Chapter 11
“Iwant to talk to you.”
Looking up from my computer, where I’ve been pounding away at my keyboard, I see Courtney standing in my office doorway in her ‘power stance’, her eyes fiery and set so fiercely she could melt a lesser man.
Thankfully, I’m tougher than most so her gaze doesn’t faze me in the least. In fact, it looks like the bell ringing on round two with my littlest sister.
Let the games begin . . . again. She’s nothing if not persistent, though I guess she’d have to be to make it as the baby in a family like ours.
“Come on in,” I reply nonchalantly, shaking out my hands. “I haven’t typed this fast since the two hours before my junior year poli-sci paper was due. Kaede’s out picking up his new tablet, so if you need to coordinate something with him, I’d say the best idea is to send him an email.”
It’s a calculated move to set her on edge.
I’m well aware she’s not here to schedule a meeting and doesn’t need to see my assistant, but in making it look like there’s nothing unusual going on, I reiterate that my relationship with Violet is the new status quo.
Nothing to see here, just two lovebirds in love.
“I’m not here to talk to K-dawg,” Courtney says, her voice just barely softening when she uses Kaede’s nickname.
I’ve suspected for awhile that she’s had a bit of a schoolgirl crush on my best friend.
Luckily for them both, she’s never made a move on him, and he would never. Bro code all the way between us.
She shuts the door behind her, giving us some privacy, and I know she’s come armed for war. I’m curious whether she’s going to pull out the tears like she did when she was younger or if she’ll go with the cutting comments she’s learned at Dad’s elbow since she started working for him.
“I’m here to talk to you. What the hell is going on?
Dad damn near chops your balls off because you’re gallivanting all over town with random pussy, and days later, you show up with a fiancée.
That’d be suspicious enough, but then the fiancée happens to be Violet Russo, the girl you literally tortured for half her life.
Something’s rank in Denmark, and it’s not hard to figure out that, as usual, it’s you. ”
Can I get cutting comments for one hundred, Alex?
“Court, we’ve already gone through this. Yes, Violet and I have a rather checkered past, but things are different now. We are different now, all grown up and whatnot. I need you to just be happy for me because she makes me happy.”
Her eyes narrow, and I can almost feel the x-ray scan she’s subjecting me to.
I need to wrap this up because it’s too risky to rehash the same shit over and over.
Too many reruns of Law & Order have taught me that.
Courtney might as well be the police asking me to repeat myself again, and then again, so she can look for holes, things that don’t line up, and any small changes in my story.
“If that’s everything, I need to get this proposal ready for the board meeting before Violet arrives.
I’m going to be too distracted once she shows up. ”
Courtney sighs but at least abandons her hardline attack enough to sit down in a chair opposite my desk.
She might be shorter than me, but she’s got one hell of a looming presence when she wants to be a pit bull.
“Fine. Why is she coming here? You going to parade her around the office and introduce her to all the alphabet suits?”
It’s not fine, and I know it. She’s only rope-a-doping, not surrendering, but I’ll take that for now. I ignore just how right she is about my main motives at having Violet stop by too.
“She offered to give my office a little refresh, so she’s coming by to see my space and take some measurements,” I say airily.
Truth be told, this was one of our rather genius ideas yesterday as we unpacked and moved the rest of Violet’s things to the penthouse.
We need time together in public to sell this, and we’re both busy people.
She can’t just start stopping by for lunch randomly and keep up her work-hard pace, nor can I cut out of the office and meet her all over the city while she’s seeing clients.
A minor update to my space gives her the chance to literally put her mark on me, my home, my office, my life, and no one can refute the importance of that.
Plus, she can stop by morning, noon, and night with a cover story beyond a booty call. Though I hadn’t been averse to everyone thinking she was coming by for her daily dose of my dick, but I could also understand her resistance to developing that reputation.
Courtney looks around, seeing the same industrial cold décor that my home possesses. Black leather, gleaming metals, everything simple and luxurious. “What’s wrong with your office?”
I’d been surprised at what a couple of throw pillows and a fuzzy blanket had done for my living room, and I’m interested to see what Violet will do with this space. “Nothing, but Violet’s a magician with her designs so I’m going to let her work her magic. She already did great things at home.”
“Home?” Court says, her perfectly sculpted eyebrow raising.
I smirk. “Yeah, when we moved her in this weekend. We’re engaged, Sis. It only makes sense for us to live together.” I use the same logic on her that I did on Violet, hoping it works just as well.
“You moved in together?” She screeches in shock.
Yep, pretty much the same reaction.
Courtney composes herself, uncrossing and then re-crossing her legs before smoothing her skirt. I can see her take a calming breath too. She’s going in for the kill.
Is it weird that a twisted part of me can’t wait? I live for this shit—the verbal debate, the battle of wills—and I’m glad Court’s finally grown up and skilled enough to be a worthy adversary. She keeps it interesting at the office, at least.
“Seriously, Ross? How can you be in love with her? I mean, seriously, she was just engaged days before you two hooked up!” Evidentiary point, Courtney.
“But I wasn’t engaged,” I point out. “I was single. And what I feel for Violet means I don’t care about before that. I’m just glad we finally found each other.” Rebuttal point, me. Bonus point for using emotions as a tactic because Courtney can’t refute those.
She rolls her eyes. “How do you know it’s not just a rebound? From what I’m hearing, it’s not even a rebound. She was so freshly broken up with Colin, the ball hadn’t even hit the rim yet!” Her eyes widened. “Oh, shit, did Colin break up with her because of you?”
We’d wondered when someone was going to question the timeline of our getting together. I’d expected it to be the media painting Violet as a cheating man chaser, not my sister.
“They broke up because Colin is a dumbass who didn’t appreciate what he had. Abi and Archie took Vi out to comfort her. Kaede and I saw them at Club Red, and one thing led to another. We talked all night, and things changed.” It’s the truth, one hundred percent, just not the whole truth.
“You’re getting played, Ross,” Courtney reiterates.
“I’m not saying Violet’s doing it on purpose.
She’s Abi’s best friend, and I think she’s pretty damn cool, personally.
But her head’s gotta be all sorts of messed up after Colin, and now this.
Seriously, it’s been days and I still can’t wrap my head around it. It’s fast, too fast.”
“Don’t care,” I reply with a calculated laugh. “Courtney, have you ever been in love?”
Courtney blushes, her eyes narrowing. “Don’t be a dick, Ross. You know I’ve had my heart broken.”
“Of course I do. I distinctly remember throwing Eric Butterfield off our boat into the middle of the lake during your senior year of high school for just that reason,” I remind her.
Not that I minded. He fucking deserved that and more.
“But think back to those moments before it all went to shit. Did you ever just feel it in your gut, in your heart, in your soul that he was it?” She bites her lip and I know I have her.
Reminding her of the guy who broke her heart is a shitty thing to do, but it’s the only way I can get her to remember what love feels like and let this go.
“Courtney, I can’t really explain it, but it’s real.
There was just this moment when I looked in her eyes and I saw .
. . I saw the two paths my life could take.
On one hand, I could keep going the way I have been, and in some ways, it looked good.
I was happy, carefree, and adventurous. But then, I saw this other path with Violet.
A houseful of kids, a dad bod, the picket fence, the whole nine.
And I could see that life without her was empty.
I picked her, knowing it would be messy and hard and that people would doubt us. But it just happened. We fell. Hard.”
It’s bullshit, but at the same time, as the words tumble out of my mouth, I find myself liking what I’m saying. Having a few kids and a home with a woman like Violet . . . okay, I could do without the beer gut, but the rest doesn’t sound half bad.
Shit, maybe my parents were right . . . just a tiny little bit. Not that I’d admit it to them, ever.
Maybe after this pretend relationship is over and Violet and I have had our respectable breakup, I should think about actually settling down. This could be like a trial run to see if I’m cut out for that lifestyle. The thought surprises me but might be worth a bit of consideration.
I’m about to continue when there’s a knock on my door, and I look up to see Violet opening it slowly, Archie peeking over her shoulder. “Hey, honey,” she says with the practiced ease we worked on over the weekend. “Is this a bad time?”