“You didn’t do shit to me other than to be the reigning perfect son our parents always wanted,” Tal says, which hits me like a punch to my gut. He’s always felt like he was less than me in some way ever since we were kids. Doesn’t he know that I envy him doing whatever the hell he wants in life without giving a shit what anyone thinks, especially our parents?
“I’m not perfect,” I assure him as I walk past him to get to the kitchen.
“No, you’re not,” Tal agrees when he follows me.
Thankfully, I haven’t forgotten how to use the coffee maker, and I fire it up quickly, the smell waking me up.
“So, what did I do to piss you off?” I ask him, crossing my arms over my bare chest and leaning my back against the counter while the machine gets warmed up.
“The stupidest thing you’ve ever done, which was breaking up with Eden,” he says when he takes a seat on one of the stools at the kitchen island.
“When did I do that?” I ask in confusion.
“Eight years ago.”
“What? When we were ten? I don’t remember us being a couple then.”
“No, dickhead. When you were eighteen and she was getting ready to leave for college.”
“I broke up with Eden?”
“Yes. The summer after we graduated,” he says with a nod.
“But we got back together obviously,” I state.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Huh? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“You broke up with Eden eight years ago and never got back together!” he shouts at me like I’m an idiot. Maybe I am, but right now I just don’t remember any of this shit and it’s infuriating.
“We’re together now,” I mutter.
“No, you’re not. She’s pretending because your head is fucked up and she feels sorry for you.”
“Didn’t act like she felt sorry for me last night…” I respond as I think about how close I felt to her and how amazing the sex was. “It felt like she loved me. I heard the words from her mouth. She told me she loved me.” Didn’t she?
“She was just being nice,” Tal says. “You crushed her when you ended shit before she left for college.”
“But I don’t understand,” I tell him. Was it all just Eden pretending last night? No, I don’t fucking believe that. There were feelings involved. Is the breakup why she seemed so sad? Grabbing a coffee mug from the cabinet, I pour myself a cup from the pot and take a sip. “Why would I break up with Eden when I loved her, and she loved me? I thought I was going to marry her and that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together…”
“How would I fucking know? You wouldn’t talk to me or anyone else about it.”
“Wow. That coffee smells so good,” Eden says when she joins us in the kitchen, wearing one of my shirts that comes down to her knees and a pair of my sweatpants that I’m certain she had to roll over at the waist a few times to keep them up. “What were y’all talking about?” she asks, reaching up to get a coffee cup from the cabinet like she’s done it a million times before.
“When did you say we moved in here?” I ask Tal.
“Four years ago, after I graduated and came back home.”
“Then how does Eden know where everything is?” I ask them.
“Huh?” Eden says when she turns around to face me with her brow furrowed, her chocolate eyes bouncing back and forth between me and Tal.
“Tal told me that I broke up with you. You don’t have to pretend anymore,” I tell her with a sad smile.
“You what?” Eden yells at Tal. “What did you tell him?”
“The truth,” Tal says, shrugging his shoulders casually like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“The doctor said to remind him of things gradually!” she says like she’s pissed at him.
“Why did we break up?” I ask her.
Eden takes a deep breath and then says, “We don’t have to talk about this now.”
“I want to know,” I say. “I thought everything was great between us.”
“I did too,” she replies. “But, um, you said that since I was leaving for college and you were staying here that it would be best if we break up. You said that you wouldn’t be able to visit much because of training and that’s what you said you needed to focus on.”
“Oh,” I mutter. “Why would training take up that much time?”
“Because that’s the only way to earn a title,” Tal explains. “And you’ve wanted a title belt like dad since you were old enough to say the words.”
“All that work and all it got me was knocked out, missing memories of the last eight years,” I grumble.
“You thought it was worth it,” Eden says. “You probably will again soon.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Bullshit!” Tal chuckles. “Fighting is all you care about.”
“Not anymore,” I tell him, which quickly has his face falling.
“That’s just the amnesia talking,” Eden says, but it sounds like she’s trying to convince herself more than me.
“I’m, ah, I think I’ll go take my shower,” I say. My head is throbbing again thanks to all this new information my brain is trying to process. Before I leave, I grab two aspirin from the bottle on the counter and throw them back without anything to drink, too lost in my own thoughts.
What the hell was I thinking eight years ago?
Chapter Eleven
Eden
As soon as Sage is gone, I go over and slap Tal on his shoulder. “Why did you do that?” I whisper-yell at him. “Can’t you see you’re making his head hurt?”
“He’s going to remember sooner or later…”
“I wish you would just mind your own business, Tal!” I tell him. “Why are you trying to ruin things?”
“Ruin things? How could I ruin something that isn’t really happening, Eden?” he asks. “You need to wake
