“Got somewhere to be, Lucky?” Sterling’s voice rushes over me like a surge of cold water, sending chills dancing along my spine. It’s not the effect he usually has on me, but it’s no less dizzying.
It takes effort to face him, especially since I’m in a robe and tennis shoes with no socks. Oh, and because the last time he saw me I was sprawled naked on his bed. There’s that, too. “What are you doing here?”
“I think that’s my line.” He moves toward me and I move backward instinctively. Sterling stops, a frown marring his perfect face. “We need to talk.”
I can’t help snorting. People in couple’s counseling need to talk. Friends need to talk. Whatever we are? It requires more than talking. We need to scream. We need to throw shit. At least, I do. But I settle for agreeing with him. “Yes, we do.”
“Those texts aren’t what you think,” he begins.
That’s how he’s going to play it? No way. “Did someone named Sutton call me a bitch?”
“Yes, but—”
“Did she beg you to come home to her?” I can hardly blame her for calling me a bitch. I am a bitch, and I’m damn proud of the fact. It’s his part in this that bothers me.
“You don’t understand—”
“Did you say loved her?” My voice cracks on this last question.
He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as though he’s getting a headache. “I did, but I had a good reason.”
Tears smart my eyes and I whirl away from him. There’s no way I’m giving him the satisfaction of seeing me cry. He doesn’t deserve my tears, but that’s the thing about a broken heart, the person that deserves it is never the one who gets theirs broken. “I don’t think I need to hear an explanation. I think the message was pretty clear. You can’t explain saying I love you to another woman.”
“If you think that, that proves how wrong you are.” Strong hands grip my wrist and he spins me toward him before I can pull away. “I can explain.”
“Don’t let me stop you.” I yank myself free and cross my arms over my chest. Pasting on my best poker face, I do my best to look unimpressed even though I can’t ignore the tingling that lingers where he touched me. I can’t trust myself around him any more than I can trust him. That much is clear.
Then he drops a bomb on me.
“Sutton is my sister.”
“Oh.” That explains the I love you. I’ve spent the last few hours planning exactly what I would say to him the next time I saw him. I didn’t prepare for the possibility he’d have a reasonable explanation.
“You did remember that I have a sister, right?” he asks, a smirk tugging up the corners of his mouth.
He’s got me cornered—physically, emotionally—and he knows it.
“I thought you didn’t know where she was,” I say stupidly.
“I didn’t know where she was five years ago.”
“I guess you found her.” Suddenly, it seems I have a gift for stating the obvious. Sutton is his sister. That does make sense. But like so much of Sterling’s life, I don’t know much.
Sterling doesn’t seem to hold my newfound observational skills against me. “I did.”
It’s less that I forgot about his sister and more that, in the past, talking about her was like flipping his asshole switch. “I thought you didn’t want to find her.”
“I didn’t. She found me.”
“And why does she think I’m a bitch?” Sutton being his sister might clear up why he said I love you, but it doesn’t change how they seem to talk about me. I’d seen the message with my own eyes. Not only had she said it, he hadn’t corrected her.
“She’s not your number one fan,” he says, shifting away from the wall.
Now we’re getting somewhere. Somewhere uncomfortable for both of us, but where we need to go. “And why would that be?”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” he says. “About my life.”
No shit. Now who’s stating the obvious? “Enlighten me.”
“You’re unbelievable,” he says with a laugh that sounds anything but amused. “You read my messages, jump to conclusions, and then—”
“Jump to conclusions?” I repeat in disbelief. “What am I supposed to think about you saying I love you to another woman and it’s not like I was snooping. You gave me your phone.”
Now he looks cornered. Good. “I did give you my phone.”
“Don’t you dare paint me as some psychotic girlfriend who is nosing around in your business.” I poke his sternum with my index finger. That turns out to be a mistake because it’s like hitting a launch button.
“Aren’t you?” he storms. “You’re always sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
“Because you won’t tell me anything!” I’m the unbelievable one? There are a lot of ways that he’s changed. There are a lots of ways that I’ve changed. But the lies and mystery he likes to keep as armor? It hasn’t changed.
“There’s nothing to tell.”
My jaw unhinges and I hastily close my mouth with a glare. If I started writing down all the things I don’t know about him, it would rival Santa’s Christmas list. All he does is keep secrets. It might even be what came between us before. I can’t be sure, because I don’t even know what that was!
“I think there’s a lot to tell. Like why she wants you to come home or why you said not this time,” I quote the text back to him.
“You memorized it?” His eyebrows raise.
I can’t tell what he thinks about that, except that I’m in real danger of actually being a psycho girlfriend despite my intentions.
“It’s kinda burned in my brain,” I say. “I mean, I fucked you thinking I could trust you, and then before I could put my panties back on, another woman was sending you texts.”
Sterling sucks in a deep breath and I’m not sure if he’s preparing
