Torn Between The Carter Brothers

Chapter 23

Addison

The shock that settled across Mrs Carter's face is unlike anything | can describe. Her face, which was

previously twisted in rage, contoured into stark shock as she looked Zane up and down, almost like she couldnt

believe her eyes.

“Z- Zane...” she whispered slowly, her eyes still blown wide. | could feel the warmth of Zane’s body seep into my

body from where | was pressed into his side. Once again, like last night, he had cin

to defend me. | felt embarrassed just thinking about the fact that he has had to defendso much in such a

short period, which might definitely makeseem like a weakling, but I'm definitely not.

“Hello, mother. How have you been?” Zane responded easily, his voice indifferent. It wasn’t cold but it

wasn’t warm either.

Mrs. Carter's eyes widened even more as she looked from him to Marco, then back to Zane as she

finally spoke. “W- what are you doing here?”

| frowned slowly, wondering if that was how she was supposed to greet her son. Zane hasn't hugged her when

he arrived minutes ago as well, makingwonder what kind of relationship this family

shares.

“I'm here to support my brother on his wedding day, but isn’t that already a given?” Zane drawled

through a small chuckle, then he tuggedcloser. When | glanced up at his face, our eyes met for a moment

and the chilling coldness | met in there has a gasp catching in my throat.

“I- we didn’t know you were invited. Marco, did you invite him?” She responded, still looked shocked and

completely caught off guard. Marco stepped forward, going around to stand beside his mother as

he shook his head.

“No, mother. He showed up unannounced.” Marco responded, his eyes locked with Zane, and the coldness in his

eyes was very sharp.

“Clearly | wasn't invited cause | don’t need an invite to csupport my little brother, cause that’s already

expected of me.” Zane drawled and Marco snorted.

“No one expects anything of you, Zane.”

Zane waved him off. “Anyways, I'm here to support you, and that’s that. You can’t sendaway.” He pointed

out and Marco gritted his teeth, clearly furious. | felt confused as I glanced between the two brothers, wondering

what could be the reason why they were this hostile towards each other.

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Mrs Carter seems to have finally recovered from her shock as she cleared her throat then pointed towards me.

“What is she doing here though?!”

“She’s my girlfriend, mother. You just insulted her and you should apologize.”

| watched as Mrs Carter's face reddened as she sputtered in rage. “What? Apologize to this wrench?”

I flinched a little, feeling myself returning to the girl | was five years ago who had broken down after

receiving a verbal lashing from her about my appearance and family background.

“She’s not a wrench. And yes, apologise to her. You were very rude to her, and insultive on top of that.

As her boyfriend, | took offense, so apologies.” His voice was hard this tand once again, Mrs Carter

spluttered.

“This woman is definitely here to ruin this wedding! Why should I—" she was speaking when Zane cut her off, his

voice sharp.

“Do it. Did she do something to you? She's only here to support Marco as his friend, and she’s also here as my

date since she’s my girlfriend. So, apologize.”

“How can you talk to your mother like this?” Mrs Carter finally cried out, and | watched as Marco

wrapped his arms around his mother’s shoulder and tugged her against his chest.

“Zane, stop speaking to her like that! Apologize!”

Zane scoffed. “The fuck? Why? Just because | asked her to apologize to Addison? She insulted her by all what she

implied so she needs to apologize.”

Marco rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t need to apologize, Addison didn’t even pick offense, right

Addison?”

They all facedand | struggled for what to say. | didn’t want to let Marco down, but an apology from his

mother would definitely be nice.

“—"“| was still speaking when Zane cutoff.

“What Addison wants doesn’t matter. As her boyfriend, | demand an apology.”

At this point, Mrs Carter had managed to tear herself out of Marco’s grip and was pointing a hand between

myself and Zane.

“Wait, did you really mean it when you said she was your girlfriend?” She cried out, then she laughed while

shaking her head.

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“Can’t you really see that she’s clearly after the family’s money??” She continued, crackling loudly.

“Stop speaking nonsense, mother.” Zane snapped but she ignored him.

“She has no money, she’s definitely with you for the family’s money. Look at this dress she’s clad in, it’s the

latest Gucci collection and I'm certain she roped you into getting it for her, cause she definitely can’t afford it

herself.” She continued and | felt a wave of mortification cover every inch of my body just as she continued.

“If she’s really your girlfriend and not your latest toy, you should discard her either way. Someone willing to jump

between two brothers like her is beyond disgusting. She’ll end up stealing all your money at the end.”

“Since when did you start caring forthis much, mother?” Zane murmured after a few moments

Mrs Carter seemed to be at a loss of what to say at first before she got herself together. “I- | always cared about

you, Zane. It's you who hates following rules. And you should know disobeying rules

comes with consequences.”

Zane snorted besidewhile Marco nodded beside his mother.

“Whatever, just apologize to my girlfriend.”

Mrs Carter squared her jaw, her gaze sharp with after. “I'll never do that. If you chose to still be with her, that’s

your choice. However, do us all a favor and keep an eye on the wrench. You must ensure she doesn’t try to ruin

the wedding.” She bit out sharply, glaring at Zane.

“Mrs Carter, I'm really only here to support Marco.” | finally breathed out but she gavea sharp, icy glare.

Usually it would makeinstantly cower, but | refused to back down, holding her sharp gaze with mine till she

scoffed and looked away.

“What else were you gonna say anyway?” She snapped through an eyeroll.

Marco put his arm across his mother’s shoulders again as he finally spoke. “Mother, | don’t think Addison can do

that. She's just here to support me.”

His mother looked up at him before finally signing and nodding. “Alright.”

| let out a scoff of disbelief, feeling extremely angry cause again Marco chose to finally speak up after the issue

had gotten so dragged out, and over the fact that she seemed to finally agree after Marco spoke, but completely

ignored all what Zane had been saying since.

It shows that Marco was definitely the favorite child. Although they didn’t look alike, they had the seyes and

smile, but while Marco had brown hair, his mother had blonde hair.

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| still remained tense, my heart still pounding around in my chest till Mrs Carter finally left the kitchen, then | was

finally able to breathe again. That entire exchange had felt so scary, and also humiliating on my part, but | was

glad that at least the other guests of the couple hadn’t witnessed it happening. | felt very grateful to Zane for

defendingagain when he definitely hadn’t had to. The way he and his mother had interacted showed that

they didn’t get along, and | wondered if he'd tellthe reason if |

ask him about it once we're alone.

He didn’t get along with Marco, or his mother. Does it mean that he and his entire family aren't on good terms?

I'm so damn curious.

“You alright?” Zane’s voice pulledout of my thoughts and I blinked up at him as | nodded, feeling entranced

by his eyes which still has scoldness lingering in there. He reached down and cupped my face, his thumb

slightly stroking my cheek and | felt myself melt against him a little.

| completely forgot where we were in till Marco's voice pulledback to the present, then | was blushing hard

and glancing down at my feet, feeling my heart pounding against my ribs cause for a moment back there, |

completely forgot that Zane asking if | was okay then stroking my face, was all an act for Marco.

“Where are you two going?” Marco asked, his eyes still hard as he grumbled out.

“Oh, to a date.” | breathed out as | exhaled shakily. Truly, after this encounter with Mrs Carter, | didn’t feel like

going out anymore and wished to stay in so | could get a long sleep.

“Why? Aren't you two here to have together with the couple? Which is myself and Aisha, so you aren’t supposed

to go out by yourselves.” He pointed out. “And besides, | have something important to reveal to you, Addison.”

and he shrugged

My eyes widened. “What's that?” | blurted little.

“It’s truth from the past.” He revealed and my eyes widened, my he

a

wondered what that was about.

my eyes widened, my heartbeat accelerating as |

I was about to tell him that we could stay in, cause | was curious as hell right now. Before I could get the word

out, Zane was speaking, his grip tightening on my shoulders as if signaling forto remain silent.

“I want to have a little fun with my girl, Marco. | wanna show her around and all. After we return, we'll all hang

out with you and your fiancée.”

Marco scowled at Zane. “Selfish as usual, Zane.”

Zane chuckled easily. “Well, you learn to be selfish when you have something you wanna seize. And

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no man is born selfish, he’s forced to learn that skill as a survival trait, lest he perishes in the claws of

monsters.”

| frowned as | looked between the two of them, feeling pretty sure that they were presently speaking

about something else entirely.

Before either of them could say something else, Aisha sauntered in.

“Our mums just left, babe.” She said as she caround to stand beside Marco, glancing between the

two brothers as well.

Marco still had his eyes on Zane as he spoke. “You know what? You're right.” He breathed out, his lips

twitching, making him look very breathtaking right now. That was the exact person | fell for, that was always

smirking back in school.

He was stil staring at Zane as he spoke to Aisha. “Babe, what do you think of a joint date with Zane and his

girlfriend?”

Aisha grinned without hesitation, her eyes falling on Zane to briefly check him out before she nodded vigorously.

“That sounds fun!”

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