“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”

Cole slammed his fist into the bench and then offered an apologetic smile to a mother passing by with her young son. She glared at him as she walked away, muttering under her breath.

Energy—the bad kind—buzzed through him. He launched to his feet and set off running. He needed to burn off this frustration before it drove him crazy—or he chased after Tanner and took out ten years of resentment on his self-satisfied face.

He couldn’t remember how long he ran for, but he found himself outside the hotel, dripping in sweat, his jeans and shirt clinging to him, hair plastered to his forehead. He ran downstairs at breakneck speed and strode across the living room. He grabbed a beer from the fridge, not caring that it wasn’t yet eleven. He couldn’t give a shit that he had a shift later that evening.

“What the hell happened to you?” Calum asked, flicking the TV off. “Running after a perp?”

Cole twisted the cap off the bottle and flicked it toward the trash can. He missed.

“You don’t want to know.”

Calum rose from the couch and slid onto a stool at the breakfast bar. “I think I do. You’re drinking before twelve. I’ve never seen you do that. Your eyes are flashing all kinds of shit, which is never good.” He leaned across the counter and sniffed. “And you need a fucking shower, bro.”

“Screw you,” Cole muttered, taking a long swig of beer. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Calum took the bottle from his hand and helped himself to a drink. Cole snatched it back. “Get your own.”

Calum shrugged and jumped down from his seat. “As it’s Saturday, I think I will. And then you can tell me what the hell is going on.”

Ignoring him, Cole left his beer on the counter and headed toward his bedroom.

“Where the fuck you going?” Calum called out.

“Shower,” Cole threw back.

“You can run, but you can’t hide,” Calum hit back.

Cole slammed the door to his bedroom, stripped off his clothes, and jumped into the shower. He set it to fucking freezing. Ten minutes later, shivering but a lot calmer, he dried off and dressed. When he went back into the living room, Calum was still sitting at the breakfast bar. He’d gotten Cole a fresh beer and was sipping one of his own.

“Sit your ass down,” Calum demanded, pointing at the chair next to his.

Cole reluctantly did as Calum ordered.

“Okay.” Calum passed him the bottle of beer. “Why don’t you start from the top.”

Cole huffed out a breath and peeled away the label on the bottle. “I took Millie for breakfast to ask her why she kissed me and—”

“Whoa, she kissed you? When did this happen?”

“Can you let me finish?” Cole snapped.

Calum gestured. “Go ahead.”

Cole rolled his eyes. “Like I said, I asked her why she did it, and what it might mean, and just when I thought I was getting somewhere, fucking Tanner turned up.”

Calum’s eyebrows shot up. “Jesus. He’s persistent, I’ll give him that.”

“Yep.”

“No way was that coincidental.”

“Agreed,” Cole said. “I don’t believe in coincidence. I think he’s been following her for some time.”

Calum shuddered. “Creepy as fuck.”

“You said it.”

“So, what happened?”

“He pretended to grovel. She fell for it. They disappeared into the sunset. The End.”

“You’re shitting me.”

Cole tore the beer label in half. “Wish I was.”

“What did you do?”

“What the hell could I do? They’re married. I’m supposed to, what, drag her off against her will just because I’ve been crazy about her since I was sixteen?”

“Crazy about who?”

Calum and Cole turned around at the same time. “Hey,” Calum said, holding his hand out to Laurella. He pulled her to his side, pressing a kiss to her temple.

Envy curled in Cole’s gut. He was so goddamn ready to settle down, to have that kind of intimacy with a woman—except he only wanted one woman, and unfortunately for him, she’d chosen her deadbeat husband instead.

Life. Fucking. Sucked.

“Who are we talking about?” Laurella asked as she sat beside Calum.

“No one.”

“Millie.”

Cole glared at Calum. “No one,” he reiterated. It was hard enough baring his fractured soul to his twin, without bringing said twin’s girlfriend into the mix.

“He’s lying,” Calum stated. “Millie has gone off with Tanner, and this idiot here stood by while Millie’s abusive dick of a husband waltzed off with the love of Cole’s life. This was all after she kissed him, which kinda pisses me off, because if she messes with him, she messes with me.” He grinned. “And she really doesn’t want to mess with me.”

“I fucking hate you,” Cole said.

“Okay, slow down,” Laurella said gently, her gaze fixed on Cole. “That’s a lot of information to process in a few seconds. You love Millie?”

Cole shook his head. “I don’t love her.” But I could. And it wouldn’t take much. “I like her, and I’m worried about her because Tanner is a bastard. I’m concerned she’ll fall for his bullshit and end up right back where she started.”

“What makes you think she’ll do that?”

“Because he’s a manipulative prick who played her like a fucking violin. Threw himself at her mercy. Told her he loves her, he needs her, how desperately he wants her back. Yada yada. She agreed to talk to him.” He checked his watch. “That was over two hours ago.”

“Give her some credit,” Laurella said, an impatient edge to her tone. “Of course she’s going to talk to her husband. I don’t know her very well, but she probably thinks she owes him a hearing. But she’s not a stupid girl, far from it. I can’t even begin to presume the level of courage it must have taken for her to finally leave him, and now she has, I’d be surprised if she went back.”

Cole scrubbed a hand over his face in frustration. “Except, they normally do.”

Laurella frowned. “They?”

“Abused women, when the abuser is the victim’s spouse. It’s textbook. I researched it after Millie told me what had been going on with Tanner. The women put up with shit from their husbands for years, allowing their self-esteem to slowly be eroded. The abuser fills their heads with doubt, the constant criticism ravaging them until there’s nothing left but an empty shell. There will be a trigger, something that makes them pluck up the courage to leave. They do. Then the husband begs for forgiveness, and they go back. The abuse cycle starts all over, oftentimes worse because the abuser has to ‘punish’ the abused for daring to leave them in the first place.” His legs trembled, and he put a hand on the counter to steady himself. “I don’t want that for Millie, but I’m scared that’s exactly what’s going to happen.”

“It’s not.”

Cole’s head spun around so fast, he cricked his neck. Millie was standing at the bottom of the stairwell, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. How long had she been there? How much had she overheard?

“Hey,” he said softly, making his way toward her. “You okay?”

“I’m not going back to Tanner.” Her tone was firm, resolute.

Cole gave Calum and Laurella a look that said ‘fuck off’. They read him well because they both got to their feet.

“We’ll leave you to it,” Laurella said, stopping to sweep her hand down Millie’s arm. “Anything you need, cara.”

Millie shot her a tight but grateful smile. “Thank you.”

Calum’s hand pressed in the small of Laurella’s back, and as he passed Millie, he, too, smiled. “You’re making the right decision. The smart decision.”

“Do you want something to drink?” Cole offered after they’d left. “Coffee? Juice?”

She pointed at the bottles of beer he and Calum had half-finished. “I’ll take one of those if that’s all right.”

“Sure thing.” Cole took a fresh one out of the fridge and twisted off the cap. This time, when he aimed at the trash can, he didn’t miss. Maybe that was an omen?

She picked at the corner of the label on the bottle of beer, her gaze avoiding his. “I’m sorry.”

His pulse jumped. That could mean anything. Good or bad. “For what?”

She slowly raised her head. “For being so much trouble.”

“You’re no trouble.”

She grimaced. “I think you’re being overly kind. I mean, sure, we were friends at school, but you don’t owe me anything. Yet you’ve given me a job and a place to stay. You’ve shown me friendship and kindness. I shouldn’t have just walked off on you like that. I guess I thought I owed him some sort of explanation. I wasn’t brave enough to face him in Chicago, and so I left a note and my house key, and ran. But somehow, these last few weeks…” She chewed the inside of her cheek. “My self-confidence, my sense of who I am is returning, but slowly. I have a long way to go, although every day I feel more and more like the person I used to be. I don’t jump every time I see someone in the street who reminds me of Tanner. I’m waking up less and less in the middle of the night with sweaty palms and heart palpitations. I only look over my shoulder a hundred times a day instead of a thousand. You’ve given me the belief that, one day, I could be safe.”

He captured her hand. “You are safe.”

She grinned. It brightened her whole face, and, in turn, lit up his insides. Should he tell her how he felt? Maybe now was the right time, especially as she’d been so firm about her relationship with Tanner being over.

Then she blew his hopes to smithereens with her next words.

“You’re such a good friend, Cole.”

There it was. The harsh reality he didn’t want to hear. His stomach twisted painfully, like his guts were being wrung out. He formed his face into a smile, but it felt all wrong. “That’s me,” he said cheerfully, when all he really wanted to do was to punch something. Where’s Calum when I need him?

She tugged her hand from beneath his and got down from the stool. “Well, I’ve taken up enough of your day, so I’ll let you do your thing. Thanks again for being so great, especially about the kiss and all.”

She disappeared into her bedroom without a backward glance—and once again, he did nothing to stop her.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.