“What brings you to a club drinking alone instead of home with Thea?” Damien asked,
sliding into the seat beside me.
I was in a shitty mood, and the last thing I wanted was company of any kind, including my brother’s. I ignored him and took another swig of whiskey, letting the burn travel down my throat.
I’d chosen the VIP section of one of our many clubs. Music boomed, people danced and fucked around, alcohol flowed freely, but none of it mattered to me. Tonight, I just wanted
to forget. Forget the broken look on Thea’s face. I knew it was wishful thinking because
those images were burned into my brain, but I could fucking try.
The atmosphere at home had become suffocating. That warmth that had once filled the
place was gone. I wanted everything to go back to the way it was, but I didn’t know how
to make that happen.
I couldn’t take those words back. I couldn’t undo them. I couldn’t go back in time and fix
my mistakes. If I could, I would have done it already because I fucking loved her so much,
and knowing I had practically destroyed her killed me inside. Worse still was the
knowledge that I was the one who’d ruined everything we could have had.
“Sebastian?” Damien’s hand landed on my shoulder, but I shrugged it off.
“What!” I was sad, heartbroken, and angry. Those emotions never mixed well together.
“Seems like you’re in a shitty mood,” Damien observed, glancing at me from the corner of his eye.
“That should have been obvious when you found me drinking alone,” I snapped.
I didn’t say anything else after that, and neither did he. As I slouched against the sofa, clutching my glass, he poured himself a generous amount. We sat in silence, each lost in
our own thoughts.
After a while, I asked, “Where’s Roman? I haven’t seen him in a while.”
1/2
Things had been tense between us since I’d imprisoned Aurora. We hadn’t spoken since the day he came to beg me to release his sister. We’d been friends since childhood, but I doubted we’d ever be as close as we once were.
“He’s been busy taking care of Aurora. She’s fallen into some depression, so he’s trying to help her cope,” Damien answered with a shrug.
“Depression? Is it because I sent her to prison or something else?” I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.
“I think that’s part of it. He told me she’s been struggling to accept that you two are never getting back together. But he thinks what really broke her was when Jaxon refused to forgive her, refused to give her a second chance and let her back into his and Wyatt’s life.”
This was news to me. I guess we were all paying for our actions, because what else could this be? Every word I’d spoken, every action I’d taken was slowly coming back to bite me in the ass.
If only Aurora and I had realized this sooner. If only we’d known then what we know now. We’d clung so tightly to each other, never realizing that maybe, just maybe, Thea and Jaxon were the ones we were supposed to be with all along.
“So, tell me what happened now,” Damien asked again after several minutes of silence.
I felt the alcohol’s dizzying effect taking hold. I’d once turned to drinking when I lost Aurora. Simply put, I became a fucking drunk. After Leo was born, I swore never to get drunk again. Yet here I was, trying to reach that numb state, trying to dull the pain.
