Selective/Memory: The "Depth of Emotion" Book 2 (The Depth of Emotion) by DD Lorenzo Page B

he’d never have known the truth of what it felt like to have someone who truly, wholly loved you.
    Closing his eyes afforded him the luxury of seeing her in his head, and the images arrived like a special gift as he ingested more of the hot liquid. It eroded his resistance as his beautiful girl came rushing into his mind’s eye like crashing waves. The sense of emptiness he felt without her was more overwhelming than he had originally anticipated. Thinking it would be easier for them both, he cut her out of his life. Now, all he felt was the vindictive repercussion of vulnerability.
    As Marisol fed more fabricated lies throughout his recovery, he foolishly thought he could live without Aria, yet the more his own memories returned, he realized that, for him, living without Aria was becoming as painful as living without air. With each day that passed, the desperation he felt threatened to engulf him, but he was a helpless victim of his own circumstance. He was the one who sent her away, and suffering was the price he was paying for it.
    As he downed another burning shot, his office door opened. Shoving the bottle and glass into the small drawer of the desk beside him, he reached for the tin of Altoids, popping two in his mouth. He raked his hands through his hair to compose himself, and turned with evil eyes to see who had intruded on his pleasant visualization.
    “You couldn’t knock?” he said harshly to his brother.
    The concern surfaced in Carter immediately upon seeing his brother. Carter could tell he’d been drinking.
    “Are you all right?” Carter asked.
    “I’m fine!” Declan barked at him. “My leg’s being a pain in the ass today, that’s all. What do you want?”
    Carter took a seat in front of the desk and dismissed Declan’s ill humor, becoming engrossed in his own thoughts. Right now, he was in need of a bit of support.
    “You got a few minutes? I really need to bounce something off of you…”
    NEED.
    His brother needed him…
    Immediately, something snapped inside of Declan. No one had needed him for months, and a memory resurfaced of the relationship he and Carter shared. The fundamental act of being useful sparked a chord, and it instantly stroked his faltering ego. He was subconsciously sick of the coddling. The protector in him jumped front and center, and it instantaneously changed his demeanor. If Carter would have been looking up, he would even have noticed a slight change in his brother’s posture as his dignity forged his spine into a more upright position.
    “Yeah, I got a few minutes,” he said, completely softening his tone at the opportunity to be useful. “What’s up?”
    Leaning back in the chair, Carter sucked in a labored deep breath. Not knowing exactly where to start, he took his rough hand and ran it over his face, pushing at the invisible distress.
    Finally, after a few minutes, he set an anxiously confused look toward Declan, trying to put his comments in order.
    “I’m going to have a benefit thing in Lacey’s memory. You know, to memorialize her. It’ll be for a scholarship fund. It’s something I want to do every year.”
    At the invocation of Lacey’s name, Declan softened even more. It was the common ground where both men had a tender spot. The lines around his mouth eased, and as the headache faded away with his sour attitude, so did the tension he had held in his eyes.
    “Tell me why you want to do this,” he prodded.
    “I don’t know…to keep her alive, I guess,” Carter said. “She was always doing nice things for everybody whenever she could. I just thought that she’d like it if a kid could go to school in her name…” Carter’s voice grew raspy and broken when he spoke of Lacey.
    It was apparent that emotions associated with her passing were punctual for him with just a thought. The pain affiliated with her loss was still there, fresh on the surface. It reminded Declan of exactly how much his brother must love him. Carter was still