AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Can we not talk about who’s nailing me anywhere?” I said, reaching for my keys. “Spencer, I’m not sure what we’re going to do for dinner—”
“I’ve already canceled the reservation,” he said, putting his hand on my lower back. I flinched away from the touch, but he didn’t say anything. “Shane, what do you like? I’m feeling Chinese takeaway.”
“Fuck it, let’s have Chinese,” Shane said, picking up his duffel. “And if your place is as nice as that car, we’re eating it at your house.”
If Spencer ever wanted to judge my personal life and my family, he was about to get his chance.
“Sounds like a plan,” Spencer said, reaching for Shane’s bag. “Come on. I’ll have my driver bring us there and order takeout along the way.”
I wanted Spencer to meet Shane, but not like this. I knew my father must have been behind this, and I also knew there would be no way to keep any of this from Spencer anymore. He’d want to know, and now that the evidence had been presented to him, there would be no way to keep him out.
Chapter Twenty-Two
SPENCER
I couldn’t stop eyeing Shane as we walked upstairs to the guest room, which was on the floor below ours. He would let out a quiet hiss of pain now and then with specific movements, and I also caught him peeking at me more than a few times, sizing me up or gauging my reactions.
I prided myself on being able to read people effortlessly, which was a critical element of my being so good at my job. Looking past someone’s façade, seeing them for who they really were, and knowing their intentions was second nature to me. Nonna used to say I was psychic, which always made me and my siblings laugh, imagining me waggling my fingers at a crystal ball.
So, it didn’t take more than half a second for me to size up Nat’s little brother. I could instantly determine that Shane used the people who loved him, and he was a drug abuser—you didn’t have to be psychic to pick up that last part. His drug abuse probably abated his guilt for using people, but it also created a vicious cycle.
If he weren’t Nat’s brother, I would have handled this situation with a few words, and the problem would have been gone.
Nat had dropped a few hints here and there, making it clear that I should restrain myself from calling him out for showing up unannounced. She’d said enough in the time I’d been with her for me to know she loved her brother tremendously and that they had a difficult family dynamic, just as I had.
I had no intention of forcing myself into this situation, but I also knew this was an excellent time to learn a thing or two about the woman I’d fallen for. I was more curious than anything now.
“This’ll be you,” I said, pushing open the door to the second bedroom on the floor and turning the switch as I walked inside, “for as long as you need to stay.”
Shane let out a long whistle as we walked inside. His lack of maturity was already annoying me, but I would keep my mouth shut for Nat’s sake. For now.
I watched as he looked around at the furnishings and the beautiful bed I’d had made ahead of our arrival in London, preparing for the possibility that Nat might want to stay in a separate room. “Okay,” he said, looking around in wonder as he plopped down on the bed and bounced on the comfortable mattress. “I can rest at ease knowing you’re not with my sister just to get her money.”
I guess Mr. First-Class Plane Ticket is the only one allowed to dig her gold.
I slid my hands into my pockets, trying to act casual. “Nah. Being a gold digger is way too complicated. I don’t have time for that.”
Shane let out a surprised, raspy chuckle, and he reached up to set his hand on his throat, massaging his neck in discomfort as the laugh turned into a cough. “You sound like her.”
“So do you,” I said. “You both are bold when getting straight to the point. Holding nothing back.” I sat on the small ottoman under the window across from Shane, trying his best not to let on how much pain he was in.
“That we do. We’re direct.”
“Right,” I answered. “Direct about everything but whatever is going wrong in your lives.”
I knew that was pushing it, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to tiptoe around the fact that he got the shit beat out of him and wasn’t offering any information about what’d happened. And he could act bold all damn day, but he wasn’t being forthright about his intention to fly across the world to find his sister in London, and I wasn’t going to ignore that.
The little shit had the nerve to meet my eyes and say, “What makes you think anything is going wrong in my life?”
“I’m assuming you’ve looked in a mirror,” I said. “I’m not sure if you know this, but it’s not normal for people to go around looking like someone took a hammer to their face.”
“And he’s funny,” Shane said, raising his hands to clap slowly and sarcastically, acting like an obstinate teenager. “I swear I’m okay. At least I am now that I’m away from LA and with my sister. Can’t that be enough for now? I mean, I hope you don’t have a problem with me wanting to chill with Nat.”
My face darkened, and my restraint from five minutes ago, putting up with this guy for the sake of Nat and learning more about her and her family, was swiftly fading. I had excellent self-control, but for twats like this, I had none.
“Would you have a problem with your girlfriend’s grown-ass brother wanting to be with his sister?” I asked. “Especially if said adult brother showed up on your doorstep looking the way you look right now?”
He sighed heavily as he stared back at me, clearly sorting through his words as he decided the best approach, like the good little manipulator he was. Then, suddenly, his eyes landed on my left hand and went wide. “Hold up,” he said, bolting forward. “Are you cheating with my sister?”
