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Lita gaped at Edge with shock at his revelation. That had been one of the last things she'd expected to hear. However, now more than ever, she was filled with even more curiosity. Okay, so the tall blond man's step-brother had somehow stolen away his girlfriend and gone so far as to *marry* her. But what was *really* going on?
She shook her head.
"I... I don't get it," she admitted. "So, Christian is your step-brother... But... why-"
"Why did I attack him?" Edge concluded for her. His green gaze was sharp as he fixed it on her. He honestly didn't know why he was telling her all of this. It was really none of her business, even though he liked her a whole lot - and maybe even more than that.
The redhead nodded.
"It's a... long story," the tall blond man said, shaking his head. He raised a hand to rake his fingers through his long, golden hair and sighed. "A very long and very sordid one, and I highly doubt you would believe it even if I *did* tell you."
"Try me."
Edge turned his head to again meet her eyes, and he swallowed hard at the expression that was now present on her face. Her hazel gaze looked to be one filled with nothing but confusion, and, more importantly, concern. And he knew this concern was directed at *him*. Nervously, he licked his lips before speaking, hoping that somehow, she would believe the story.
"Okay, okay," he said resignedly, gazing into her eyes as best he could in the darkness of the car. He turned his head to stare out of the windshield for a beat, letting out a sigh as he began to explain. "Like I said, it's a really long story. It goes all the way back to our childhood."
Lita sat still, her eyes unblinking as she held her breath in anticipation.
"My step-brother and I used to be the best of friends once upon a time... And not only that. We were more like *real* brothers from the time we were kids." Edge smiled ever so slightly at the memory. "We became best friends right away when my mom started dating his dad... And then, when they got married... It was great."
The redhead perked up slightly, turning around a bit in the passenger's seat so as to better focus on the blond man as he spoke.
"The truth is," he went on, his gaze again leaving her briefly, "Christian and I had some differences. While he always had both his parents in his life, my father was never around. He... he walked out on my mom when she was pregnant with me."
Lita felt badly hearing that bit of news, but she didn't dare utter a sound as she knew he would continue immediately.
"But even though I never knew him all my life, he still left me an inheritance..."
The redhead's brows rose in question, but she allowed him to proceed and explain.
"... I guess he felt guilty for basically being nothing but a sperm donor," Edge said. "A year and a half ago, my mother called me over to her house... She sat me down and said she had something very important to tell me." He ran his hand through his long blond hair again and continued. "She told me my birth father had been killed in a drunk driving accident, that a lawyer had contacted her and told her he'd left me nearly his entire estate in his will..."
The young woman's lips parted in slight comprehension. This was suddenly beginning to make sense, the pieces of the puzzle seemingly easily fit together.
"I guess he felt... guilty," she surmised, and the man nodded.
"Yeah, I would say so," he said. "It turned out that he had quite a lot of money, and he left the majority of it to his son - *me*." He glanced back at her, knowing this portion of the story was the believable part of it. "Christian said he was sorry because my father was dead and I'd never known him..." He shook his head. "... but that wasn't all. I was going to do something with the money... I was going to give a good portion of it to different charities - mostly benefitting kids and animals."
Despite the seriousness and direness of his tale, Lita felt a small smile touching her lips. She'd seen earlier in the evening that the blond man obviously loved animals due to his interaction with Cody, but it was even more sweet to see he loved children as well.
"That was when all hell broke loose," he continued. Edge fixed his emerald eyes on her face, a myriad of emotions evident in his expression as he went on. "Dawn Marie and I were living together... We'd been seeing each other for over two years - and then one morning I awoke to find her gone."
"Gone?"
Edge nodded.
"That's right... She'd taken most of her stuff and just upped and left during the night, apparently. But that wasn't all that happened." He shook his head again, then explained. "My checkbook, my credit cards... everything was gone along with her."
The redhead gasped with shock and horror. Was he saying what she feared he was saying? But it couldn't be... She loved Dawn Marie; the brunette was one of her closest friends.
"The first thing I did when I saw what she'd done was call Christian." He glanced down at the dashboard, saddened by the memory. "He never answered his phone, and the machine didn't even pick up. So I rushed over there to get him - I figured he'd bend over backwards to help me... But when I got to his house, I found a note taped to the door."
Lita frowned, sensing what the contents of said note could have possibly been. In any case, she knew it hadn't been anything good.
"He laughed at me. Called me a stupid son of a bitch," the tall blond man scoffed. "Said he got my girl, and now he had my money as well." He shifted his gaze back up to meet the redhead's hazel eyes. "So, in a nutshell, that's what happened - Christian and Dawn Marie were screwing around behind my back... They schemed together after my father died and left me his fortune, and robbed me blind. And they'd been on the run for a good eight months before I lost track of them." He shook his head. "They didn't give me enough credit," he said, his handsome face filled with anger. "I found them eventually, after they'd been settled here for some time." His hands clenched into fists. "So you see now why I did what I did..."
Lita nodded, her face filled with sadness for the blond man. It was horrible. The two people he'd seemingly trusted more than just about anyone else had robbed him blind, taken awful advantage of him... Left him with nothing.
The blond man's expression was full of sorrow and regret. "I don't expect you to believe me-"
The redheaded woman shifted over slightly, reaching out with one finger which she placed on his lips, silencing him. Her eyes were gentle as she gazed into his. Her face seemed to be filled with sympathy, compassion, and... and something else he couldn't quite detect.
"I *do* believe you," she whispered. "And what they did to you was horrible."
Edge nodded as he kept his gaze fixed to hers.
"I'm sorry," she breathed. "I'm sorry they did that to you, but more importantly, I'm sorry I
didn't trust you." They gazed at one another in silence for another moment until Lita edged closer,
closing the distance between them as she sealed her warm lips over his in a kiss.