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)
“It’s true,” Oliver says, and somehow his corroboration feels more damning than his implication did.
I force myself to meet his eyes so I can silently beg him to shut up. If Alec is going to know the truth, I want him to hear it from me. Oliver’s gray eyes are hard and angry, fixated on his brother. “You’re an ass,” I hiss.
“What does he mean, Savvy?” Alec asks softly.
Oliver exaggerates a cringe. “Sorry. I was supposed to be your dirty little secret, wasn’t I?”
“You know Oliver,” Alec says, the words stilted like he doesn’t quite understand them. As if he can’t wrap his mind around how they could be true. “How?”
“Apparently in the same way she knows you,” Oliver says, then gestures to the panties in my fist. His face, already twisted in cruelty, turns cold, and he blinks, his attention fixed on my hand.
No. On my ring. Alec’s ring.
“Get out of my house,” Alec says.
“It appears congratulations are in order.” Oliver’s gaze snaps back to mine. “You never told me the news when we chatted last week. If I’d known, I would’ve thrown in some extra services with the massage I got you yesterday.”
He’s making it sound like we’ve been in touch. Like we’ve been messing around. I knew Oliver could be cruel, but I never thought that cruelty would extend to me.
Alec strides forward, going toe to toe with his brother. “You’re not welcome here.”
Oliver smirks. “It’s Rose’s house as much as it’s yours, and she asked me to come over.”
“She’s not here,” Alec says, face stony. “So you can leave.”
Oliver’s gaze returns to my hand again. To the ring. “I’ll do that.” He spins on his heel and strides from the kitchen toward the foyer. “Hit me up if you want to catch up before you leave town, Savvy. I’m staying at the Four Seasons, room 1204.”
“Fuck off,” I whisper.
When he slams the front door, the whole house shakes.
I can barely breathe. “Alec . . .”
He’s silent for so long that I have to wonder if he’s in shock or if this is all just some terrible hallucination. Only, he’s not just silent. There’s a chill in the air. An iciness that rolls off him. And he won’t meet my eyes.
I step toward him. I have to explain. “It was a long time ago. I knew Oliver in college. When I met you, I didn’t know you were his brother.”
“But you figured it out,” Alec says, voice cold. “Obviously you figured it out before today.”
“A couple months after Vegas,” I say softly.
Alec meets my gaze, and the hurt in his eyes is enough to cut me down. “That’s why you called it off with me. Why you didn’t want to try to make this work. Because of him.”
I bow my head and stare at the floor.
“Instead of telling me that you know my half-brother, you kept it a secret. Hid it from me. You asked questions about him as if you’d never heard of him before.”
“I couldn’t tell you.” I press my hand to my chest. “I didn’t want you to know the truth.”
“That’s the problem, isn’t it? You never want me to know shit about you. But he knows. Obviously you were okay with letting Oliver past those walls of yours.”
I could almost laugh at the irony. How many times did Oliver and I fight about his walls? About not letting me in? And now Alec’s accusing me of the same. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“Rose told me you were the one who made her realize she should invite Oliver to the wedding.” He shakes his head. “Well done. Looks like you got the reunion you were hoping for.”
“I never . . .” All those questions I asked at dinner. I was digging for information, and it made Rose rethink her decision about Oliver and the wedding. “It’s not like that.”
He scrubs his hands over his face. “Please spare me the lies.”
“I’m not lying. This has been killing me. My history with Oliver is the reason I knew I had to end things with you before they really started.”
“If you wanted to tell me, nothing was stopping you. Don’t insult me by pretending you didn’t choose to keep this secret.”
I steady myself on the kitchen table then sink into a chair. “It was a choice,” I whisper, staring at my hands in my lap. “But it was a choice I made because I’m embarrassed by my past. By my mistakes.”
My gaze drifts back to the picture in the family room. His father. I tricked and stole from his father.
Alec paces the length of the kitchen island and runs his hands through his hair. “So you chose to embarrass me instead.”
“You don’t understand. I had . . .” I swallow hard, shame still bearing down on me. “My brother placed a bet on a fight. A bet he couldn’t cover because it was supposed to be a sure thing. Oliver bailed him out. We had a deal.”