Chapter Twenty #2
LOUIS KNOCKED A little too loudly on Lena’s apartment door.
He really wanted to put his fist through something, anything.
Needed an outlet for this anxious frustration he’d been living with since this morning.
Roxy had blocked his number. Unbelievable.
He’d had no idea what he would have said if she’d answered, but he could at least have done better than I’ll call you .
What the fuck kind of idiot was he, anyway?
I’ll call you? She was right to walk out without looking back.
It made him nauseous thinking of how many times he’d said that to a girl and not meant it.
How dare he say it to Roxy? Jesus, he deserved every minute of this suffering.
As soon as he straightened out this headache with his sister, he was going to find her and beg until his face turned blue.
He’d replayed the scene this morning a dozen times, trying to see it from her perspective. Yeah, she definitely thought he’d been giving her the brush-off. He’d done nothing to convince her otherwise. As fragile as her trust in him was, he’d snapped it like a twig.
Goddammit, he missed her already. It baffled him that she could second-guess him when he felt like this about her. Wasn’t it visible? He didn’t think he was capable of hiding something this big, something that felt like it was continually pouring from his chest.
A lock turned in the door, and Lena suddenly stood in front of him. She held a spatula in one hand and a fire extinguisher in the other. “What up, bro ham? I hope you brought your appetite. Or an extra fire extinguisher.”
He skirted past her into the apartment. “What did you set on fire?”
“Ketchup.”
Louis decided not to ask. “Listen, I came early so we could talk. Is anyone else here?”
“Nope.” She picked a glass of wine off the counter and took a healthy sip. Great, she was drinking. This was going to go well. “Just me. Celeste will be here in ten, though, so spit it out.”
“Thanks,” he returned dryly, going to the fridge for a much-needed beer.
Possibly his last beer, ever, if this conversation took a turn for the worse.
He downed half the bottle and set it down on the counter.
“Remember the other night, when I told you there were no strippers at Fletcher’s bachelor party? ”
Lena reached over and picked up a butcher knife from the kitchen counter. “Yeah.”
“It wasn’t a lie.” He thought of Roxy. Thought of the way she’d absorbed all the sunshine in his room.
Where was she now? What was she doing? “The girl who showed up to take her clothes off wasn’t a stripper.
She’s my girlfriend.” He watched the knife closely.
“She needed the money because she was going through a rough patch, but the only person in that room she’s ever taken her clothes off for is me. And it’s going to stay that way.”
His sister watched him through narrowed eyes. “But Fletcher knew she was coming?”
“Yeah.” He sighed into his beer. “For what it’s worth, Lena, that kind of thing happens at a lot of bachelor parties. This was pretty tame compared to some of the ones I’ve been to.”
“He promised.” She buried the tip of the knife into a wooden cutting board, twisted it. “Is that the kind of girl you should be dating?”
His jaw flexed. “If you mean a beautiful, intelligent girl that makes me insanely happy every time I’m with her, then yes. That kind of girl. She’s stubborn and driven and brave. She’s everything. And she’s mine. So you need to get okay with that. With her. I don’t care what she did.”
Lena stuck out her bottom lip. “You don’t have to be nasty about it.”
Louis swallowed his knee-jerk apology. He wouldn’t apologize when he’d meant every word. “I’m just telling it like it is. If I have my way, she’ll be around more often. I want her to feel comfortable.”
“If she’s so important to you, where is she tonight?” Lena let the knife clatter onto the counter and crossed her arms. “I made enough paella to feed Manhattan.”
He hid his smile. That had been his sister’s way of saying, if she’s important to you, she’s important to us . “She’s at a rehearsal,” he hedged. “Not that I even invited her. Because I’m a moron.”
Lena neither agreed nor disagreed with his self-assessment. “Hmm. You can bring her some on your way home. A man shows up with Tupperware, he gets a pass.” She picked up the knife again and brought it down hard on an unsuspecting shrimp. “Except for lying. That’s inexcusable.”
“Right.” He drained the rest of his beer. “There’s another reason I came early.”
Obviously picking up on the serious note in his voice, she looked up at him warily. “Shoot.”
Louis blew out a breath. “You’re my sister and I love you. Honestly, you’re also more than a little crazy upstairs, but I think you already knew that.”
She bobbed her head once. “Continue.”
“As crazy as you are, Lena ...” He laid a comforting hand on her arm. “You’re not crazy enough to marry Fletcher. Strippers and lying aside, he’s not good enough for you. Not even close.”
“I know. Celeste has been saying the same thing, but I didn’t want to listen.” Tears filled her eyes. “There’s not a lot of guys who’ll put up with my shit.”
“You’re going to do a hell of a lot better than him.” He opened his arms just in time to catch her when she propelled herself across the kitchen. Just managing to hold his ground, he hugged her close. “In the meantime, we’ll have popcorn parties at my place. Okay?”
“ ’kay.”
She stepped back, wiping her eyes, cheeks red with embarrassment. “So, uh ... what is Roxy rehearsing for? Anything I know?”
He leaned against the counter, grateful she’d changed the subject but depressed by the reminder of his deception in getting Roxy the audition. “Probably. It’s Johan’s new movie.”
“Johan Strassberg? The squirrelly dude who used to follow us around with a camera?” She snorted. “His parents threw those obnoxious lawn parties in the Hamptons. Everyone had to wear white. Remember?”
“Oh, yeah.”
Lena shivered. “That guy always skeeved me. I don’t know why.” She popped a single finger into the air. “Oh, I remember. Celeste and I caught him filming us in the outdoor shower once at a pool party. He wasn’t even ashamed to get caught. Big shit-eating grin on him.”
Unease weighed heavily in his stomach. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We did. Kind of.” She winced. “Remember when we drove to his house and slashed his tires? It wasn’t because he came in first in the summer camp talent show. Even we aren’t that vindictive. It was for filming us showering and letting everyone watch it on a projector screen.”
“That was Johan’s car?” His words sounded far away. That night had been so long ago that he barely remembered it, half-asleep as he’d been in the backseat. Obviously his memory of it had been pieced together, like parts of a dream.
Lena seemed to misinterpret his silence.
“Don’t make a big deal out of it. Everyone sees me naked sooner or later.
” She smirked to let him know she was joking.
“Either way, he always creeped me out. There was a rumor going around that same summer that his father paid quite a bit of cash to get him clear of some charges. Never found out the reason.” A timer went off on the stove, and she reached over to turn it off.
“I always thought it had to do with a girl. Just a feeling.”
Louis straightened away from the counter, feeling slightly dizzy.
It seemed as if a golf ball had lodged itself inside his throat, which didn’t help when his breaths had started coming faster.
The apartment tilted around him when he thought of Roxy’s reluctance to discuss the rehearsals with Johan.
Her stiffness every time he’d brought it up.
The lost expression on her face the day in the courthouse .
.. immediately following the audition. An audition he’d arranged for her.
A shout worked its way up his chest, but he managed to strangle it at the last second.
Lena watched him with concern that slowly turned into recognition. “Go.”