The sound of those last three words, especially coming from him, and the fact that he’d said “Sofie” despite her deliberate choice to avoid the now too-cute-to-stomach nickname, may as well have been a piece of wood grinding against rock. It ignited something within her, but she attempted to remain calm. She did not want this to turn into an argument, though given the look in his heated eyes, it already felt inevitable.
“The same thing you told me,” she said, lifting her chin. “That you two shared a moment once upon a time. She is the same Sofie you told me about, right? Or is—”
“No,” he said, his brow lifting. “She’s the same one. What else did they say?”
“What else do you think?”
That flicker she’d seen earlier in his eyes was an all-out flame now. “I don’t know. Your sister wouldn’t know much, but if Alex was telling you, I can only imagine. I doubt his spin on how things went down between me and Sofie was favorable to me.” Those blue eyes burned into her now with conviction. “I told you Sofie’s brothers never liked me.”
“You may’ve not gotten along with them Brandon, but from what I know of them, they’ve always been very sweet and fair.”
Brandon scoffed. “I’m sure they were with you. They didn’t hate you.”
“The word hate never came up once today,” she explained. “As usual, Alex was very sweet when he explained the whole thing. Since it was so long ago, he said he wasn’t even going to bring it up. He said that it just didn’t feel right not saying anything.”
Those piercing eyes went darker and harder with every word she’d said. “Yeah, I’m sure his ass was in no hurry to give you his bullshit version of what happened.”
“So why don’t you tell me your side, then?”
Both his brows shot up, and he dropped her hand. “My side?”
“I meant—”
“There’re sides now, Regina?”
“No!” she said, reaching out for his hands, but he backed away.
“What else did he tell you?”
“That’s it,” she insisted, her heart racing. Then she changed her mind, so she shook her head and watched as his already heated eyes narrowed in on hers. “He told me a lot more than you did, and,” she paused, lowering her voice, “I know now things were different than how you explained it.”
“And you believe him?” His words were laced with anger and exasperation.
She stared at him, torn between telling him what Bell had asked her not to or keep it to herself. “Brandon, it’s not that—”
“You believe him?”
His expression fell, and this time there was only one thing she heard in his lowered voice—pain. She didn’t think Sarah or Valerie had made up what Sofia herself had admitted, and it was so long ago, so she didn’t understand why he’d be so wounded by her believing it.
“Is there anything you left out?”
He stared at her for a moment, shaking his head, still incredulous, and she was suddenly filled with regret. Had Sarah gotten it wrong? Was it possible that, just like she’d forgotten that she’d never told Valerie Sofia’s secret, she’d gotten her facts wrong too?
In a flash, the hurt in his eyes changed. It wasn’t gone, but it was now accompanied by disgust. “I f**king knew it!” he said, backing up. “They got to you.”
“What?” she said, walking toward him, unable to believe how angry this made him. It only made him speed up, and he was already at the bottom of the stairs. “No one got to me. What are you talking about?”
“Is that why you took your sister’s call outside, Regina?” He pointed angrily at the front door. “To make sure I didn’t overhear your conversation? Since when do you do that?”
She shook her head, feeling like an idiot that she didn’t think her going outside to talk to Bell would set off any alarms. This was Brandon. He picked up on the smallest of details. “This is crazy. Why would they be trying to get to me?”
“Did he tell you what a worthless loser I am too?”
“No! Brandon, stop this. I’d never believe something like that anyway. I know you’re not.”
He came to an abrupt stop halfway up the stairs and stared at her for an achingly long silent moment. “But you’d question if . . .” He shook his head and started up the rest of the stairs.
Regina brought her hand to her mouth, feeling the lump at her throat growing by the second. How had this gone so wrong? Just when she’d decided to follow him up, he rushed down wearing a T-shirt now, holding his shoes in one hand and his keys in the other.
Her heart plummeted. “Where are you going?”
“Home and you know what?” He turned to her. If she didn’t know any better, he’d lost some color in his face. “Don’t worry about taking sides, babe, because I’ll tell you right now,” he said as he flung the front door open, "I won’t be pleading my case to anyone, not them or you. That family can kiss my ass, and if you believe the bullshit they’re feeding you, then you can too.”
Before her rattled brain could wrap itself around his words, she flinched at the sound of her front door slamming shut. She was frozen to that spot for too long before she finally sat down at her kitchen table.
“What just happened?” she whispered to herself, bringing her trembling hand to her mouth.