“Corbie!” She squealed. And after giving me a squeeze that could be categorized as a hug, she perched herself in a chair opposite me. The desk didn’t seem like a big enough barricade.
“I don’t have time today, Nellie.” I really didn’t.
“What crawled up your butt and died? It must’ve been nasty!” She gathered her purse and stood to leave. Somehow, my sister knew how to make me back down, and that’s exactly what her teenage attitude did.
“Nell, wait. I’m sorry. I’ve had an awful day, and I just don’t have time for any shenanigans at the moment.” I gestured to the chair and offered a half-smile. It must’ve pulled at her heartstrings, because she took her seat again.
“That was uncalled for. Seriously.” She huffed after settling in—which was never a good sign. I hadn’t wanted her to get settled in. I wanted her to get on with her purpose for being here so she could leave.
“Listen, I know you don’t have the stressors of a job—”
“Corbin Fields. If you make me sit through another tirade of how I do nothing but skim off the top at our parents’ company, I swear to God, I will gut you.”
“Are you suddenly a fisherman?” I smirked because her remark was so off the wall.
“No, I’m a pissed off sister whose brother can’t take a hint. I’m so done with you. I do work hard. You have no idea what I do. You never take the opportunity to actually sit down and have a conversation with me. You just assume I need something or want you to fix a problem. Well, how about you take a minute to ask me how I am before assuming the asshole big-brother role?” She straightened her skirt and then crossed her legs.
“Okay. How are you?” I had to fight—very hard—not to roll my eyes. Her attempt at a hissy fit deserved applause, but I knew she was full of shit. She never came to see me just to say hi. She always needed something. Always. Without fail.
I just had to wait for it.
“Well, I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” She huffed again.
“Great. What can I do for you?” I continued signing the documents in front of me and thought for the hundredth time today that these documents should be digital. Why did we have so much paper? Such a waste.
“Well, since you ask…what did you do yesterday? Like, all day, and then for dinner.”
There it was. She was here to dig. And I would happily grab a shovel to help her—then use the hole to hide her body. I would kill her if she inserted herself into my relationship with Bridge. Not that we had a relationship; it was more of a friendship with an asterisk next to it. And that asterisk had yet to be defined. If Nellie interjected herself into it, she would fuck everything up before I had a chance to explore whatever connection Brooke and I had.
“Community service. Part of my work here at AdCorp is to involve myself in the community and see which ways I can give back to the place in which we live.” I’d never know how I was able to get all that out without laughing. It was ridiculous. And regardless of what I thought of my sister, I knew she was too smart to buy it.
“That is such a crock of shit.” Nope, she didn’t fall for it. Dammit. She pointed her finger at me in an accusatory manner and said, “You did it to earn points with Brooke because you’re trying to get into her pants. Don’t deny it!”
I dropped my pen, stared at her with wide eyes—hoping I was a better actor than I used to be—and slapped a hand over my chest in feigned shock. “I’m appalled that you’d think I’d do such a thing.”
Apparently, my acting skills hadn’t improved since I was a teenager trying to get out of trouble with my parents, because she simply rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. “Why else would you volunteer at an elementary school? You hate kids. Even worse, you loathe manual labor. There’s a reason you’re behind a desk, and we both know it.”
“She needed help, so I offered.” It was the only thing I could come up with on the spot, and I realized there was a good chance I was digging my own grave instead of hers. “Really, Nell…you’re making a much bigger deal of this than it is.”
“Oh, yeah? How’d you know she needed help?”
“She told me.” That seemed like a reasonable enough answer…
Until she asked the one question I hadn’t bothered to contemplate. “When did she tell you she needed help? Are you two talking a lot now?”
Fuck. The hole I’d dug was now waist high, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to safely get out of it. “We met up on Friday for drinks to discuss my progress with Heather. You know this. It was your idea to get me involved, remember? So don’t be upset with me for talking to your best friend behind your back.”
Her lips twisted while she mulled over my response. At least there was hope that she believed that one. I wasn’t sure if she knew about the glitch in Brooke’s contacts, and I worried that if I divulged too much information, I’d wind up making this interrogation worse. So instead, I decided to leave it at that and see where she took it.
“Just keep your hands to yourself, Corbin.”
“My intentions are honorable, Nell. I think of that girl like a sister.” Now that it seemed I had gotten her on my side, I took a sip of water to combat the dryness left behind by the fear of being caught.
“Really? Hmm, well, that’s rather concerning.”
“What is?” I asked between sips.
“That you think it’s okay to stick your tongue down your sister’s throat. Kind of makes me never want to give you a hug again just in case you try to make a move on me.”
Some of the water made its way up my nose and down the wrong pipe, causing me to choke and clutch my chest. I fought to regain control after the coughing fit from hell, and then immediately regretted it—dying would’ve made all this end so much quicker. I frantically went over my options as I struggled to breathe. Bridge would’ve never told Nellie what had taken place at my parents’ house last week. So it was safe to say she didn’t know anything. I had to remain cool and give her nothing to go on.
Nellie could read me like a book, so I needed to become indecipherable.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” She regarded me with her top lip curled in disgust. “You’re so gross. The least you can do is keep your dick in your pants when it comes to my best friend.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nell.”
“Oh, sure you do. Where did you and Brooke disappear to after dinner when I went to get more ice cream?” If she knew the answer, she wouldn’t have waited over a week to say something, which meant she was going off suspicion.
I still had a chance to save this.
“We went outside, don’t you remember? I’m the one who told you she was in the driveway waiting for you. Where is all this coming from anyway?”
“Yeah, and I thought it was odd then that she’d sit in my car without saying bye to anyone.” She lowered her brows and scooted a little closer to the desk, as if studying my expression. For the first time in my life, I wished I was vain and had a mirror in my office. “After I found more ice cream, I went looking for you guys. I went out back, thinking you might’ve taken a walk.”
“But you already know we weren’t out there.”
“Do I? Because, you see, right after I called out for you guys, there was a lot of rustling in the grass. It was loud enough to catch my attention, so I stopped and listened, wondering if it was you two. And then, when I got back inside, I found you in the dining room—even though you weren’t there a couple of minutes earlier—and for some reason, she was sitting in the driveway waiting to leave.”
“I wasn’t in the dining room when you first checked because I walked Brooke out to the car. She said she’d had too much wine and was feeling sick. So I took her outside, and she figured it would be best if she just waited for you to drive her home.” Damn, maybe I was better at lying than I thought. Either that, or I only possessed that skill when I had something major to hide.
And keeping Nellie from finding out that her best friend had drunkenly come on to me was
pretty big, Though, not as big as finding out I hadn’t done anything to stop it from happening. Thank God there was no way for her to know just how badly I’d wanted it to keep going.
Nell squinted and pulled her lips to the side; it was her way of assessing a situation, something she’d done since she was a little kid. It was also the sign I needed to relax. If she truly didn’t believe me, she would’ve had a completely different reaction. When she looked like this, it meant she was done arguing. At least, it meant she didn’t have anything to come back with, whether she actually believed what was said or not.
“Okay, fine, but I still don’t understand why you have to spend so much time with her. You can easily catch her up on Heather via text. Hell, even a phone call, although even that seems too close to the line for comfort.”
“Nellie, you’re being ridiculous.” It was time I sprinkled a little truth into this to make her settle down. “I’m not sure if you know or not, but after she got her phone fixed, all of her contacts were messed up. She texted me thinking she was texting you.”
She hummed and narrowed her gaze, lips pursed, eyes scrutinizing. “Seems a little strange if you ask me. It’s a little too…convenient.”
“Whatever, Nell. Believe what you want. It’s the truth. Ask her yourself if you don’t believe me.” My patience was running out. Not only was I drained from having to come up with lies off the cuff, but then having to defend the parts that were actually true had damn near pushed me over the edge.
My attitude must’ve convinced her, because she sat back with her elbows on the armrests, her posture more deflated than a moment ago. This was the tricky part, because while, yes, I had gotten her to her listen, that didn’t mean I could relax. I had a very small window of opportunity. I knew my sister better than anyone, and if she were given too long to think, she’d come up with seventy-seven rebuttals that would extinguish all the work I’d done to get us to this point. So, I didn’t give her time to mentally run through any questions.
“Since it didn’t take long to fill her in on the Heather front, we ended up bullshitting for a while, which is when she told me about the project at her school and how she’d meant to ask you and the other girls to go with her but never did because she didn’t have a phone. So, I offered to go with her, for nothing more than to lend a hand and keep her company.”
It seemed I had her attention as she intently listened to me explain.
“We had fun—as friends—and yes, we went to dinner afterward. But nothing happened. No goodnight kiss, no hanky-panky. My dick stayed in my pants the entire time. I took her home, and that was the end of it. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill.”
“And you’re not leaving anything out?” Her voice, small yet laden with worry, practically cracked my chest wide open. She desperately wanted to believe me, that much was obvious. I just hoped the guilt that threatened to strangle me wasn’t as easy to see.
“Have I ever lied to you, Nell?” I noticed her shoulders rise the tiniest bit, so I answered for her. “No. I never have.” At least, not until today.
She lowered her gaze to her lap, and I knew that, even though I had deceived her, I’d successfully managed to win her trust. Hopefully, this would be the end of her suspicions. Side-stepping the truth while looking into her eyes had left me feeling like the biggest piece of shit, and I wasn’t sure how many more times I’d be able to do it. But if Bridge and I had any shot, I had to put the kibosh on Nellie’s interference.
I just prayed I could figure out things with Brooke before having to lie to my sister again.
“So, what’s going on with Heather? I haven’t heard anything else about it.”
Well, shit.
Looks like my lying days weren’t over quite yet.
“There’s really nothing to report. It’s only been a couple of weeks, so I haven’t been able to do much more than lay the groundwork. It’s not like I can just waltz up to her and ask her to cheat on her new boyfriend with me—especially with him standing right there.” Yeah, that sounded truthful enough.
Her brows arched as annoyance painted her face. “How long do you plan to drag this out?”
“I don’t know. This was your diabolical plan, in case you forgot. I’m simply going along with it. If you want me to throw caution to the wind and just go for it, tell me, and I’ll do it. At least that way we can put an end to this charade.” The thought of not having any reason to see Brooke caused my chest to tighten. I wasn’t ready for that. “But keep in mind, if I do that, there’s a good chance she’ll shut me down, and then your friend won’t ever get what she wants.”
“Yes, I get that. But you haven’t even gone out with Heather yet, have you? I’m not saying rush to the finish line, but come on, big bro; you have to do something to put the thought of you in her head. If you want to make her cheat, you must think like a cheater.”
“Oh, and you know how cheaters think?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” She rolled her wrist, dismissing me with a quick wave. “It’s called research. Trust me, I didn’t come to you for help without thoroughly looking into what it would take to succeed as such a task.”
“You didn’t think I could get her to stray?”
Nellie’s laughter echoed off the walls of my office. “Be real with yourself, Corbin. I’m not saying you’re not a good-looking guy—God knows I’ve lost many friends because of their stupid obsessions with you—but you’ve got no game. You lack swagger.”
Ignoring what she’d said about losing friends over me, I focused on the subject at hand. I could worry about the other part later. “Then why ask for my help if you didn’t think I could do it?”
“I never said I didn’t think you could do it, just that I had to do a little research before asking you. I had to know the subject—her motives, who she is as a person, her morals and ethics—to see if it would even be possible to make her cheat on Chase with you.” She held up a finger to silence my argument. “Which, you should be happy to hear, she’s totally cheatable. She clearly has no morals or ethics, so that works in your favor.”
“Wow, Nell…I’m so glad I took time out of my busy schedule for this visit. Really, we should do this more often,” I deadpanned. “I seriously can’t hear enough how inept I am at getting a woman…unless she’s immoral and a bit of a floozy, that is.”
“Don’t be so melodramatic.” She pulled her purse strap over her shoulder and stood. “It wasn’t meant to be an insult. You’re just a really good guy, who happens to have been in a relationship with the same woman for, like, a hundred years. And there’s nothing wrong with that. No one expects you to be Rico Suave.”
The phone on my desk buzzed, and Emily came through on the intercom, saving my ego from becoming even more battered and bruised. “Your four-thirty appointment is here.”
I clicked the button and replied, “Thanks. I’ll be right out.” Then I turned my attention back to Nellie. “As much fun as this has been, I’ve got to get back to work.”
“I have to meet Brooke for dinner anyway.” She shrugged with a smile.
Fuck! I needed to contact Bridge before she met up with Nellie. My sister had a knack for discovering inconsistencies, no matter how subtle—I blame the Highlights magazines from our old pediatrician’s office—and then picking them apart until she had the lies separated from the truths. That was something I couldn’t risk happening with Brooke.
“Thanks for clearing things up,” she said with her hand on the door handle. I hadn’t even realized she’d moved away from my desk. “Although, I still don’t think you need to spend so much time with Brooke. You can update her just as easily through texts.”
Before Nellie could open the door, a large burly man barged in and pushed past her, saving me from having to finish that conversation. As much as I wasn’t looking forward to this meeting, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved he was here.
“Sir, if you’d just wait one moment…” Emily was on his heels, but I doubt a ste
el wall would’ve stopped him. He’d been after me ever since Peter had left the company, but with countless other clients who came before him, he had to wait his turn. And it didn’t seem like he appreciated that too much.
This was the last of Peter’s accounts, and I needed to smooth over things so he’d stay on with AdCorp. “It’s all right, Em. I was just about to come get him anyway.” I excused my assistant, only then noticing that Nellie no longer stood in the doorway. She must’ve gotten the hint and fled. Escorting him around the glass partition that separated the conference table from the rest of my office, I said, “Stan, nice to see you. Would you like something to drink?”
“Oh, uh…sure. Yeah. Water would be nice.” His demeanor softened as he took a seat at the table. And after I got us both a drink, I sat across from him. This was an impatient man, but thanks to my father’s parenting style, I was familiar with the likes of Stan McClure. I knew how to win them over.
Just as long as I didn’t accidentally call him Stan Manure.
He didn’t need to know what we all truly thought of him.
Due to Nellie monopolizing my prep time, I had to wing it, which meant the meeting was short and sweet. He was easily soothed, thank God, because I didn’t have any fight left in me after my sister’s impromptu visit. Most nights, I didn’t leave the office until six or seven, and after throwing something together that resembled dinner, I was lucky if I sat on the couch in front of the TV by nine. Tonight, however, I didn’t think I could make it that late. I was ready for the day to end.
My phone vibrated on my desk, and that’s when it hit me. Brooke! I hadn’t had a chance to send her a message before she met with Nellie.
The only thing I could think about was what my sister had said about losing friends.
I’d never be able to forgive myself if Brooke lost Nellie because of me.
Chapter 12
Brooke
As soon as I caught sight of Nellie sitting at a table in the middle of the room, I clumsily pushed my way through the crowded area at the front of the restaurant. I’d been looking forward to seeing her all day, and no amount of elbows to my ribs would wipe the smile from my face. I’d missed my bestie!
The unEXpected Plan Page 12