Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“What kind of deal?”
I lick my lips. “I moved in with him. I . . .” I didn’t know he was your father. I’m so sorry.
“You want me to believe you just moved in with him? That living in his place was his price?” He clenches his jaw. “I know my brother. He doesn’t do anything out of the kindness of his heart. If he wanted you, he had you.”
I bite my bottom lip. “It wasn’t like that.”
His brows shoot up. “Wasn’t it? Look me in the eye and tell me you never fucked him.”
I drop my head. Memories flash through my mind. “When Oliver and I got physical—”
“No. Just stop. I don’t want to know any of this. You’ve known how I feel about Oliver from the night we met, and you never—”
“I knew you had a brother you hated, but I didn’t know it was Oliver. I didn’t know that until I flew across the country to surprise you and he answered the door.”
He stops pacing and turns to stare at me. “When?”
“Not long after Vegas.”
“You’ve known for over two years?”
“Don’t you see? That was why I couldn’t date you. That was why I couldn’t let our relationship go beyond friendship.”
“Is that what you’ve been telling yourself?”
Hot tears roll down my cheeks. As if each one is filled with the burn of my shame. “My past with Oliver is complicated.”
He huffs out a dry laugh, but there’s no humor in it, and it feels like a smack in my face. “No. It seems pretty simple.”
“Please don’t look at me like that,” I beg. “Please just try to understand. I never wanted to hurt you.”
“I would’ve given you anything, and you couldn’t even give me the truth.”
“I’m sorry.” I pull off the ring and offer it to him in an extended palm.
He stares at it like it he finds it offensive. “Does he know this thing between us . . . does he know it’s fake?”
I shake my head, causing more tears to spill down my cheeks. “No. The girls back home are the only ones who know.”
He’s quiet for a long time, staring at the ring. The grandfather clock in the corner ticks through the seconds ominously until he finally speaks. “If you ever cared about me at all, you’ll keep it that way. At least until after the wedding. I think I’ve been embarrassed enough.”
I slide the ring back onto my finger, but this time it doesn’t feel like a fun game. It feels like a shackle, tethering me to a too-heavy lie. “I should get back to my hotel so I can catch my plane.”
He nods sharply, avoiding my eyes. “I’ll let my driver know.”
I stand to go upstairs and pull on my clothes but stop before I leave the kitchen. “I’m sorry, Alec.”
“Not as sorry as I am.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
SAVVY
Iknock on Oliver’s door so hard my knuckles hurt.
I couldn’t bring myself to ask Alec’s driver to take me to Oliver, so I had him take me to my hotel, where I changed into my travel clothes and checked out before taking an Uber to Oliver.
When he opens the door, I fold my arms and glare. “What the fuck was that?”
He looks me over, no hint of that cocky smirk on his face. When his gaze lands on the ring again, he scowls and turns into the room, leaving the door open behind him. “Not sure what you mean.”
I follow him inside and slam the door behind me. “You couldn’t talk to me first? You had to rub it in his face? Make it sound like we’ve had something recently? Make it so I couldn’t even tell him about our relationship on my terms?”
“Relationship?” he says, and I flinch, regretting the word. “Is that what it was?”
My eyes fill with hot tears. “You’re right. It wasn’t anything like that. You used me. You hurt me.”
For a split second, something softens in his face. Or maybe it’s just my imagination, because I blink and his old, cocksure expression is back. “Want a drink?” he asks, hoisting a bottle of bourbon in the air.
“It’s not even nine a.m.”
He shrugs and uncaps the bottle, pouring two fingers into a glass. “Suit yourself.”
“What are you doing?” I ask, my voice breaking. This is not the way I wanted Alec to find out, and I want to scream at Oliver for it, but deep down I know this mess is my fault. I’m the coward who couldn’t own up to the truth.
“What do you mean what am I doing?” He takes a sip of his drink and looks me over slowly before stepping forward. He’s so close that the scent of him fills my head and brings a hundred memories to the surface. “You show up at my sister’s door. I see you for the first time in years . . .”