right beside me. Needle or not.”
The police pulled Michael out of the building, out of everything that Abby had worked so hard for. And Ryan just stood there, his fists at his sides, a small cut on his hand from one of the teapots that had shattered on the floor. He didn’t know when he’d gotten cut, but it had probably happened when he knocked Michael down.
The cut shed a single droplet of blood on Abby’s floor, and he noticed the way the others looked down at it—most likely looked down on him.
“Okay, let me help you clean up now, they took photos,” Adrienne said, her voice soft.
“Let’s just leave it for now, close up for the night. Maybe go get some coffee?” Abby’s voice started to break, and everyone looked at Ryan as if it was his job to go over and hold her. As much as he wanted to do that, that wasn’t him anymore. He couldn’t hold her. He didn’t have the right.
He knew he had been falling for her already—falling for her smile, for everything about her. And he knew that if he stayed, he’d hurt her even more than just this night had.
So he glanced at her, looked at the wideness of her eyes, the paleness of her face. It would be forever etched on his mind. And then he looked at the door. “I’ll help clean up tomorrow. But I can’t do this. I need to go. I’m done.”
Nobody said a word, but Abby moved forward. She put a hand on his arm, but he didn’t look down at her. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t turn her way. Because if he did, he’d break down, and he’d want to stay. And if he stayed, he’d hurt her.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll pay for it. But I’ve got to go.”
He paused. “I’m sorry.” He let out a breath. “But I’m done.”
And then he walked out, leaving a mess behind him like he always did when it came to his brother.
Maybe Michael was right, maybe Ryan wasn’t so different, after all.
Ryan would help clean it up, and then he’d walk away. Find a new life…a new something. Because he couldn’t stay. He couldn’t even look at Abby.
Because he’d break.
Break more than he already was.
Chapter Nine
Abby watched Ryan walk out of Teas’d and wondere
d how she’d been so slow as to let that happen without saying anything. Honestly, she’d been so stunned by it all that she was still in a state of shock and was two steps behind when it came to her reactions.
She’d let Ryan walk away.
How could she have let him walk away?
Adrienne hugged her close, and Abby leaned into her friend, needing them all more than she thought possible. Yes, she was trying to lean on others more, but right then? She desperately needed it, even knowing that she wasn’t going to do it for long because she needed to go kick some ass.
“Thea? Can I borrow your car?” Abby would be getting her car back the next day, but she still had to rely on others to get anywhere. While she was grateful for the help, she needed her own vehicle.
Thea reached into her pocket and handed over her keys without a word, but Dimitri put his hand on hers and handed his keys over instead.
“Take mine. Thea will need the bakery keys on hers,” he reminded them all. “And go kick his ass, Abby. We all need an ass-kicking every once in a while.”
“Don’t remind me,” Mace muttered, and the women nodded.
Landon came toward Abby, and she tried not to notice that he was still shirtless. It had already been a weird day. “You’re good for him, Abby. He just needs to realize that. Kick his ass but make him talk. If he talks, you can get through to him.”
Abby went up on her toes and kissed Landon’s cheek. “I will. And I could say the same about you.”
Landon narrowed his eyes. “One emotionally damaged man at a time, thank you.”
She rolled her eyes, knowing he wasn’t exactly kidding, but she didn’t have time to worry about him just then. The Montgomerys and others would take care of Landon and make sure his tattoo was finished as well as, you know, get him a shirt. The little things first.
She, on the other hand, had to deal with the man who’d just walked out on her because he was scared. Don’t get her wrong, she’d been scared as well, but she wasn’t about to let Ryan go. Not like this.
Not when she’d taken a chance.
She wouldn’t allow either of them to mess this up because they were scared. She’d already gone through enough in her life. She couldn’t let that happen.
Abby quickly said her goodbyes and headed to Dimitri’s car, thankful that her friends were already planning to let her borrow it. Abby didn’t know if she would have asked before everything that happened recently. She’d been so sure of herself, so used to doing everything on her own. She might have missed out on a lot.
But that didn’t matter now. The only thing that did was Ryan. And he wasn’t in the parking lot. He wasn’t anywhere near.
She didn’t think he would go to a bar, not after what had just happened with Michael, and she didn’t believe that he’d go to the jail to bail his brother out either.
No, he would go home. To his big, empty house where he could be all alone and stew in his own misery.
Well, fuck that.
Abby wasn’t going to let that happen.
The roads were a little slick but not too bad, and she was grateful that Dimitri’s car was great with the weather. She pulled into Ryan’s driveway, right next to his car, and let out a breath. She’d been right. He was home.
She didn’t want to say that he was going to pay for leaving her like that, but it would be pretty damn close. Anger surged through her veins. She wasn’t mad at Ryan, she was angry that he’d given up. But his life had been dealt another blow, and he had turned around and done the same to her.
Well, that just wouldn’t stand.
She slammed the car door and made her way to Ryan’s front door. She rang the doorbell, once, twice, then three times, her hands shaking as she did.
Maybe the adrenaline from what had happened at the store was finally wearing off and she was starting to freak out. Well, she could do that later. First, she needed to make sure that Ryan understood exactly what was going on.
Because there was no way she’d let it end like this.
It was going to end on her terms or his. Their terms.
Not Michael’s.
She was about to ring the doorbell again when Ryan opened the door, his eyes wide, a closed beer bottle in his hand, and his shirt unbuttoned.
It was very hard to concentrate on being angry with him and the entire situation when all she could do was stare at his chest.
His very sexy chest.
A chest with the perfect amount of hair that made her want to growl, and ink everywhere there wasn’t hair.
She really, really wanted to touch that chest.
But first, she needed to let her anger out.
“Can I come in?” she asked as she pushed her way into the house.
She wasn’t usually this forward. In fact, she was usually only this way with her business. Except for when she had been in bed with Ryan. Then, she had been just as forward as he was. And it had been fun. Good. Neither of them fighting for control but pushing each other to go further. To fly over the edge as they came.
That had been fun.
But her standing up for herself like this? She wasn’t really good at it.
But she’d be damned if she let what had happened earlier change and ruin everything.
Ryan closed the door behind her and then turned around on his heel. “I guess you can just come in.”
“Thanks. We need to talk.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a breath. “I don’t want to hurt you, Abby, but you need to go.”
She ignored the little clutch in her belly at his words. She would let him off the hook this time and not get too angry. She wouldn’t lash out at him for pushing her away. She understood the desire, the need. She had done enough of that when she lost Max. But she wasn’t about to walk away just then.
“No.”
“What?”
“Hell no, actually. I’m not leaving. We’re going to talk. Because that’s not how we do things. We don’t just run away when things get hard. You helped me when I needed you, and I’m trying to help you now. So let me do it.”
“This isn’t the same as helping you out of a snowbank. This isn’t the same as a car accident on an icy road. Everything about this is far worse than just icy roads.”
“Then tell me what this is.”
“You saw what it is. You saw what my brother did. I don’t want you in the middle of that. I don’t want that to touch you. You deserve so much more than that.”
“I’m going to stop you right there, Ryan. Because no one gets to tell me what I deserve other than me.”
He looked a little sheepish and set the closed beer bottle down on the hutch near the entryway. “I don’t want to hurt you, Abby.”
“You keep saying that, but that doesn’t make it completely true.”
“But it is true.”
“No, it isn’t. Because you pushing me away like this is going to hurt me. It’s not hurting right now because I think I’m still in a bit of shock over everything that just happened and I’m not feeling much pain. But I’m going to feel pain if you just push me away and ignore me like this. I want to help you, Ryan. I want to know exactly what happened and why. I don’t blame you. I can’t blame you. But you have to tell me. Because that person? Your brother? He wasn’t you. Everything he said today meant nothing. All he did was show me what kind of ass he is. He didn’t do anything to show what kind of man you are. Because I know what kind of man you are. And that man is nothing like your brother.”
Ryan took a step forward, brushing his finger along her jawline. “It’s not as simple as that.”
“Then tell me.” She swallowed hard. “Tell me.”
“My brother’s a drug addict.”
She nodded. “I know. And I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “I was sorry for a long time, and then I couldn’t be anymore.”
“Then start at the beginning. I know this thing between us is new, but we were friends before everything changed. Let me be yo
ur friend. Let me be here. Don’t walk away, Ryan. Don’t walk away from this when it’s just beginning.”
Ryan looked at her for so long, she was afraid that he would say no. She worried that he would tell her to leave and that he never wanted to see her again. He’d already tried to do that earlier, and she’d forced him to look at it another way. She hoped that she hadn’t made a mistake.
“Come with me into the living room. Sit down while I pace or something. I just…I don’t know what to do.”
“Then just talk. And I’ll listen.”
She followed him into the living room, looking around his large house as she went and wanting to see all of it. Maybe that time would come. Perhaps he wouldn’t push her out of his life fully, and she’d be able to see everything.
“My brother has always been selfish. And maybe that makes me a little selfish for thinking that, but I couldn’t help it growing up. No matter what I did, I was never good enough. He might have said that I was the favorite, but that was never really the case. My parents loved my brother. He’s my twin, you know.”
She nodded. “I know.” Michael had mentioned it, but she couldn’t have missed the resemblance anyway. Even with the drugs on Michael and life that had been leeched from him.
“I’m an Air Force brat, meaning I moved around a lot as a kid. That’s why I am decently good at driving in the snow here because it’s not as bad as the snow was in northern Japan.”
Her eyes widened. “You used to live in northern Japan?”
He nodded. “Yeah, at the end of high school. Snow there sucked. But that’s where I learned how to drive. And then I had to learn how to drive on the right side of the road. But that doesn’t really matter.”
“Everything matters. All the little parts that make us who we are…all those things matter.”
“Maybe you’re right. But I’m taking a long time to figure out what I want to say.”
“I’m here.” She leaned forward as he paced around the living room. She wanted to walk with him, wanted to touch him. Wanted to do anything to make this easier for him.
But she knew as soon as she did that, she would pop the bubble, and maybe things would change. Maybe he would walk away, and she wouldn’t be able to get anything out of him.
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