by Tia Siren
I grinned at thinking about him delivering his sports report with a big shiner. It gave me the tiniest bit of satisfaction to know I had caused him a little pain and a lot of embarrassment. It didn’t make up for what he had done to me, but I would take whatever I could get.
After downing the beer I was still holding, I walked to the refrigerator, grabbed another one, and then grabbed a bag of frozen peas from the freezer. I flopped down in my chair, put the peas on my hand, and kicked back to relax. It wasn’t how I had expected the day would end, but at least I knew what kind of man Brian was. I didn’t feel the least bit guilty for losing touch with the guy. It had been a blessing.
Chapter 9
Lara
I had made another visit to the paint store. This time I was adding a light gold to the hallway. I had spent most of last night watching home improvement shows and learned about making the colors of the home flow. I wanted to bring the gold throughout the home, but not quite as bold as it was in the living room.
I stood back, feeling quite pleased with my progress, and smiled. I didn’t get to gloat long. The doorbell interrupted me.
I peered through the peephole and gasped. What the hell?
I took a second to smooth back the wispy hairs floating around my face and tightened my ponytail a bit. There was nothing to do about my paint-splattered shirt and jeans. He was going to have to take me as I was.
“Hi,” I said, opening the door. “This is a surprise. What brings you here?”
“I’m sorry,” he started. “I’m going to admit right now I used the personal information in your chart to find out where you lived. I violated numerous ethical rules, but I don’t care. I mean I do care, but I had to see you.”
I nodded, not sure what to do with that information. It was weird, but it wasn’t like I didn’t know him.
“Okay. Uh, did you want to come in?”
“Yes, please,” he said, looking a little relieved I didn’t slam the door in his face or call for help.
I pulled the door open wider and gestured for him to come inside. “Have a seat.”
He sat on the couch.
“Uh, can I get you something to drink?” I asked. His visit was a surprise and at an inopportune time, but I still remembered my manners. Years of being trained to be a good hostess for Mitchel’s partners could not be undone in a matter of months.
“No, thank you,” he said, running a hand through his hair.
I sat in my blue chair and waited for him to speak. He was extremely nervous, which was making me nervous.
“I’m sorry to stop by without calling. This is completely wrong, and I really shouldn’t be here, but I needed to talk to you. It couldn’t wait.”
“Is everything okay?” I asked, suddenly worried there was something wrong with me. Would he make a house call?
“Yes. You’re fine. This has nothing to do with you. Well, you, but not your health. This is a more personal matter—one that couldn’t wait—and I didn’t want to talk about it over the phone.”
“Okay. What’s wrong, Mason? You’re kind of freaking me out here.”
“Brian came to see me.” He said the words as if he were in pain.
“Oh.” I winced, fearing the worst.
He nodded. “I didn’t tell him anything,” he blurted out.
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least my secret was still safe—for now.
Mason took another deep breath. “I have a hundred things I feel like I need to say. So, let me start at the beginning. Brian didn’t want me to see you, to date you or anything like that back when we were in high school. He told me to stay away from you. He threatened me. He didn’t want me calling you or seeing you at all. Like a complete idiot, I did what he asked. I’m so, so sorry for that. I shouldn’t have left without saying good bye. I should have called you.”
I looked away, not able to meet his eyes.
“I know I hurt you, Lara. That was never my intent. What happened between us, it meant something to me. I didn’t want to cause problems, so I did what Brian asked,” he said in a low voice, full of shame.
“I know. I mean, I didn’t know until a couple days ago when Brian told me what he did. I get it,” I assured him. “I didn’t know back then what he had said to you. I wished I would have known. I would have told him to mind his own business. I was very hurt. I thought you went off to college and found yourself a college girl and forgot all about me.”
“No.”
I smiled. “I was sixteen. I didn’t know any better. You didn’t return any of my calls. I figured it out, and I left you alone. I moved on, Mason. All of that was a long time ago. Really, you don’t have to feel bad. We were both young,” I said, offering him an excuse.
“We were young, and it’s hard to say how things would have turned out had Brian not intervened, but I wanted you to know the truth. I’m not that kind of a guy. I wasn’t then and I’m not now. Lara, you must know I loved you then. You weren’t a fling. Maybe I was young and didn’t really know what love was, but back then, I really thought I was in love with you.”
“Good to know,” I said, trying to lighten the mood.
He took a deep breath. “Did he tell you why he didn’t want me around you?”
“No. I don’t know that I gave him the chance. Things got ugly really fast once he told me what he had done.”
He chuckled. “Good. I’m glad you stood up for yourself. I wished I would have.”
“So, what was his reason, besides I’m his little sister?”
His cheeks colored red. He was nervous and embarrassed. “I don’t know if you remember the rumors that were circulating back then, but Brian believed them.”
I shrugged. I had no idea what rumors he was talking about. “I don’t remember any specific rumors. I think I ignored most of that nonsense.”
“He thought I got Misty Sinclair pregnant and then dumped her,” he blurted out.
“What?” I laughed. “Why would he think that?”
“Because she spread the rumor and he said she personally told him I fathered her baby,” he said with a great deal of frustration.
“Didn’t he know you hadn’t—you know…?” I said, not wanting to say the words.
He shook his head. “He did, or I thought he did. He certainly gave me enough crap about it. I guess he thought I was lying and believed her.”
“I’m sorry. I don’t remember hearing those rumors, but I do remember Misty Sinclair. She had a reputation for being, uh, very friendly with a lot of the guys on the football team, including my brother.”
He nodded. “Exactly. But Brian believed her and said he didn’t want me doing the same thing to you.”
“Oh. I guess that explains why he acted the way he did, but it’s too bad he believed it.”
I didn’t get to finish what I was going to say because the doorbell rang again. I had more company in five minutes than I’d had in five months.
“Hold on,” I told him, getting up and going to answer the door. “Crap,” I muttered when I peered through the peephole.
I opened the door, and Brian pushed his way inside, not bothering to wait for an invitation.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I told you I would come by.” He stopped short when he saw Mason sitting on my couch. “What’s he doing here?” he boomed.
When he spun to look at me, I bit back a laugh at his blackened eye. I didn’t even have to ask. Mason had left that part out, but I knew it had been him who had caused it.
“I’m here to apologize for being a dick all those years ago,” Mason said, answering Brian’s question.
Brian scoffed. “Little late, don’t you think?”
“She deserves to know the truth. I should have stood up to you then. I didn’t, and I owed her an apology,” Mason said, coming to stand in front of Brian.
“Don’t expect me to apologize for telling you to stay away from her. I won’t. You aren’t good enough for her. What she deserves is a m
an who will be faithful to her and take care of her, not leave her barefoot and pregnant while you go out and bang every woman you see.”
Mason growled and stepped closer to Brian.
“Excuse me. I think I get to decide who is or isn’t good enough for me,” I said, coming to stand at their sides, forming a triangle of sorts.
Both men were staring at each other. They stepped closer, almost to the point where their chests were touching.
“Brian, I think you’d look really nice with a matching black eye. Should I give you another?” Mason fumed.
“Knock it off. Quit acting like a couple of cavemen,” I said.
Brian stepped forward. “I dare you to try. This time it won’t be a sucker punch.”
I stepped between them, using my body to push them apart. I put my back to Mason so I could face Brian. I was tall, but these two were both taller than I was. I felt like I had stepped into a sandwich.
“You have always thought you were better than everybody. You aren’t,” Mason said over my shoulder.
Brian pushed against me, forcing my butt against Mason. It was all a little surreal. My day had started out so normal, and now I was being smashed between two large men in my own living room. That bitch Fate was at it again. I wanted to blacken her eye.
I used my hand to push Brian back a few steps. “I need you both to settle down. I will not have you fighting in my house. If you can’t behave, you can both leave.”
“He started this. I want to finish it,” Mason said, pushing his chest into my back. I had to fight back a shudder at the physical contact. It was all very intimate. And weird considering it was my brother’s face I was looking at.
I spun around and looked at Mason, pointing my finger toward the couch, silently ordering him to sit down. Then I directed Brian to the chair. Both men obeyed and sat down.
I took a deep breath and looked at Brian. “You had no right to come between us. Our relationship was none of your business. I didn’t need you meddling in my life then, and I certainly don’t need you doing it now. You don’t get to dictate who I see or don’t see, Brian. I’m a big girl and I can make my own mistakes.”
“What relationship? I didn’t know you had a relationship,” Brian shot back. It didn’t take him long to put two and two together.
He made a move to stand up, pissed all over again. I gave him a look that said “sit down.”
“We had a relationship until you butted in,” Mason spat out. “Maybe we could have gotten married and lived happily ever after, or maybe we would have split up after I went to school. We never got the chance to find out because you butted your big ass in!”
Brian’s faced turned red. “She’s my little sister!”
“She’s an adult, Brian. A woman. I cared about her, and you went and ruined it all!” Mason shouted back. “You did what you always do, bossed everybody around to suit your needs.”
“Stop. This isn’t helping anything. What happened is in the past. We can’t change it,” I said, trying to be the calm one.
Brian made a move to stand up, but my glare had him sliding back into his chair. “I should have known what you were doing. You were getting close to me so you could get to her,” Brian said with a sneer.
“I—”
“What the hell have you done to my house!” a voice cut through the argument unfolding in my living room.
I spun around. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“It’s my house!” Mitchel shouted.
Chapter 10
Mason
I had to laugh. The guy, who I guessed was the ex-husband, looked as if he was going to have a coronary. His face was red and splotchy, there was spittle at the corners of his mouth, and he was twitching. I wasn’t quite sure what Lara had seen in the man in the first place. He wasn’t overly attractive, but I could admit he did have a certain look that some women would appreciate.
The man was nothing like what I would have imagined Lara marrying. He was older. That was apparent. He looked more like someone’s dad rather than a beautiful woman’s husband. He was dressed as if he were headed to the golf course, which irritated me. I hated that look that wealthy men tended to have. They were always “on,” and it drove me crazy. Dude needed to chill and throw on a pair of sweats. Seeing him explained Lara’s shopping spree.
She turned to look at Brian and me, then at the man standing in the open doorway. She didn’t seem afraid of the man, so I hung back. She could do this on her own.
“Mitchel, you can’t barge in here whenever you want,” she said in a calm voice. “You need to leave.”
It was a very different voice than the one she had been using a few seconds earlier. Her voice was refined and haughty. It reminded me of the voice of those wealthy women in movies who always spoke with supreme confidence.
The man stepped into the condo and slammed the door behind him. “It’s my house,” he said.
She laughed. It wasn’t a joyous laugh. It was an acrimonious laugh that should have been a clear warning to the man. “Mitchel, you don’t own this place anymore. If you had bothered to show up to the last meeting, you would have known that. The papers are signed. The condo is mine. Give me your keys,” she said, holding out her hand.
“You won’t get away with this.” The man glared at her.
“I didn’t get away with anything. It was mine to begin with. My father is the one who put up the down payment for this place. This is my consolation prize. You get to keep your company unless you would like me to drag you to court and go after half of everything.”
The man, who was several inches shorter than me, stepped toward Lara. Instinctively, I moved forward to stand behind her. Brian followed suit. The man glared at both of us and curled his lip with open hostility. Despite him being unhappy to see us, he recognized the threat and kept his distance.
“It’s still my house, Lara, and I don’t know what the hell you were thinking by splattering this horrible paint all over my walls, but I want it gone. What the hell possessed you to go with such gaudy colors? It looks awful! I will report this to the HOA,” he threatened.
I bit back a retort. Was the man threatening to turn her into the homeowner’s association? Did he have no balls? The man was a weasel.
“Not your house, and I like the colors. Your color scheme was more suitable for a morgue,” she answered, not letting him upset her. “Report it to whomever you choose, Mitchel. Remember, I still have ownership of the building. I can change the HOA if I choose. I have the vote—you don’t. Nobody in the building likes you,” she said, slightly patronizing him.
His gaze turned to me and then Brian. I saw the moment he saw Brian’s black eye and immediately put me into the category of scum of the earth.
“Who’s this?” he said, looking at me, expecting me to answer him.
I didn’t give him the satisfaction.
“None of your business. Give me the keys and get out,” Lara repeated. “You can go, or I will have you hauled off and banned from the building altogether. That should really give the board something to gossip about at our next meeting.”
Mitchel was staring her down with unbridled anger and what appeared to be jealousy. I had a feeling my presence was making things worse for her. I didn’t want to cause her any more problems. I had done enough. This Mitchel character obviously knew Brian, but I could see him looking at me and questioning my presence. He didn’t need to start asking who I was. That could lead to Lara’s secret getting out, and I wouldn’t do that to her.
“I should go,” I said quietly from behind her.
“No. Stay. Mitchel, leave,” she demanded.
He sneered and looked at me with the same disgust Brian did. They were seriously going to give me a complex. Did I have a giant booger or some shit?
“It didn’t take you long to find someone to warm your bed,” Mitchel said, turning the look of disgust on her. “I should have known you would jump on the first man you saw.”
She star
ted laughing. “Mitchel, the sheer fact that I waited until after you moved out is far better than you. I had to burn the sheets and have the mattress hauled to the dump because you dragged home every piece of trash you picked up.”
“They weren’t trash,” he shot back.
I raised an eyebrow, not believing the man’s complete lack of remorse for cheating on Lara.
“Keys. Now.”
“Does your boyfriend here know how much of a pain in the ass you are?” the man sneered.
I was about to say something to defend her, but I didn’t get the chance. I couldn’t utter a word. Her mouth was pressed to mine, and her tongue thrust into my mouth. I quickly got over the shock and kissed her back. I briefly heard Brian demanding I let go of his sister and Mitchel complaining I was kissing his wife. I ignored them. Brian and her ex melted away, and all I could think about was Lara.
It was a short-lived kiss. She pulled away as quickly as she had attacked me. She spun around and looked at Brian and then Mitchel. “Any questions? Opinions?”
Both men were slack-jawed. I was barely keeping my own mouth closed. Brian pushed past me, purposely shoving my shoulder as he went. “I’m out of here,” he grumbled.
