“If she didn’t, the rest of the world did,” I say under my breath.
My three brothers turn and look at me, and Matthias says, “Theo liked to have a good time. Everyone knew that. You and I were part of the fun with him more times than I can count.”
And, of course, Kellen jumps in to defend Theo. “Yeah. Theo was always a good time.”
While I’m not normally in the mood for revelations, something about what happened with Eleanor makes me feel like I want to make an exception today. “Yeah. A good time and a backstabbing dick. So a little bit of everything.”
Now the three of them glare at me. I’ve broken the unspoken King family rule of never speaking ill of anyone once they’re gone. Well, I’m not into that today, especially about that brother. He’s had far too long being a saint, in my opinion.
That ends right now.
“Theo was not a backstabbing dick, Marius. What the hell makes you say that?” Kellen asks.
I stand up to get a drink from the refrigerator. “Because he was. You wouldn’t know about that because he never screwedyou over, but Matthias and I know full well what Theo was capable of, especially when it came to women.”
Matthias gives me an odd look, and for the first time, I wonder if he truly doesn’t know what Theo did to keep him and Ava apart all that time after they got together those snowy couple of days that December. He can’t honestly not know, can he?
“What are you talking about?” he asks, and I stand behind the refrigerator door stunned this is going to be the day he finds out what actually happened.
I grab a soda and walk back to the table as I try to think of the right words to explain everything to him. Kellen scowls at me, and while I’m not in the mood to get into a fight with him, if he’s going to try to defend Theo, he’s not getting a free pass from me today.
After taking a sip of my drink, I look at Matthias and tell him the truth. “Theo knew you were crazy about Ava. He always knew. He knew what happened when you two were alone on those snowy days when we were stranded in the city and you guys were out here. He knew and made sure he didn’t give you the message she gave him before she went to her aunt’s in New Hampshire.”
My older brother stares at me in shock as I spell it all out. “She trusted him because she thought he was her best friend so, of course, he’d give you her message that she had to go. Every time he busted your chops about needing to get laid or needing to get a girlfriend while you were home on break, he knew you two had been together and that he had made sure you never heard that she wanted you to know she had to leave because of her father, who by the way, also knew you two had gotten together while we were all gone. It wasn’t Joe who kept you two apart, though. It was Theo. Then when he felt like he wanted to settle down, he came back, and since you were being a dick toAva because you felt like she ran away, he took advantage of the situation.”
“That can’t be right. Theo wouldn’t do that to me,” Matthias says unconvincingly, his voice barely above a whisper.
To show him he’s not the only one of us who Theo screwed over, I say, “And by the way, want to know who Maia was with after me? None other than Theo. He knew I was fucking crushed when we broke up, and what did he do? He slept with the woman I was still in love with. Maybe I should thank him. It showed me I was wasting my time thinking about her.”
Now my brothers look confused, like when we all found out Santa Claus wasn’t real. Sorry, guys. Good old Theo, who everyone loved, had no problem screwing over his very own brothers.
“Did you ever confront him about what he did to you?” Ronan asks me.
I nod, remembering exactly the moment I realized Theo King wasn’t the person everyone always thought he was. “Yeah. He said it was no big deal. It wasn’t like he slept with her while I was still dating her. To him, it wasn’t a problem. Son of a bitch was having a hell of a month. First, he dicks over Matthias and Ava, and then he fucks around with my ex, who he knew I was still crazy about. Hell of a guy.”
The four of us sit in silence after I finish. I expect Kellen to try to come to Theo’s defense since that’s been his favorite pastime since he died, but he doesn’t say a word. Maybe now he can understand that King brother wasn’t a great person or a great brother.
He and Ronan quietly get up from the table and walk outside, leaving only Matthias sitting with me. His expression is pure sadness, but I don’t know if that’s because of what I just told him or what’s happened to Eleanor today.
When he finally speaks again, I understand it’s probably a mixture of the two affecting him. Looking down at his plate, he quietly says, “You know, I felt like the worst person in the world when I ruined things between Theo and Ava and he left here. I never got the chance to tell him I was sorry. I never got the chance to say goodbye. I’ve beaten myself up about those things all these years.”
He stops and lifts his head to look at me. “I had no idea what you said happened. I don’t think Ava knows either. I would have never dreamed in a million years that he’d do something like that to me or to her. And what he did to you isn’t any better. He was my best friend in the world. I would have trusted him with anything, and now I find out he did everything he could to keep me from Ava.”
I hate seeing Matthias like this, so I say, “Theo was selfish. He felt like the world was his oyster, and whatever he wanted, he took. It didn’t matter if what he wanted was someone else’s. He didn’t care. Don’t beat yourself up over him anymore. Yeah, what you said that broke him and Ava up wasn’t great, but she would have never been with him if he hadn’t gotten between you two.”
Like the good person he’s always been, Matthias leans over toward me and whispers, “Don’t tell Ava anything about this. I don’t want her thinking he was a bad guy. We can’t change anything that happened now anyway, so there’s no point in her finding out the truth, okay?”
Happy to do what he wants, I nod my agreement. “My lips are sealed. I’ll take it to the grave, Matthias.”
He thanks me and leaves me alone in the kitchen. Maybe I should have taken that secret to the grave for him too.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Marius
For two weeks,Ronan and I stay at the house to make sure Eleanor is okay. Kellen comes by every afternoon, and I swear that’s the happiest she is all day. He’s a clown, but he’s a lovable clown when it comes to her.
All the tests came back telling her doctor her blood pressure was dangerously high and she may have had a stroke that afternoon she collapsed in the kitchen, so Ava and Matthias have ordered her to take it easy and do nothing around the house. She, of course, fought against that, but as of this afternoon, we’ve all worked to make sure she hasn’t done anything but relax.
