Chapter 131
Not in the mood for games? Austin Cyner was just the man that one would think would be into games. His eyes were usually lit with stern amusement and he gained power from chaos. Indifference had been a reigning faculty; it had made him unreadable and dangerous. Slighting him into self-condemnation had never been achieved. Not even when it came to his family matters and it was widely assumed that he was a man without malleable emotions.
Thomas had evolved alongside that man, the image of him unmistakable in his mind’s eye. But that man was not the person before him. Losing his temper had always been a show, but since Austin and Skylar married, Thomas found the chaotic emotions brimming in Austin’s iris’ overwhelmingly genuine.
“Are we really to pretend you don’t know what I’m referring to?” Thomas cocked his brows at the forced blank expression taking homage on Austin’s features. The rise and fall of his chest abnormally slow. He was waiting for Thomas to be specific as if mentioning Skylar himself would knock his pride down a couple pegs.
“Okay,” Thomas gave a singular nod proceeding to uncross his arms, leaning off the door frame with a steady inhale to draw in the energy he’d need for this conversation. “Where’s your wife?” he enquired almost innocently but there was a knowing gleam in his eyes.
Austin huffed, his chest reverberating to match the hysterical chuckling pulsing in his throat. “Taken to asking questions you already know the answer too? Not very effective is it?” a hand dropping from the counter and raking through his hair, the ebbing pain in his leg intensifying into a sharp sensation shooting up his nervous pathways from the slightest shift in his body weight.
“I don’t know the answers.” Thomas was not deterred by the irrational shift in Austin’s demeanour. A tactic to sway Thomas’ focus. “How could I when you’ve both been actively avoiding me?”
“Both?” Austin straightened his back, inhaling through the aches reminding him of their presence. He faced Thomas now, appearing every bit the formidable man his reputation made him out to be. “Then why am I the unlucky one forced to look upon your horrid face?” Austin moved past him into the adjoining bedroom. Turning to follow Austin’s movements, Thomas noted the limp in Austin’s steps. He eased down on the bed as he set to work on the gashes to his leg.
He ripped the leg of the pants down, inspecting the area. His fingers stained with his blood again. Thomas eyed the wound but preferred to stick to the topic at hand.
“Because I have no idea where she’d staying right now and the girl knows how to stay hidden.” Thomas drawled, his words coated with an emotion reminiscent of pride. The note rendering Austin more annoyed than he already was.
“Probably with Colin,” he muttered resentfully, just under his breath as he was lowered to clean the dried blood around his wounds with the materials present in the first aid kit he’d flung onto the bed when he entered the room. The thought alone was enough to heat his blood and trigger his rage. Good. Adrenaline was what he needed to ebb the pain away.
Thomas caught the remark, blinking four times in total as if the action would rewind time and give him clarity in what Austin just said. “Colin?” He echoed the name,
“Why the devil would that ever be an option?” he almost burst out laughing at how ridiculous the notion was. Skylar and Colin. What a pair they’d make.
“Perhaps you don’t know her as well as you think.” Austin dabbed at the wound, ready to dress it and discard the tattered pieces of his clothes. Sound advice on Austin’s end would be that Austin’s wounds were too deep for a mere bandage, but he was almost certain the man was aware of that.
“Do you?” Thomas retorted triflingly, offended that such a thought was poisoning Austin’s regard of Skylar. Did he really accuse his brother and wife of having an affair? No, did he really think Skylar interested in Colin? Thomas couldn’t speak on Colin’s behalf but he knew Skylar’s mind on this.
“Do I what?” Austin snapped, giving up on the bandage mid-way, the progress he made unravelled in no time as he sat up straighter levelling his gaze to Thomas, his pupils dilating with a murderous glint at being questioned.
“Know her?” Thomas pronounced the words as if they were a foreign language and Austin was a novice. “You seem to be suggesting...”
“I know what I’m suggesting.” Austin cut him off before Thomas took the opportunity to create an image that didn’t need reviving in Austin’s head. “I said the words and I stand firm on it.”
He couldn’t be serious. Thomas pressed his lips together, his head lifting in reserved deliberation. He begun twisting his head in a representation of his disagreement.
“You idiot,” he huffed a disbelieving laugh, rubbing the pad of his hand over his chin. “do not tell me the reason you two are in this state is because you accused her of wanting to be with Colin.”
No answer. Only defiance and resolution. Confirmation never felt so sickening. Thomas’ stomach churned.
“It was no mere accusation.” Austin replied, coming to his feet, centring his gravity until the pain condensed into a bearable pulse. “Are you leaving or are you holding
out for a show?” he fingered the belt at his waist. It was easier to pull the remainder of the fabric off his skin with a single rip but he made a show to hint at Thomas.
Tauntingly, Thomas left his gaze lingering on the belt, “If it’s a show I should enjoy it,” he traced his eyes back up to Austin’s, his jaw clenched. “Skylar doesn’t love Colin.” He said while he had Austin’s attention.
“For Fuck’s sake.” Austin dropped his hands from his belt, falling backwards on the bed and raking his fingers aggressively through his hair.
“Hell,she doesn’t even like him.” Thomas continued despite Austin’s persistence in not wanting to hear. “She used him, remember?” he blurted the words out and Austin paused, his mind quieting as it couldn’t recognise the words swarming in for analysis.
“What?”
Thomas scoffed, “I am sure she didn’t even tell you,” he said to himself, remembering when she’d asked him not to tell Austin, but with everything going on. Their marriage, public sex and the loss of the child, Thomas had hoped she was honest with him. They certainly seemed to be progressing on the emotional front.
“What didn’t she tell me?” Austin was getting impatient, his heart ramming against the walls of his chest. The muscles becoming more sore with each passing second.
“When she was searching for information about her father. There was a lead that led her to Colin and to get close to him she entered into a relationship.” Thomas decided on the savoury answer, he never thought that he’d be the one to reveal this to anyone, “It was never real. There is not emotion on her end for Colin, why do you think she married you?” he shrugged, “You know Colin proposed to her multiple times, right? If Skylar wanted to be with him she would have never gotten married to you.”