“No. You were taking care of yourself!” he sneers. “Put a pretty girl, a bottle of tequila and a free hotel room in front of Connor Vining and you’ll jump at the opportunity.”
Gretchen stomps toward him. “What the hell, Drew?” Gretchen shouts. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Gretch, that guy”—he points an accusatory finger at me—“I don’t care what romantic bullshit nonsense he used on you, I know him better than you do. At worst, you’re another one-night standthat he’ll forget about tomorrow. At best, you’re a rebound that will land him back with Lauren once you move back to New York.”
Is this the man he thinks I am? The man he thinks Istillam? Lauren wasn’t right for me, but I was faithful to her for our entire relationship, yet Drew thinks I’m still the kind of guy to have a one-night stand or treat his little sister as nothing more than a rebound. I haven’t been that guy for years. But he won’t give me a chance to explain.
Gretchen’s pleas for Drew to stop ride the waves of her tears. Her posture sinks like all the fight in her has vanished. He doesn’t relent as he sidesteps past her and comes chest to chest with me once more.
“Tell me why,” he says as Gretchen returns to her parents, gesturing and whispering, begging for someone to listen.
It’s no use, I want to tell her.Don’t waste your breath. He’s never going to accept this.
“Why what?” I shrug.
“Why her?”
I stare at him. Tears sting the back of my eyes and my throat grows tight, but my emotion has no effect on Drew. Totally expressionless, he’s content to watch me drown while he stews in anger.
“Because you had her in a hotel room for five days and couldn’t keep your dick in your pants?”
“Stop it,” I seethe, jaw clenched. My heart pounds behind my sternum as I suppress the words that are right there. The words I need him to hear without me having to say them—not here, not now.
“Because you know she’s moving back to New York, so you thought you could enjoy some no-strings sex?”
“I would never treat her like that,” I plead.Please! Not now.
“Because she’s a rebound?”
“Because I love her!”
Drew stills as Gretchen jerks her head my direction, worried eyes fixed on me. The rush of adrenaline from uttering the words out loud does nothing to distract me from the guilt that instantly consumes me forthisbeing the moment she hears them.
I drop my head as the first tear falls, a tiny splatter darkening the concrete at my feet. “Because I’m in love with her,” I breathe, words truer than true.
The sky is blue. Two plus two equals four. The earth is round. I’m in love with her.
For what seems like hours, everything goes blurry, sounds muffled. I see nothing. I hear nothing. Then, Gretchen is in front of me, hands on my cheeks, pulling my universe into focus.God, I love her.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. The pad of her thumb swipes a tear from my cheek as she opens her mouth to speak.
“The funny thing is,” Drew interrupts, “you actually think I’m going to believe that.”
Gretchen lets out a frustrated breath, expression murderous.
“It took you a year to say it the first time, and now you went and fell in love in a week? Please!” He rolls his eyes.
Gretchen spins and prowls up to her brother until she’s right in his face. “That is enough!”
“Drew, honey,” Kelly chimes in. “I think we need to table this and discuss it another time when you’re not so upset.”
“No, Mom! You and Dad deserve to know exactly who this guy is if he’s gonna stand here and say he’s ‘in love’ with your daughter.” He adds a mocking tone that cuts especially deep. “Goes for you, too, Gretch.” He fixes his attention back on me. “Does she even know the half of it?”
I could yell. I could defend myself. I could beg him not to say too much. I could plead with him to not use the lowest moments of my life to define who I am. But I can’t bring myself to stop him.
“I’m gonna take that as a no. And, hey, I’ll do you a solid because, you know, best friends and all, and I’ll skip over the frat house years.”
I could remind him that we lived in the same frat house, but I don’t.
