Seb

by Cheryl Douglas

  Ignoring the GPS’s commands, Kane pulled into an empty school parking lot. “Listen to me. You need to calm down. You can’t go see her when you’re like this. You know her uncle’s not in the best of health. Think about what it would do to him if you showed up there to pick a fight with his niece.”

  I hated like hell to admit it, but Kane was right. I couldn’t do that to Charlie. Even if his niece had just been using me to get his car fixed. A car that I’d been laboring over for countless hours, intent on making it perfect not only for Charlie but for Skylar too. God, what an idiot I was!

  “I need answers. Now.” My mind was racing through possible scenarios, but as I fit the pieces together, only one answer made sense: she’d been using me. “When did she meet him?” When she’d told me about Jarod, I assumed they’d been friends for years.

  “Apparently he responded to an emergency call at her apartment building recently. Her landlady or something.”

  That was the same day she’d met me, unless Mrs. R made a practice of calling 9-1-1, which I doubted. “What did he say about her?” If I was going to confront her, I needed all the facts.

  “Sounds like he’s crazy about her.”

  Of course he was. Any man in his right mind would bend over backwards for a shot with a girl like Skylar. I sure as hell had. “You said they’ve only been out together a couple of times?” I didn’t know why it made me feel better to know she’d spent more time with me than with him, but it did.

  “Yeah. He said she’s been pretty busy with work and stuff.”

  “Then he doesn’t know about me?” I asked, rolling down my window. Even though the air conditioning was on, I still felt as if I was suffocating.

  Kane shut off the truck after rolling down his own window. “No, I don’t think so. He acted like…”

  I knew Kane didn’t want to say it any more than I wanted to hear it, but the masochist in me had to know. “Like what?”

  “He acted like he was the only one, like he could see a real future with this girl.”

  I stared off in the distance where two boys about ten were playing catch, a baseball bat lying on the ground beside them. I had a flash of taking Jarod’s head off with that bat before I reminded myself this wasn’t his fault. Skylar had been the one playing me, not him.

  Kane sighed. “So what are you gonna do? Aside from confront her. Seems to me this one is already pretty wrapped up in your life, man. The car, work, the show. It’s not gonna be easy to cut her off.”

  It was gonna be hell on my heart, but what choice did I have? I closed my eyes, tipping my head back. “This is why I didn’t wanna put myself out there again. Why the hell does this keep happening to me? I attract these opportunists like goddamn magnets.” I wasn’t one to nurse my wounds for long, but I knew this one would take a hell of a long time to heal. I’d really thought Skylar was different. I had been so sure I could trust her.

  “I know it sucks, Seb. But better you find out now, right?”

  “I guess.” A part of me wished I could have lived in the dark for a little while longer, which just proved what a sick son of a bitch I was.

  “Can I make a suggestion?”

  I knew he was going to whether I wanted him to or not. We were brothers. It was our job to get up in each other’s business. “What?”

  “Go home. Call her. Tell her you want to see her.” When I continued to stare out the window instead of responding, Kane said, “It’ll give you a chance to cool off. Besides, I know you don’t wanna have it out with her at her place, with an audience.”

  “Fine,” I said, rubbing my face. I was suddenly wiped out, but I knew I wouldn’t get a wink of sleep tonight. “Take me home.”

  ***

  Skylar had sounded happy to hear from me, which proved she didn’t suspect a shitstorm was about to rain down on her. Her other boyfriend mustn’t have told her that he’d had a little chat with my brother. I wasn’t surprised. Why would he?

  When I opened the door to find her looking so beautiful in a black sundress and heels, I was tempted to forget everything my brother had told me, to pretend that she was mine alone and she hadn’t been sharing herself with someone else. But then I imagined his hands on her, his lips on hers, and that was enough to snap me out of my stupidity.

  “Come in,” I said, trying to keep my rage in check. I’d already had an intense workout followed by a long hot shower and a couple of shots of Jack, but I was just as riled up now as I’d been when Kane dropped me off two hours earlier.

  She stepped closer, presumably to hug me, but I stepped back, just out of her reach.

  Her arched brows knitted together in a frown as she set her purse on the hall table. “Um, how was your trip? Did you end up buying the car?”

  “Yeah, I did.” I slammed the door before walking into the family room. I had to put some distance between us. Her scent was driving me out of my mind. All I’d been able to think about on the flight home was getting her into bed, and now that I knew that would never happen again, I felt gutted.

  She stood against a pillar leading to the family room, her arms wrapped around her middle, as though she sensed something was wrong but was trying to figure it out on her own. “I missed you.”

  I’d already sat down, but my head snapped up at that comment. “From what I hear, you didn’t have time to miss me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I heard all about your date last night, Skylar. Did you have fun?”

  Her mouth dropped open, but she recovered quickly, shaking her head. “It wasn’t a date. It was dinner with a friend. I told you about Jarod. I don’t know why you’d be surprised that we—”

  “You didn’t tell me you met him the same day you met me.” She was crazy if she thought I was going to let her play this off as though it was nothing.

  She shrugged, which only pissed me off more. “I didn’t think it was relevant.”

  “You didn’t think I was relevant either apparently.” I picked up my third drink and downed it while enjoying the burn. It distracted me from the other pain… in my chest.

  “What are you talking about? You’re not making any sense.”

  I slammed the glass on the table, making her jump. Scaring her gave me little satisfaction. I wanted to make her heart bleed the way mine was. “Why didn’t you tell him about me?” I held up my hand before she could respond. “Don’t answer that. I already know. You thought you could play both of us, right?” I glared at her. “Was it him you really wanted all along? You thought you could just keep me your dirty little secret until after I’d finished the car?”

  “Are you serious?” she asked, gaping at me. “You honestly think I’m dating Jarod?”

  “Don’t bullshit me, girl. I’ve heard it all before.” I reached for the bottle of Jack Daniels on the coffee table. My plan was to get trashed tonight, and just like all the other times I’d been screwed over, my buddy Jack was there to help me forget.

  She watched me refill my glass. “I can’t believe you think I’d lie to you. Jarod knew about you, Seb. I told him we were dating.”

  “Then he may not give a shit that you’re sleeping with someone else, but I sure as hell do.” I tipped back the glass, wondering how long it would be before the numbness set in. The sooner, the better. I didn’t want to feel anything tonight. Not the pain of another dream going up in smoke or the frustration of being lied to or the embarrassment of another bad judgment call.

  I’d thought Amy had done a number on me, but that was child’s play compared to Skylar’s plan. Not because hers was more nefarious, but because I’d fallen harder, deeper than I ever thought possible and she knew it. She let me believe she felt the same way. That was the thing I would never forgive. Every time she looked at me, every time we made love, she’d said without words that she was falling in love with me. It killed me to think that had all been a vicious lie.

  “I’m not sleeping with Jarod,” she said quietly. “I can’t believe you’d even think th
at.”

  The fact that she was calm instead of outraged only proved to me that she was guilty as sin. “Don’t pretend with me. I’m not that stupid.”

  “I wouldn’t have thought so either. So why are you acting like such an idiot?”

  If she’d been a guy, I would have decked her. Instead, I curled my hand into a fist and slammed back my drink instead. “You’re right—I am an idiot for ever falling for your ‘poor me’ routine. You had my number from the second you walked into the shop. Pop a couple of buttons, put a little swing in those hips, bat those eyelashes, and men beg to do your bidding. Isn’t that how it is?” I didn’t want to think I was the only one who’d been so easily conned by her. That really would have made me an idiot.

  “Is that what you think?” Her green eyes flashed with indignation.

  “What else am I supposed to think?”

  She walked farther into the room and wrapped her hands around the back of the leather armchair we’d made love in just last week. She touched her chest, drawing attention to her breasts, which looked spectacular in that low-cut dress. I may have been pissed, but I wasn’t blind. “I thought you knew me better than that. I thought I’d finally found someone who was interested in getting to know the real me.”

  “I do know the real you. Finally. And I don’t like you.”

  Her eyes widened before they filled with tears. “Jarod was right about you. You are a vicious bastard.”

  I threw my head back, laughing though I wanted to punch something. “You expect me to believe you talked to him about me?” I shook my head, pointing at her. “Maybe you did. Yeah, you would have had to fill him in on your plan, wouldn’t you?”

  She brushed her fingertips over her temple as she glanced at the half-empty bottle. “I’m going to guess you’ve been working on that all night ‘cause you’re not making a bit of sense.”

  “Come on, your boyfriend would have seen you with me on the show. So what’d you tell him? That you were just gonna toy with me ‘til the car was done and you’d stashed away enough money from the show, then you’d cut me loose so you could be with him?”

  “You are seriously delusional,” she said, covering her eyes with her hand. “I think you better lay off that stuff. It’s frying your remaining brain cells.”

  She could take shots at me all night. It didn’t change the facts. “You’re the one who’s fried too many brain cells if you thought you could pull this off.”

  Narrowing her eyes, she asked, “How did you find out I went out with Jarod last night?”

  “Kane told me.” How the hell else would I know?

  “So Jarod told Kane?”

  “Yeah.” I kicked my feet up on the coffee table. I was getting tired of this conversation. I just wanted her out of my house and my life so I could lick my wounds in private.

  “And it never occurred to you Jarod might be the one playing you?”

  “What?”

  “You just assume I’m the only one who has a motive for lying and trying to manipulate the situation. It never occurred to you that he might have a motive of his own?”

  Like trying to get Skylar into bed? That would have been enough to motivate any man. “Tell me something—did you ever sleep with him? The truth.”

  Air seeped through her lips before she said, “The fact that you had ask me that proves to me that we have nothing left to say to each other.”

  I watched her walk out, tempted to call, “Good riddance,” but something stopped me. The doubt she had planted in my mind maybe. Shit, what if I’d gotten it all wrong and just screwed up the best thing that ever happened to me?

  Chapter Fourteen

  Skylar

  I intended to tear a strip off Jarod, but not until I had all the facts. Since talking to Seb again wasn’t an option, only one person could fill in the blanks. He hadn’t sounded too thrilled about seeing me either, but after several minutes of coercion, I finally convinced Kane he could either agree to let me come over or I’d camp out on his sidewalk all night.

  But now that I was facing his front door, I was nervous as hell. I was walking into enemy territory, and Kane intimidated people for a living. What would he do to me? Chew me up and spit me out no doubt.

  But this was no time to back down. I just had to pull up my big girl panties and get this over with so I could get on with the business of assaulting a certain police officer who had yet to figure out he had a big ol’ target on his back. After I rang the doorbell once, Kane answered, looking every bit as handsome and intimidating as his brother. Lord help me.

  “Thank you for seeing me,” I said.

  “You didn’t give me much choice, did you?”

  I’d stopped by the bakery to get Kane’s number from Mac. After I told her the whole story, she cussed out her brother-in-law for being a dumbass and offered to talk to Seb on my behalf, but I promised her I could handle it. But Kane’s stony glare made me wonder whether I’d overestimated myself.

  “This won’t take long,” I said, shifting my purse from one shoulder to the other as I wondered whether he intended to let me in.

  “It better not. I have things to do.”

  Okay, then. Apparently the charm he’d exhibited the first time we met was reserved for people who hadn’t betrayed his brother. He’d obviously tried and convicted me without hearing my side of the story. Not that I could blame him. Seb was family. I was a stranger.

  “Can I come in?” I asked.

  He rolled his eyes with a heavy sigh before stepping back to let me enter. “Fine, but I don’t know why the hell you wanna see me. It’s Seb who—”

  “I hurt?” I gave him a sharp nod. “Yeah, I know he thinks I’m the villain, but I’m here to tell you I’m not.”

  He gave me a quick once-over, obviously trying to decide whether I was the scammer his brother and Jarod had portrayed me to be.

  “I know you have no reason to believe anything I have to say,” I said. “You don’t even know me, but I’m asking you to keep an open mind. Just listen to what I have to say. If you still don’t believe I’m telling the truth, I’ll never bother you again.”

  He gestured to the great room. “You might as well sit down.”

  “Thank you.” I sat on the brown leather sofa, sneaking a peek around the large room. The house wasn’t huge, but it was in a nice part of town and had obviously been recently renovated. Maybe Gabe had helped Kane the way he’d helped Seb. “Nice house.”

  “Just get to the point,” he snapped, crossing his arms.

  “Jarod lied to you.” I waited for him to process that bit of information before I rushed on. “It’s true that I met him the same day I met your brother, but I was clear with him that I wasn’t interested in pursuing a relationship with him.”

  He tipped his head as though he was trying to decide whether he could trust me. “Go on.”

  “I went out with him once for coffee and once for dinner. We talked on the phone a few times, mainly about his disastrous dates, and I told him as soon as things between Seb and me started getting…” I couldn’t say serious since I wasn’t sure Seb would have defined our relationship that way.

  As though he sensed the reason for my hesitation, he nodded. “So Jarod thought he could drive a wedge between you and my brother if he came to me trying to make it look like you two were dating?”

  “I guess so.” Full disclosure was important. Even if Seb and I couldn’t work this out, I didn’t want his family to think I’d deceived him. They were good people who’d been kind to me. I wanted to return the favor. “He even implied your brother was dangerous, that he had a temper and I’d be wise to steer clear.” His warning had startled me that night, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized the picture he’d painted didn’t align with the Seb I knew.

  Kane swore softly before swiping a hand across his mouth. “I’m not gonna pretend my brother is a saint. He’s not. Has he been in a few too many fights? Probably. Some for the right reasons, some because he’d
had too much to drink and needed to blow off a little steam. But if you’re wondering whether he would ever hurt you, or any other woman, he wouldn’t. If he did, we’d all take turns kicking his ass.”

  “I know he would never do anything like that.” I took a deep breath, staring at my nude nails and wondering why Seb couldn’t have given me the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming the worst.

  “He’s been burned before, Skylar. More than once. That’s why he was so quick to assume you were like the rest.” He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. “And I sure as hell didn’t help matters, feeding his anger.”

  “Then you believe me?” I asked, holding my breath.

  He looked at me a long time, his eyes locked on mine, and I remembered he was trained to sniff out deceit. I didn’t flinch or break eye contact as I waited for him to try me and render his verdict.

  “I do.” He sat in the chair he’d been standing behind, directly across from me. “It didn’t sit right with me. It felt like too much of a coincidence, Jarod coming to me to talk about this hot new girl he’d been seeing. He’d never done that before. Then when he showed me the picture of you…”

  “Why didn’t you just take some time to think it through before you went to Seb with Jarod’s story?” I knew it wasn’t fair to blame Kane for this mess. He had only been looking out for his brother, but he had set this whole thing in motion. “At least confronted me first?”

  “I probably would have,” he admitted. “But Jarod came to see me as I was on my way out the door to pick Seb up from the airport. I thought about sitting on it for a while, but my mind immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario.” He smirked. “That goes with the territory when you do what I do for a living.”

  “I guess so.”

  “I kept thinking, what if I don’t tell him right away and he finds out I knew? It would’ve killed him. After all he’s been through with women in the past few years, I just couldn’t do that to him.”

  “I understand.” I didn’t have to like it, but I did understand. I probably would have done the same thing in his position. I didn’t have a sister, but if I suspected one of my girlfriends was being screwed over by some guy, I’d spill my secrets first and ask questions later.