"M y sister?" he shouted as he raged across the street. "You told me... you fucking promised me !"

I held up my hands. "Niall, I know but ..."

"You looked me in the eye!" he shouted, as tires squealed around him. From somewhere along the sidewalk, woman screamed as he slammed his fists down on the hood of a car, then whirled on me. "I asked you! Point fucking blank! I asked you if you had a thing for her!" he shouted. I saw the bright flare of a camera flash, but I couldn't turn to see who was recording this, what tabloid we'd show up in tomorrow, because I had to watch where Niall's rage was sending him next. "And you know what else you said? You said you'd be pretty fucking stupid to have a thing with her, right?" He sprinted the last five feet and hopped up onto the sidewalk. I stepped to the left, shielding Tallula as best I could. "Right asshole?" Niall bellowed. "Pretty fucking stupid to sneak around with your bandmate's sister !"

I braced myself for his fist to my jaw, but at the last minute he ducked down and sucker punched me right in the gut .

"Niall!" Tallula shouted, as several panicked voices filled my ringing ears at once. I doubled over and staggered back against the wall of the cafe before finding my balance and standing up again. Tallula was shouting and trying to haul her brother off of me, but he shook her off like she was an annoying mosquito and raised his fists. "Come on, asshole!" he shouted, his posh accent lost in a snarling slur .

"I'm not fighting you," I told him through clenched teeth. A bright blaze of pain was knifing through my gut and making me woozy .

"That's too fucking bad for you then!" he shouted, lunging .

I ducked out of the way of his punch at the last second, swinging my head under and catching him around the waist. Several people shouted as we went stumbling back. At first I thought the explosions in my head were from his fists landing around my ears, but then I realized that all around us there were people taking pictures .

"Hudson!" Tallula cried as I drove her brother back up so he splayed across the hood of a parked car. He twisted and flopped like a fish caught on a line, somehow shrugging out of his shirt before escaping me. "Hudson stop!" Then she whirled on her brother, launching herself at him again to grab him by the shoulders. He twisted and snarled. "Niall, god dammit, stop this!" Tallula cried. He lunged to punch again .

And Tallula slapped him .

The crack of her palm against his cheek was the loudest fucking thing I'd ever heard in my life. On instinct, I raised my hands to cover my ears .

"Fucking..." Niall pressed his hand to his cheek and stared at her. "Have you gone bloody mental ?"

"Stop fighting him, Niall," she shrieked, still keyed up. She shook where she stood, but she lifted her chin fiercely. "Stop being a bloody-minded fool ."

He grimaced, rubbing his cheek and then clenched his fist. His voice was pure disappointed big brother. "Tally, I'll talk with you later, but right now I need to ..."

"No!" She raised her hand again and Niall, half a foot taller than her at least, cowered a little. "I fucking love him, okay ?"

He stopped as if she'd frozen him in place with her words .

I stood there, heaving, a dull ache spreading in my belly .

Off to the side, a single flash went off .

"You don't," Niall whispered, staring at Tallula .

She lifted her chin. Green eyes met green eyes, one set dazed, the other set filling with tears. "I'm sorry for keeping secrets from you, Niall. I know you hate them ."

"Why?" He looked from me to her. "Why him?" He glanced at me. "Of all the women in the world, why did you have to...?" his eyes blazed as he got madder and madder. "Why would you fuck my sister ?!"

"Niall stop it! This isn't something you get to decide !"

"Yeah, you're bloody right. I don't get to decide who you get to be with, Tallula." He glared at me. "But I sure as shit can decide who I trust enough to play next to me onstage." He laughed ruefully. "And it's definitely not assholes who would lie to my face ."

And there it was .

My shoulders slumped. And in a way I was grateful to have it all finally out in the open. "Right," I said shortly. "I guess we can't work together then ."

He stepped forward until we were nose to nose. But if he was trying to stare me down, trying to intimidate me, it wasn't going to work. You can't threaten someone who's already given up everything for love .

And he must have seen that, because he inhaled sharply. Then, without looking at his sister, without taking note of the crowd that had gathered around us, he turned and stalked away .

I lifted the hem of my shirt and wiped a trickle of blood from my nose, then turned to Tallula and tried to smile. "That went about how I was expecting," I said, trying to laugh .

But she was staring me down, her fists clenched at her side. "You told him you'd be stupid to be with me?" she said, hurt in her voice .