Breaking Mr. Black

23| A Deal

SEAN

The elevator doors were about close with my brother behind them. In a desperate attempt to catch up to him, I quickly jammed my foot between the steel doors. They parted once again to which I exhaled in relief. Slipping into the small space, I grinned. I probably shouldn't have been grinning but could you fucking blame me. Rose confirmed that she wanted me. That was all I could have asked for.

Dean and I were alone which was both a good and bad thing. I needed to speak to him but the tension oozing off him had the air turning thick. His jaw was hard and his lips pressed in a thin line. He practically glared at the numbers decreasing above the doors as if he couldn't wait to leave. I couldn't help but wonder how we got to this place. How did I allow it to get to this? Twins were generally inseparable yet we couldn't wait to go our separate ways. At some point, I just got tired of living in my brother's shadow. For some reason, he had been proclaimed the better brother because he made the more logical decisions. He already knew what he wanted in life and I was here still trying to figure it out.

The doors parted to the ground floor and I silently followed my brother out of the building and toward the parking lot. He was heading to his car which was conveniently parked next to mine.

Gripping him but the back of his shirt, I tsked, "Nope, you're not running away because you're feeling pissy." I chastised, slinging my arm over his shoulders and guiding him to my car.

"Sean," Dean wriggled, trying to fight me off but he wasn't as strong as me, "I'm not in the mood to hear you gloat."

I stopped at the passenger door, swinging it open and glaring at him deadpan, "Get in, brother."

He must have seen that I wasn't playing around. If he didn't get into my car willingly then I'd simply shove the stupid bag of bones - that unfortunately looked like me - into the car forcefully. I slammed the door shut once he got in, then rounded the car to the driver's seat.

A long string of profanities left my brother's mouth - most of which I had never heard him use before. He could have called me any name under the sun, moon, and stars. It didn't matter. Nothing he said or did could ruin my mood. All I was trying to do was save the sinking friendship between Dean and Rose. However, if he wasn't willing to accept the lifeline I was throwing him then that was that. I wasn't going to force it.

I started up the car and swung it out of the parking bay. He practically glared out the window the entire drive. From my peripheral, I could see him fisting his hands until they were ghost white. He wasn't just angry at me. He was hurt. But, he was focusing more on the anger.

It didn't take me long to pull into my apartment building. Hope sparked in me when Dean got out of the car without any arguments. Maybe we could have a good, civilized discussion about this. We were brothers after all. That had to mean something.

We took the lift up to the apartment in pin-drop silence, tension still as thick as before. Miguel wasn't home. He was probably busy with a run or organizing another race. As long as he wasn't hosting a party here, I didn't care. I meant what I said the last time. If I found anything that went against the rules again then it was over for him.

"What are we doing here?" Dean finally spoke but because he refused to unlock his jaw, his words came out muffled.

"Just follow me," I responded, leading him down the hall to my bedroom. In my head, I kind of knew what I wanted to say to him. I needed him to understand and to believe that I did love her because he doubted it. The look in his eyes when he saw Rose and me told me he doubted it.

Opening the window in my bedroom, I stepped out onto the fire escape. I had brought him here for a reason. This particular spot officially meant something to me. Before this summer, before Rose, it held no significance.