Page 10 of Overdosed: Her Dark Side
“You don’t love him either. I know it. I can see it in your eyes.” Shane's gaze flickered between mine before it dropped to Anders’ hand wrapped around my waist. His chest seemed to sink.
I knew I had to do something to convince him I now belonged to his brother. For real.
“You’re so conceited, Shane.” I tried my best to sound taunting. “You’re so possessive that you still believe I am yours.” I swirled around and wrapped my hands at Anders’ nape. I hardly swallowed when my eyes met his. My heart was racing. But I still did it. I leaned in and kissed him. The moment our eyes met, a deep growl let out Anders’ throat. His hand moved down my lower back, and to my butt, squeezing it. Adrenaline rushed through me, but I kept playing my part. I moved one of my hands to his jaw, deepening the kiss. Our tongues tangled and he seemed to enjoy it. Far too much. I slowly pulled away and turned to face Shane again, provocatively wiping my lips as I gazed into his eyes. “You want to take it to the bedroom, or have you seen enough?”
I’d never seen more wrath in Shane’s eyes before. He was barely keeping his composure. I knew he was one strike away from erupting. “Maybe it’s better that I saw what kind of a woman you are before I married you,” he spat. I couldn’t deny his words cut me to the core. “I spent three years searching for you. And it turns out you were having fun with my brother. My goddamn brother, Melanie.”
Why did he say it with so much pain in his eyes? In his voice? A heavy weight settled on my chest. I felt like it was suffocating me. I watched Shane run his hand through his raven black hair, some unruly strings falling back onto his furrowed forehead. Then he took a deep breath, and his voice turned cold. “Give me the fucking keys back,” he growled darkly, but it wasn’t hishateful tone that made my blood run cold.
Hope.
I panicked as I saw her lurking hesitantly in the hallway. My heart started racing like that of a hummingbird. I pinched Anders’ thigh discretely, though my eyes must’ve filled with terror. My heart did. Shane’s back was to Hope, but I knew it could’ve been just a matter of a single word spoken by her, one bad move, and he would turn around and see her. My precious secret.
Anders must’ve noticed her, too, because he said something that would trigger anyone. “I’m not sure you want the car back, brother. I just fucked Melanie in the backseat of your Bugatti.” The last strike.
In an instant, a lethal rage blazed in Shane’s eyes. He shoved me away and grabbed Anders by his collar, pushing him against the wall with violence. “What the fuck did you say?”
I was scared. So fucking scared. But I knew it was my cue to act. I knew it was Anders’ twisted way of helping distract Shane. I hurriedly ran to my daughter and scooped her up into my arms. I was hoping it would be enough to shield her from the chaos that seemed engulf our lives. I quickly carried her upstairs, trying to hold back the tears welling up in my eyes.
FIVE
Shane
Irushed out of Anders’ apartment, the door slamming shut behind me. The cool night air wasn’t enough to cool down the burning rage within me. I made my way to my car, each step fueled by anger. But also, the pain of betrayal. I slid into the driver’s seat and the dim city lights reflected on the windshield. I drove away as fast as I could, hoping I could escape this pain. I squeezed the steering wheel. The rage was mounting in me. I glanced in the rearview mirror that framed the backseat of my car. In an instant, my mind started picturing the images of him and her together. Anders’ words wouldn’t stop echoing in my ears. The images of them wouldn’t stop flashing before my eyes. The sound of her moans kept reverberating in my mind. I gripped the steering wheel even stronger, my knuckles turning white. His voice echoed louder and louder in my head.
“She’s mine now, Shane. You lost.”
“I’m not sure you want the car back, brother. I just fucked Melanie in the backseat of your Bugatti.”
“Fuck!” I punched the steering wheel, and a hollow thud ran through the car.
My eyes darted from the rearview mirror to the city ahead. My mind was in a frenzy. I was so fucking pissed. Fuming. Heartbroken. My heart was a wreckage. I felt like I was suffocating, and drowning in the sea of lies. This whole time while I’d desperately kept searching for Melanie, I was hoping we could still make it work. Hoping she would forgive me. I was hoping she would realize that despite it all, I did everything to protect her and that I… loved her. Truly. Deeply. And now, all I felt was a bitter taste of betrayal. Anders had seen my pain. He witnessed the torment, the agony I endured during these three fucking years. He saw how I was losing my mind, desperately searching for her.
Turns out, he knew where she was all along. Yet he never said a word. Instead, this whole fucking time, he was savoring the sight of my suffering. This whole time, he was plotting behind my back, satisfying his twisted desires. I’d always known Anders was jealous of me. Trying to prove himself better. More worthy. Deep down, I’d always known he would be capable of betraying me for his own advantage to achieve what he wanted. I tried to suppress these thoughts. I wanted to believe the blood ties meant more to him. Until now. He put a knife in my back. He shattered our brotherhood into irreparable pieces. But it was Melanie’s betrayal that cut deep like a sharp knife, leaving a festering wound on my soul. I never supposed she would betray me like this. I thought what we had was real.
But not anymore.
The trust had been damaged. Our love was tainted. Broken. Beyond repair.
I sped away, and the engine roared. I was hoping I could escape these haunting images.
I ended up in a nightclub, drowning my pain in yet another glass of whiskey. But the hummed conversations and the loud pounding music were not enough to drown out Anders’ voice in my ears. The images still haunted my mind.
I leaned against the bar countertop. My gaze stuck onto the amber liquid as if it held all the answers to the questions running through my head. When did their relationship start? Was it after she vanished? Or perhaps it was long before? Perhaps something had ignited between them the first time their eyes met. It was so fucking twisted. My whole world was twisted. And now it had crumbled into a dark ruin, the burn of the alcohol was my only distraction.
“That’s pretty fucked up.” Kenneth’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I hadn’t seen him in years, but after Melanie disappeared, I met him randomly in one of the clubs when I was drowning my pain out, like today.
“Tell me about it.”
I took another long sip of my whiskey that burned down my throat, but it was a pale imitation of the fire that consumed my soul.
How could I have been so blind?
A man in my line of business didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, but somehow, Melanie had found her way in. Then she buried deep and refused to leave. And now… she was tearing it apart.
Apparently, hearts, even as cold as mine, could still bleed.
