by K. M. Scott
“You’re not here to talk about bridesmaids’ dresses, are you?” I asked in a quiet voice, devastated at how they looked at me with such pity, like I was some poor thing that needed their help.
When they didn’t answer my question, I looked over at Summer and through tear-filled eyes, I asked, “Why would you do this? You promised me you wouldn’t tell anyone. You knew I meant Ethan and everyone else. I trusted you.”
Before she could say a word, Tressa stood up and defended her. “She was worried, but I’m more intrigued. I thought you left your crush for Cole Knight back in high school when you and he used to have your secret meetings in the woods. I thought you outgrew him.”
My sadness at Summer’s betrayal was pushed aside by my surprise that my sister knew all this time and never said a word. “I thought nobody knew. Why didn’t you talk to me about it?”
“I knew if you wanted to tell me, you would.”
“But that doesn’t apply to my life now, evidently. How did you know?”
She smiled in that confident way that told me she knew everything about what Cole and I did back then. “I saw him sneaking around the yard one night, and then you suddenly needed to get some fresh air. I followed the two of you, and let’s just say I nearly fell over when I saw him kiss you.”
“He was sweet to me, Tressa. He never pushed me to do anything I didn’t want to do.”
“Well, then you were the only girl in high school he didn’t get into bed, except me.”
Why was my sister bringing up what Cole did ten years ago? Why did that matter now?
“I don’t care what he was in high school. That’s a long time ago. We’ve all changed.”
My defense of Cole left my sister shaking her head with that sad look she got whenever she thought I was wrong but didn’t want to come right out and tell me. Like I was some clueless idiot who couldn’t understand life.
“Honey, do you know anything about him now?”
I snapped, “Obviously, I know something about him. I was with him in this room, and that room, and everywhere else here for nearly an entire day.”
Summer quickly stood up and chimed in. “He seems to have popped up out of nowhere, hasn’t he?”
Now the two of them were ganging up on me about Cole?
Hurt by her insinuation, I looked at Summer and said, “He’s Ethan’s best friend. If he wasn’t a good person, wouldn’t he know?”
They looked at each other and then back at me, neither convinced by my argument.
“We all love Ethan, but it’s one thing for a man to like a friend and a completely different thing to say that means he’s a good man,” Tressa said in her usual commanding tone.
“Why are you acting like this? He makes me happy. I’ve been alone for years, and now I’m enjoying myself. So I had sex with a man. I’m allowed to do that, aren’t I, or am I supposed to live like a nun?”
My sister’s mouth dropped open in shock. “You slept with him already?”
I shifted my glare from Tressa to Summer and snapped, “I would have thought you’d have told her that little nugget of information since you obviously told her everything else when you betrayed me by running to the ladies’ room to call her. Judas took longer than you!”
Summer frowned and lowered her head. “I’m sorry. I was worried. I never meant to betray you.”
I’d had enough of both of their interrogating me about my personal life. “I’m allowed to have sex with anyone I damn want! Who are either of you to say anything about that?”
My sister took a step toward me and stopped. “We care about you. We don’t want to see you hurt.”
Her attempt to show they cared about me only served to make me angrier about this whole thing. “Can you imagine if anyone tried to pull this on you when you began dating Killian?” I turned my focus to Summer and continued, “Or when you started seeing my brother?”
Neither one of them had an answer for my questions. “I deserve happiness as much as you two do. If Cole makes me happy, why can’t you let me have that? All these years everyone has been telling me they just wanted to see me happy again. Now that I am, the first chance you get you come here acting like I’ve done something wrong.”
When I finished, I couldn’t stop the tears from coming. I sat down at my makeshift dinner table in my sad little hotel room and covered my eyes, not wanting them to see how devastated their reaction to my newfound happiness made me.
Behind me, Tressa asked in a low voice, “What did he tell you about that club of his, Diana?”
I sniffled and dried my eyes before looking up to face her. “He told me the name, I guess. I can’t remember it right now. Why?”
Before she ever spoke a word to answer, I knew she had found out something horrible. The pity was written all over her face. He’d lied or he’d exaggerated, and now I looked like a naïve fool to ever believe him.
“He lost the club months ago. He’s broke. Next to go is his apartment. Did he tell you that?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Why did he tell me about his club if he didn’t have it anymore? Why say anything about it? I didn’t care about how much money he made. I had my own money. Why would he lie like that?
“I’m telling you these things because you’re a wealthy woman, Diana. I thought we’d need to have this conversation at some point when you started dating, and maybe I’m to blame for not bringing it up sooner. I told the rest of the family that I’d handle this, and I’m sorry. I should have talked to you about this before.”
“Talked to me about what? Do you think I’m so pathetic that I had to pay him to have sex with me? Is that what you think?” I asked in horror at what she was insinuating.
Tressa gave me a gentle smile and shook her head. “No, not at all. He’s lucky you cared enough about him to sleep with him. But you and I have a situation that other women don’t. We have money—a lot of money—and that means we have to be vigilant when it comes to men.”
“He doesn’t want my money. That never came up in our conversation. In fact, he never mentioned it at all,” I said as I tried to remember every word of my conversations with Cole in the past week.
Money had never really come up between us, had it? I didn’t recall, but at that moment with Tressa and Summer looking at me with such pity in their eyes, everything seemed hazy in my mind.
“I thought he cared about me. He said things that made me believe he understood. He made all that effort because of money?” I wondered aloud, unable to stop myself from crying again.
My sister and Summer tried to make me feel better, but it didn’t matter. I’d been so happy these past few days, and now that was gone. Had it all been a lie because he needed money?
Didn’t any of it mean anything to him like it had to me?
Chapter Fifteen
Cole
For twenty minutes, I’d tried to figure out a way to tell Ethan about Diana and me. Every time I thought I had the perfect way to interject it into the conversation, I either couldn’t find the right words or he changed the topic and I lost my opportunity. So while he continued to laugh it up and have a good old time, I had to pretend everything was fine while inside I twisted and turned about how to bring up that I’d slept with his sister, but it was okay because I was crazy about her.
This wasn’t going to turn out good.
“So have you heard from Rachel? I thought I saw her the other night near here. Any chance she’s sniffing around for another chance with you?” he asked and then laughed.
“No, thanks. I had enough of that. I’m sure she’s found another guy to be with,” I said with as much macho bullshit attitude as I could force to the surface.
“You really do know how to pick them, man.”
His phone rang, saving me from having to talk shit about my ex-girlfriend right before I told him about my newest girlfriend. Fuck. This was a nightmare.
Looking down at his phone, he said, “I have to take this. It’s Summer. Give me a minu
te, okay?”
“Sure.” That might give me time to figure out how to word what I needed to say.
I chugged down the last of my fourth beer in search of some wisdom from being drunk, but none came, as I knew none would. Ethan looked like he was going to be a few minutes, so I headed to the bathroom to handle nature and figure out what the fuck I was going to do. This couldn’t go on all night, for Christ’s sake. I’d end up drunk off my ass, and then I’d never say the right words.
I washed my hands and stared at my face in the mirror. I was the picture of a coward. Fuck. I was crazy about Diana. Why the hell should this be a problem? We were both consenting adults. High school was a long time in the past. I’d grown up a lot since then. I was his best friend, for fuck’s sake. Why wouldn’t he want me with his favorite sister? Maybe we’d get married and then I could be his brother-in-law. How cool would that be? Best friends turned family. It sounded good to me.
Okay. You have to tell him before you get all fucked up and start talking nonsense. You can do this. Just remember he’s got a right hook that will knock you on your ass if you don’t watch out for it.
That’s not how this would go, though. Not this time.
As I entered the kitchen, I didn’t see Ethan. Time for another beer. I turned the corner to grab a cold one out of the refrigerator and out of nowhere, he hit me like a ton of fucking bricks, slamming into the right side of my head. I couldn’t be sure, but I saw something like white flashes as I fell backward onto the floor. There was some kind of noise, which may have been him saying something, but all I could hear clearly was the ringing in my ear. Getting hit in the jaw had that effect.
Instantly, pain radiated up through my cheekbone and eye socket, and my head felt like it might explode. Fuck, that hurt!
Disoriented, I tried to focus my eyes, but the right one was all blurry and the left one didn’t seem to remember the only goddamned job it had in my head. Closing them, I tried to get my bearings, but my body was having none of that.
“Holy fuck! Out of all the women in this city, in the fucking world, you just had to bother with Diana. Get the fuck up so I can beat the ever loving fuck out of you!” Ethan bellowed above me.
I opened my eyes and saw pure rage coming off him aimed entirely in my direction. He yanked me up by my collar and even though my eyesight was still blurry, I saw the second hit coming before he landed his fist into my left eye.
Staggering as I tried to keep my balance, I hit a chair and pushed it back until it and I hit the wall. Now neither side of my head was able to work right.
“How could you do that to her? Fucking fight back, you motherfucker! Fight back so I can beat—” he barked until his words just ended in a scream of rage.
I couldn’t hit him back, though. I deserved anything he did to me. I knew how he felt about me being with Diana, and still I’d gone ahead and tracked her down. He was right. Ethan was my best friend, and after all he’d told me just a few days ago about what she’d gone through, I’d still slept with her.
“And you lost your fucking club?” he yelled as I struggled to get to my feet. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I had no defense. No excuse. I’d been a shitty friend, and whatever he said or did, I had it coming.
“Do you realize how much my sister’s been through, you asshole? I do because I’m the one who did it to her, so trust me, I fucking know! All those surgeries and then the PTSD that made her afraid to even leave that fucking hotel room. And you think you should just go in and fuck her like you do with all those women you sleep with? This is my sister, you dick!”
My eyesight cleared up enough for me to see Ethan’s expression clearly. I’d never seen rage in anyone like that before. Rage and worry. Not for me but for Diana.
I needed him to know I cared about her. Even if I couldn’t get him to listen to anything else, I had to get him to hear that.
“Ethan, I know you’re pissed, but I need you to hear me out. It isn’t like I just met her and took advantage of anything. I don’t know if you know about us dating in high school, but we know each other. We were close then.”
I barely finished speaking before he hit me again. As his fist pounded into my jaw, he snapped, “Back in high school? What the fuck are you talking about?”
“We dated. We didn’t sleep together, but we hung out for a few months right before graduation.”
Now all I saw in his face was hurt. Pure, unfiltered hurt that his best friend had lied to him for ten years.
“What? How is that possible? You and I were together every day around that time. You lived in our fucking house for weeks.”
My thoughts got jumbled, so I couldn’t remember exactly when it all happened. I wanted to explain things better, but after getting three shots to the head, I could barely get the words out.
The metallic taste of blood hit my tongue, and I rubbed my jaw to ease the pain spiking up into my face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to find out this way. But it wasn’t some meaningless bullshit. I swear. I care about her. I did back in high school, and I do now.”
“She thought you were some big time club owner. You lied to her to get her into bed. That’s what you fucking did! Why? Because she was an easy mark? Because you could sweet talk her? What kind of man does that to someone who’s gone through everything she’s dealt with in the past eight years? It’s like I don’t even know you anymore, Cole.”
I wanted to somehow explain that I lied because I wanted her to think I was successful. I wanted to impress her.
But there was no way he’d ever believe me. Why would he? Ethan had seen me seduce woman after woman all these years. He’d never buy that I cared about Diana. My past showed him time and again I didn’t care about any woman as much as I should to be with his sister.
I hung my head and said the only words I thought might help. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t what you think. I swear.”
He stood in front of me shaking his head and said, “You know what I think? I think you can go fuck yourself, Cole. And stay the fuck away from my sister!”
There was nothing I could say to that. I looked up to see him give me one last look of disgust before he turned and walked out.
I’d fucked everything up, and even worse, Diana now knew the truth about the club. And she knew I lied to her. She probably thought the same thing Ethan thought—that I’d lied to get her into bed.
But that’s not why I didn’t tell her about losing the club. I had to make her understand that.
For the second time, Diana’s away message played and I sat staring at the screen wishing I could be there beside her to tell her everything in my heart. “I’m not able to take your call, but leave me a message. I promise I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
She smiled when she finished speaking, one of her sweet smiles that went all the way up to her eyes and made the blue in them sparkle. The same kind of smile she gave me over and over that day we spent together.
I looked like shit, but it didn’t matter. I couldn’t just leave some sterile voice message. I needed her to see as well as hear me.
“Diana, please answer the phone. I need to talk to you. Call me.”
Ten minutes later, I called again. And then twenty minutes after that. And ten minutes after that. Each time I tried to convince her to speak to me, to hear what I had to say.
But it was no use. She wasn’t out. She was avoiding me.
I knew that and still I left three more messages before an hour had passed and I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to see her. I had to at least try to get her to hear my side of the story.
Not that it would sound any better than what she already knew. By now, Ethan had gotten to her and told her all the horrible things about me that only he knew. As I thought about the man I’d been, I couldn’t disagree with what he’d done to me. If I had a sister I loved and wanted to protect, I’d fucking beat the hell out of any guy like me who got within ten feet of her.
But I wasn’t
that man with Diana. I wasn’t that man whore I’d been in high school with her, and I wasn’t that guy who went through women without a care with her now. He might not see that, but I had to make her see that.
I drove like a madman from my apartment to the Richmont hotel, barely paying attention to the world around me as I focused on my only goal—to get to Diana. My left eye had swollen shut, and the pain on the right side of my head extended from my jaw up to my temple and throbbed twice as fast as my heart, but I didn’t care. I knew there was every possibility that before I could hand the valet my keys that Ethan or Tristan would be there to go for round two with me and I might never get to see her.
It didn’t matter. I had to try.
Every muscle in my body tensed up as I pulled up to the front of the Richmont. I swiveled my head right and then left to see if either man lay in wait for me, but I only saw the young guy who was working as valet for the night. I quickly got out of the car and handed him my keys before I headed into the lobby, my body on high alert for another attack that would almost certain come inside.
With every step I took over the white marble floor of Tristan Stone’s hotel lobby, I knew more likely than not someone had called security to stop me. I looked like someone had used my head as a punching bag, and more than one guest recoiled in horror as I passed them.
None of that mattered. I had to try to get Diana to hear me out.
I didn’t understand how I made it to her room, but staring at that dark wood door, I took a breath and prepared for what awaited me on the other side. She wouldn’t be alone. Someone would be there with her and intent on sending me away. I raised my hand to knock and sighed as my knuckles hit the first time.
No matter what they said, I had to at least try to talk to her.
I knocked a second time and waited. Nothing. No sound.
“Diana, please open the door. I need to talk to you. Please, just give me a few minutes to explain. Please.”
