by Vivian Wood
Touching my face, I scowl at Grayson.
“It’s residue from the fire,” I say.
But he’s already turned away, facing his sleeping best friend instead.
I bite my lower lip, looking at Aiden. I want to tell Gray the whole thing, to spill it all right here and now. But I can’t do that while Aiden is so vulnerable.
“Sure,” I say with a shrug. “It’s what he’d do for me.”
Grayson lifts his eyebrows as if to say, what? But I just turn and leave, going first to check on Margaret and Carter. Then I do head down to the cafeteria, grabbing a cup of coffee and stretching my legs.
I’m still so mad at Aiden, mostly I think because last night he could have died. I wouldn’t have ever gotten to say goodbye… but he didn’t even seem to think of that as he raced off into a burning house.
More than that, I am mad because now I have to keep the burning secret from my brother, when really I would rather shout how I feel about Aiden from the rooftops.
So I drink the whole cup of coffee. Then I stop at the gift shop for some basic self-care supplies. I end up leaving with a bag of sour gummy worms, a pack of face wipes, a book of crossword puzzles, and a gray t-shirt that’s large enough for Aiden.
By the time I walk back into Aiden’s hospital room, he’s awake again. Not just awake, but entertaining guests. Grayson stands with his back against the opposite wall while a shirtless Aiden plies a few nurses with his particular brand of charm. The nurses are taking up the entire doorway of Aiden’s room, so I just sidle right behind them.
Aiden grins at them, finishing some story. “…and so I told Grayson here to shut up. We ran away, booked it as fast as we could make it off of that boat. And somehow, he still holds a grudge.”
“Awww, I bet you were so cute at fifteen,” one nurse says.
“I would’ve tried to romance you, that’s for certain.”
Two of the nurses laugh, the third looking back and noticing me. She clears her throat.
“We don’t mean to be in your way,” she says softly, moving aside to let me through. “Your boyfriend was just telling us how he and Grayson have been joined at the hip for ages.”
I freeze at the word boyfriend. But before I can correct her, Aiden’s voice cuts through the room. “Nope! Not dating her! Or anybody else… I’m available for all the sponge baths you wanna give me.”
Grayson speaks up. “I think that Aiden has had enough visitors for awhile. While he loves playing the ladies man, he also could probably use some more rest.”
I awkwardly elbow my way in as the nurses are saying goodbye. A pretty blonde nurse actually gets closer to Aiden, whispering something in his ear. He cocks a brow as she leaves.
“Noted!” he calls.
She flashes a smile back over her shoulder. I roll my eyes, trying to quell the uneasy feeling in my gut. My brother was right about one thing: Aiden does love playing the ladies man, all right. But I think if he told Grayson right now that he and I have been sleeping together…
Well, after that little show with the nurses, I think my brother would actually kill him. Not that Aiden has to tell him now, but… still. Why antagonize the beast?
After the nurses leave, I unfold the t-shirt I got for Aiden in the gift shop.
“Here. Cover yourself.” Tossing the shirt to him, I settle in the empty chair beside his bed and open the gummy worms.
“Thanks,” Aiden says, pulling the shirt on as best he can with one bandaged hand. “It’s my color, don’t you think?”
He grins and wiggles his eyebrows. Where is this stand-up comic suddenly coming from? Because I need him in my life like I need a hole in my head.
Is it just the residual medication left in his system, or is this just how Aiden responds to stress when he can’t fight his way out of a situation?
Grayson sighs. “I hate to do this, but I actually need to get back to work. Rachel is wrapping up some family stuff and I promised I would be there.”
My brows arch. “Oh?”
Grayson turns red. “Yeah, we — Rachel and I — are going to try to make a go of things again.”
I turn to Aiden. “Told you they would get back together.”
Aiden wrinkles his nose. “To each his own, I guess. Some of us just want to be wild and single forever…”
I shoot him a glare as he embraces my brother. He just avoids my gaze.
“I’ll be back tonight, maybe,” Grayson says.
“I should be out of here by then. Just make sure you talk to Olivia and see where we are.” Aiden waves him off.
Grayson gives him an odd look, then puts his hand on my shoulder as he heads to the door. “I’ll be talking with you tonight, then.”
I wait until he leaves before I narrow my gaze on Aiden’s face. “Did you have to rub it in, Mr. Wild and Single Forever?”
He yawns. “I don’t know. Maybe I will just never tell him and then in his mind, I will be single forever.”
I throw a gummy worm at his head. “I’m serious, Aiden.”
He raises his eyebrows. “And I’m not?”
My mouth opens. For a second I am speechless.
“What?” I ask, affronted. “You told me that you were trying to figure out a way to tell Grayson. Was that a lie?”
“No…” he hedges.
“So why put on the show? Why pretend to hit on the nurses?” My eyes start to tear up, which is embarrassing. I hate that when I’m mad or frustrated, I want to cry. “Just tell my brother, Aiden.”
“Okay, let’s not get emotional over here,” he says, sitting up straight in the bed.
I stand up. “Are you ever going to tell Grayson the truth?”
The back of his neck turns red. “Eventually, yes.”
“Are you going to keep up this charade in the meantime? Flirting with every woman you see? Hmm?” I set the gummy bears down. “I’m starting to think that I’m not worth as much to you as I thought.”
He levels a look at me. “You are blowing this way out of proportion. Are we really having our first fight about something this stupid?”
Gasping, I feel my anger start to boil over. “I’m not stupid.”
“I didn't say you were,” he says, rolling his eyes.
Folding my arms across my chest and pinning him with a glare, I demand to know more. “When are you going to tell my brother?”
“I said I’d tell him at some point!” he says, pissed off. “Is my word not good enough for you suddenly?”
“If that’s the best you can come up with, maybe it’s not,” I snap. “Either you agree that you’ll tell him this week or I will walk away.”
“Is that an ultimatum?” he asks, scowling.
Disbelieving, I shake my head, my whole body tensing. “I guess it is. You can't even say that you love me, and maybe you don’t. But for god’s sake, if you want to keep me as badly as you say you do, tell Grayson. Stop behaving like a little boy and just admit to him that we are in a relationship.”
Aiden closes his eyes, blowing out a breath. “Some things won’t be rushed, Olivia.”
I shake my head slowly. “That is the thing about ultimatums, Aiden. Either the other party gives in… or you walk away. And right now, I am not getting what I need from you.”
He opens his eyes, looking tired. “Olivia…”
“Don’t.” I snatch up my face wipes and my gummy worms, feeling ridiculous. My tears finally spill over onto my face. “I guess I’m… I’m just not worth enough to you.”
Turning toward the door, I start walking away.
“Olivia…” Aiden calls. “Don’t leave…”
But I ignore him, choking out a sob on my way out the door.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Aiden
Fuck.
Fuck!
Olivia just walked away and left me here to stew in my feelings about her.
Do I love her?
Almost certainly.
Am I willing to tell her brother?
That wasn’t enough for her. Understandable, but it nonetheless guts me to the core. My choices to get her back are slim indeed.
I’m released the next day from the hospital and picked up by Grayson. He takes me straight back to Whiskey Bend, where I spend the next few days sleeping, not leaving my little cabin unless I have to.
I want to ask about Olivia. Texting her, I get no response, Still, every time Grayson sticks his head in to check on me, words fail me.
I know I need to just be a man and tell him. But I don’t want to sever our connection… and I’m pretty sure that telling him I fucked his little sister, fell in love with her, and can't stop thinking about her… yeah, it would do just that.
I’m weak. My weakness makes me hate myself.
Maybe Olivia would be better off with someone else, someone who wouldn’t have this… this need to not let Grayson down. It wars with my need to have Olivia in my life, in my bed, under me…
So every second I’m not asleep, I’m just tied up in knots over it.
What should I do?
How angry will Grayson be?
What if I already missed my chance with Olivia?
That’s all sliding around in my head as we go back to the Morgan estate to get my stuff. He gives me a look as I slide myself into the car he’s borrowed.
“What?” I ask grumpily.
He sighs. “Nothing, man.”
We drive the twenty minutes back to the Morgan estate in near silence. I’m brooding about Olivia, which I of course can't tell him. And he’s upset about something, though he doesn’t seem inclined to share what it is right now.
“Where do you wanna go?” he asks as we pull down the long drive to the estate. I glance at him, a little caught off guard, but his gaze darts away. “With your stuff, I mean. Back to Whiskey Bend?”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought that far, honestly. “Yeah, I guess.”
Grayson sucks in a breath. “I talked to Nate. Told him what happened. He’s willing to give you another shot once your hand is healed.”
For some reason, that doesn’t sound very appealing. But I try to squash that feeling, add it to the million other things I don’t say around Grayson.
“Thanks, man.”
He pulls up to the half-burned husk of the main house, squinting at it. It’s gruesome, looking at what used to be a pretty grand estate house. Now it’s ruined, most of the roof gone, some parts of the second floor singed and others gone completely. As I look on, a man in coveralls carries an overstuffed chair out of the front door, adding it to the pile of things recovered that are spread out across the lawn.
“It looks like they managed to save most of the first floor,” Grayson says. “And some of the second.”
I sigh. On top of everything else, this is just the cherry on the fucked up sundae for me. “Yeah. Listen, I need to shower and clean myself up before I can even begin packing. Do you want to meet me back here a little later?”
Grayson looks at me, then shrugs. “Sure. I have some errands to run.”
Getting out of the car, I trudge around the side of the house. Behind me I hear the wheels turning around on the gravel, but I’m already in my own world. Trying to prepare myself for seeing Olivia, or not seeing her, when I get through the wooded path.
I honestly don’t know which I’d prefer. Obviously my heart wants to see her; it speeds up, every beat sounding like a wallop in my head.
But if she isn’t interested in seeing me… I don’t know if I would rather be in her presence just then.
Sucking in a breath, I push on, going through the woods. I come out on the other side, my heart seizing as I approach her side of the staff apartments. But it doesn’t take me long to look inside and fall flat.
The apartment is empty.
I expected as much. It still hurts, though. I grab my phone, sending her another text.
Hey. I’m at your apartment… you’ve moved out. Where are you?
Like the other twenty texts, it goes unanswered.
I add one more. I miss you.
Then I put my phone back in my pocket and head over to my apartment, my thoughts in turmoil. I fucked up with Olivia, there’s no doubting that.
I burst through the door of my apartment, a sigh on my lips. Carter is standing on a chair that is leaning against the kitchen cabinets, looking right at me like a deer in headlights.
I still. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
He straightens, climbing down off the chair and dusting off his hands. “Well… uh…”
Spotting the books that he’s pulled off of the shelf in my living room, all scattered and rifled through, I groan. “What the fuck? Seriously?”
I head over to a stack that has obviously been gone through and discarded, picking them up. Then I look around and realize that isn’t the only thing he’s disturbed… he’s looked everywhere.
“I want the box that my father left for me,” he orders, folding his arms across his chest.
I roll my eyes, putting the books down on a side table.
“Us,” I say.
“What?”
“Our father left us the box,” I snap. “And it’s over there, under the record player.”
I point to where the box sits, shaking my head. Carter glares at me, going over to it and carefully removing it from under the record player. Then he carries the box over to my kitchen table, stacking it on top of the mail he’s already opened and discarded there.
Wrenching it open, he looks down at the contents. I walk over and watch as he lifts the first envelope out, the one with my name written on it.
“Son of a bitch,” he mutters. He glances up, his expression both wary and a warning. “I’m opening it.”
I shrug. “Okay.”
He dumps out the contents onto the table, the photos and the letters, the stock certificates and the ring. Carter picks up the ring first, examining it. He glances up at me, brow furrowed, then he picks up the letter. Unfolding it with trembling fingers, he reads it.
Then he looks at me, his eyes wide. “This is real?”
I nod. “Yes.”
He exhales a shaky breath.
“Okay. Okay. Fuck!” Shaking his head, he sets the letter aside and opens his envelope. Fishing an identical letter out, he makes a face. “He was such a goddamn bastard. If you’d known him, you would feel angry too.”
Then he lowers his eyes to his own letter, he unfolds it and begins to read. I quietly begin to reassemble the contents of my envelope, pausing when I pick up the ring.
Delicate gold. A brilliant pink diamond.
The promise of forever.
A gift from my biological father, originally meant for my dead mom. It weighs heavily in my hand.
When I glance up again, Carter is watching me. He sighs and folds his letter. He nods to the ring. “You should use that.”
I eye him. “What?”
“That ring? You should use that.”
“What?” I repeat.
He looks me square in the eye. “My first action as your apparent brother is to tell you to give that ring to Olivia. I mean, when you guys are ready. Get down on one knee and all that.”
My confusion is apparent. “You know that Olivia and I have been… seeing each other?”
“After the third time I almost got punched for even looking her way, I figured it out. Plus I saw you kiss her on the front porch the night of the masquerade ball. And I haven’t missed the fact that you two are practically glued together at the hip.”
I don’t know what to say to that. We weren’t as sneaky as I thought apparently. His suggestion — that I give the ring to Olivia — keeps repeating in the back of my head.
Carter just gives me an amused look.
“Does that count as brotherly advice?” he wonders aloud. He shakes his head. “Damn, my father was such a fucking prick.”
“It’s good to know that I inherited it honestly,” I say, smiling and shrugging.
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That makes him snort. “You and me both, I guess.” He looks thoughtful for a moment. “Do you maybe want to stay here? Just while we figure out what we’re going to do about… you know, the whole thing with your paternity and figuring out who inherits what. I’m going to be staying in one of the other apartments, so…”
I shake my head after thinking about it for a second. “No. I have a whole life outside of this place. And…” I trail off, glancing toward the empty apartment next door.
“Oh man,” Carter says, shaking his head. “You are so fucking lost on her, aren’t you?”
I glare at him. “If you mean Olivia, she’s not exactly talking to me right now.”
“Why?”
I squint. “Because she wants me to tell people about us, and I… I don’t want that.”
His eyebrows rise. “You think that a girl like her wants to be your dirty little secret forever?”
My cheeks color. “No. I’m just… you know, I need more time.”
He smirks. “You need to quit being a dick is what you need. I don’t want to get out of my depth here, but have you told her how you feel about her?”
It takes a second for me to slowly shake my head. “No.”
“Then go do that.” He shrugs, as if it’s just that easy.
I scowl. “It’s complicated. Her older brother is my best friend.”
He rolls his eyes. “So?”
Crossing my arms, I let out an aggravated sigh. “So… I don’t want to disappoint him.”
“You already slept with her. The disappointing thing has already happened,” he fires back. “Now it’s your job to be honest and take whatever punishment he levies on you. Because in the end, you get the girl. Isn’t that the whole point?”
Carter is a lot of things, but at this moment, he’s not wrong. I sigh forcefully.
“Yeah.” The idea of proposing to Olivia, of being able to tell her how I feel without worrying that Grayson will flip out, surfaces in my mind again.
Mine. Olivia would be mine forever.
Carter puts his letter back in his envelope, pursing his lips as he looks around the room. “It’s going to take some time to adjust to the idea of having a brother.”
