Page 78 of Cruel King
I remember Eleanor telling me she was planning on cleaning the kitchen floor today, so instead of going in the back door, I walk around to the front door of the King house. The sound of two voices yelling hits my ear the second I get inside, and it doesn’t take me long to realize who’s making all the noise. I’d hoped it would never come to this, but obviously, Theo had a different idea if he and Matthias are fighting.
Racing up the stairs, I find them in the hallway taking swings at one another. One of Theo’s hits Matthias in the jaw, and a second later, Matthias slams his fist into Theo’s cheek, sending him reeling backwards into the wall.
“What are you doing?” I scream, but it’s like neither of them even hear me.
Theo lunges at Matthias, and the two of them tumble to the ground with a loud crash. I watch in horror as they slug it out, both of them getting shots in and blood coming from God only knows which one.
“Stop! Someone’s going to get hurt!” I yell, again to no avail since they aren’t listening.
I grab Theo’s shoulder and try to pull him off his brother, but as I work to separate them, Theo lurches back and I’m sent flying backwards. I land hard on the floor, hurting my tailbone.
“Are you all right?” he asks as he pushes Matthias away and stands up to help me.
Theo offers me his hand, and I take it, thankful for the assistance. “I’m okay. I just hurt my butt.”
When I get back up on my feet, I see Matthias glaring at me. There’s such venom in his eyes that I have to look away. I’ve never seen him so full of hate for me.
“Why were you fighting?” I ask Theo, praying it had nothing to do with me but knowing better.
This has been coming for weeks. I’ve dreaded the very idea of it, but I knew it would happen sooner or later if Matthias kept acting the way he’s been toward me.
He answers instead of Theo. “My brother seems to think he needs to defend your honor. Is that true, Ava?”
Every word out of his mouth seems filled with more viciousness than usual, especially when he says the word honor. I shake my head at his question, unsure what he means.
Theo wraps his arm around me. “Don’t bother talking to him. It’s a waste of time. The only thing he understands is a fist to his fucking face, which will happen again if you say another goddamned word to her.”
For some strange reason, that makes Matthias smile. Turning his attention from me to Theo, he says, “Fine. I’ll talk to you then. Did your girlfriend ever tell you about the time we spent together? We had a good time. Didn’t we, Ava?”
Instantly, the hallway seems like it’s shrinking, and the walls are closing in on me. I swallow hard, feeling like I’m going to be sick.
Horrified, I shake my head. “P—p—please, Matthias. Don’t.”
Theo stares at me with the purest look of hurt I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s like his gaze is cutting into my chest and I can’t turn away because I don’t want him to feel any more pain.
He lets go of my hand, and when I search for it, he won’t let me hold it again. I see in his eyes that he isn’t sure what to think, so there’s a chance this will be okay.
“Oh, yeah. Right down the hallway in my bedroom. Snowbound together with nothing else to do but stay in bed all day. We barely came up for air, so we didn’t really care about the weather, though.”
With every word he says, my heart sinks. I should have said something to Theo when I had the chance all those weeks ago. He asked me what I thought his brother’s problem was with me, and all I had to do was tell the truth. It was two days, for God’s sake. He would have understood. I could have made it seem like it was a mistake, and he would have been able to accept it. Maybe we could have had a laugh about it and then moved on.
But none of that happened because I couldn’t find a way to say the words without being obvious about how much I care about Matthias. God help me, I hate that I do, but I knew I wouldn’t have been able to hide it.
So I said nothing, and our fate was set in motion, finally coming to fruition today in this horrible moment with the man I care so much about looking at me and waiting to hear me say it’s all a lie.
“She didn’t tell you?” Matthias asks, his cruelty making each word so painful before he mocks me. “Ava’s been a naughty girlfriend it seems.”
“Tell me he’s lying. Just say it and I’ll believe you over him.”
Tears fill my eyes, making Theo get all blurry. All I can do is shake my head. This is what I’ve feared for weeks, and it’s so much worse than I ever imagined.
“Little Ava isn’t a very good liar. I don’t know how she kept the secret for this long. The truth is written all over her face. Jesus, Theo. She’s been lying to you the whole time.”
Theo spins around and snaps, “Fuck you!”
There’s so much hurt in his voice that my heart breaks. I try to get him to listen to me, but he won’t even look at me.
“Please, Theo. I can explain. It had nothing to do with us. It was five years ago. It’s nothing compared to all the time we’ve spent together.”