The doctor inspects Jack’s nose and declares it as broken, which is an eye-roller all around. Grim and drained, Jack lets him sew up the cut across the bridge. There are five stitches and the doctor assures him it won’t scar, but Jack doesn’t seem to care about that. I think he’s angrier at the scar potential on his friendship.

Jenna’s sitting on the end of the bed, watching with a pained, empathetic wince every time the needle slides into Jack’s flesh. Sean’s got his arms crossed against his chest, and every now and again he huffs a sigh through his nostrils. When the doctor leaves and tells me I’m free to go home, too, the only word I can hear is home.

I don’t know what to make of what happened with Alec.

Dignity and pride are keeping my tear ducts at bay.

I keep hearing I’m leaving because I care about you over and over, wishing I believed him and not knowing what to think. There was a moment by the pool when Jack apologized to me, I was so bleary-minded, but it felt like we’d tore down the wall so painstakingly built between us.

But that Jack would set Alec on me like some beast he could rule, with the express intent to cause me pain, it’s brought that wall back up and added a few more thousand bricks.

I just want to go back to the way things were. I want to go home. I want to put my dreams of a family behind me. Most of all, I want my heart to stop bleeding.

The doctor leaves the room and Jack stands up from the chair, exasperated. I watch him without expression, blankly wondering why he saved my life if he wants to mangle me at every turn.

Before they have a chance to speak, I push the blankets off and say, “I’m going to take a plane home with Jenna as soon as we get to the hotel.”

Jack blinks, his existing frown digging deeper in above the purple bruising. “You mean a commercial jet?”

“Perceptive,” I mutter sardonically. “Yes. I want to fly home on my own. With Jenna, I mean. Is that okay, Jenna?”

“Of course!” She warily looks at the brothers, awaiting their reaction.

Sean’s solemn gaze falls to the floor, and he shakes his head, mumbling, “I wish I knew how to make this all go away.”

“Yeah. That’s pretty clear. So let me help you.”

I throw my feet over the side and rise up, my body weak.

“That’s not what I meant, Rue…”

My hand flies up to the stop position. “Look. This whole thing–us pretending like we’re a family or that we have to try to be one? It was dynamite begging for a match.” I glance to Jack, expecting to see relief, agreement, or his usual disgust. But he’s watching me without any of those and it’s very disarming. I have to tear my eyes away to keep my mind clear. “It’s not working out. It’s not meant to be, I guess. We were pushing…”

Jenna who is often able to finish my sentences, says, “A square peg into a round hole.”

“Exactly.” She walks with me to the door. I turn and shrug, meeting the eyes of both of my half-brothers one after the other. “I’m sorry, but that’s what we’ve been doing. So let’s just go about our lives and forget we ever knew each other.”

Jack and Sean are silent. I think before my little pool incident, Sean might have argued with me, tried to get me to give it one last try. I could be wrong; maybe he wouldn’t have. But when we were dancing at Space Ibiza, we had a really good time and it seemed we’d pushed away the discomfort of New York. But now, what’s he going to say? That this is a match made in heaven? No sane person would ever argue that in a million years.

Meeting the eyes of my nemesis, I say with sadness, “You won, Jack, just like you wanted. I surrender.” Giving them one last forced smile of pride, I turn and leave with Jenna.

“Cab back to the hotel?” she asks, padding next to me.

“Yeah. No more limos for me.” Whispering softly, I ask, “Are they behind us?”

She waits a second to glance back. “Nope. I guess they’re giving you the space you want.” She weaves her arm through mine. “Do you really want that space, Ruefus?”

If she’d asked me that yesterday, I would have said no. Or even earlier this morning when she laid it out there for me that I don’t have a family; I would have said no then, too. But now? I want space very, very badly.

Floating on the bottom of that pool… letting my life slip away from me… was something I never thought I’d do. It was a wake up call that I’d bit off more than I could chew. I’d been trying to be strong, fooling myself that I was able to go toe-to-toe with Jack Stone, but I’m just not that hard a person. I’m soft on the inside, a fact I don’t like to have pointed out to me. But pointed out, it is.

“I need the space, Jenna. I don’t have a choice.”