“Lisa,” I started.
“What do you want?”
“I want to talk.”
“Talk?” she scoffed. “You had plenty of time to talk to me before I found you in my brother’s house half naked cooking him breakfast.”
I rubbed my lips together. You can do this. Don’t let her intimidate you.
“I didn’t spend the night with Lukas to hurt you, Lisa. I know it might feel that way but I swear to you what happened between me and him had nothing to do with you. Can I come in so we can talk properly?”
“No.”
I nodded. “Okay. Fine. Can we—”
“I don’t want to hear anything you have to say, Kayla. There’s nothing you can do that will make this better. You were sneaking around with my brother behind my back. How long did it go on? How many times did you smile in my face and pretend that you weren’t screwing my brother? Huh?” Lisa shook her head in disbelief. “Nobody should ever do that to the person who is supposed to be their best friend. Ever. Especially when you know how I feel about people taking advantage of my brother.”
I adjusted my purse strap on my shoulder. “Lisa, I wasn’t taking advantage. It just happened naturally.”
“Oh? Naturally? It did, did it? How does that work? One minute, you’re picking apples, and the next, you have his tongue down your throat and then the pair of you are making a pact to keep it a secret from me?”
“You know that’s not true.”
Lisa laughed. “I don’t know what’s true anymore. How could I when the two people who mean the most to me have been in on a lie for the past month?”
She was overreacting. I wanted to tell her so. I wanted to scream at her that she was acting like a spoiled brat. She did not get to call the shots where Lukas was concerned. He was a grown-ass man who could do what he wanted.
And what he wanted happened to be me.
“We never conspired against you, Lisa,” I said calmly. “Lukas and I spent a lot of time together—time that you orchestrated for us to spend together, I might add. And that’s how these things work. You spend time with a person and then you realize you like them more than just a friend, you know?”
“He’s my brother,” she said.
“Do you seriously think I don’t know that? Do you think I threw myself into this thinking fuck Lisa, I do what I want? I’m not that person and you know it. I fought this, Lisa. I fought it as best I could. I told him no. He knew we shouldn’t have let things get too far. We both did. But—”
“But you got in bed with him anyway,” Lisa said. “Words are just words, Kayla. You betrayed me. Plain and simple. You went behind my back and deliberately kept it from me. You’re just like all the other girls who are always throwing themselves at my brother. What was it? You realized how easy it was to get close to him and you thought you’d try your hand at getting in his pockets? I know he has a lot of money and there’s a lot of good you could do if you got your little claws on his billions.”
I blinked. Was she seriously accusing me of sleeping with her brother to try to get his money? Who does she think I am?
“I did not go for your brother to get to his money,” I said, my tone developing a sharp edge. “I can’t believe you would even suggest that. “
Lisa crossed her arms and arched an eyebrow. “I’ve been there to pick up the pieces of my brother’s bad decisions for years now. That’s all this is. A bad decision. He let you get in his head.”
“Why am I the bad guy here? This took two of us.”
“You knew better. You knew better and you went for it anyway without caring what it would do to me.”
“Lisa!” I practically yelled. “This isn’t about you! I didn’t do this to you. I didn’t do it to hurt you. Holy shit. Since when did you become so damn self-absorbed? Do you think I chose to fall for your brother? Do you think I wanted this extra complication in my life? No, I didn’t. But we don’t get to choose these things. Sometimes, they just happen to and for us.”
“Are you trying to make me feel bad for you now?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. She was impossible. She didn’t want to be reasoned with. She wanted to stay angry and bitter because it was easier than forgiving and moving forward. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about that. “I wanted to apologize.”
“For what you did to me?”
“No, for hurting your feelings. I didn’t do anything to you. But I hurt your feelings, and for that, I am deeply sorry. We should have told you when things first started to get serious between us. I regret that now.”
Lisa searched my eyes, but her body language remained stiff and angry. “Our friendship can’t come back from this. I think you should go.”
That stung. I flinched under her words. “So that’s it? You’re going to let a twenty-year-old friendship die because I have feelings for your brother?”
“No, I’m going to let it die because you didn’t trust me enough to tell me.”
“Would you have wanted to hear it?”
“That’s not the point.”
“You’re impossible, Lisa. You want to be angry. You’re just like Lukas used to be. He wanted to be alone. He wanted to be shut off. It was easier for him. But as soon as he let go of those old ways, he changed. He grew. Hate me if you want, but I promise you, this will only cause you more pain down the road.” I turned and hurried down her front steps to the sidewalk, where I faced her one more time. “If you change your mind, I’ll be ready to talk anytime.”
Lisa closed and locked
