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It felt like time was suddenly standing still. Tobias stared back and forth between me and Anderson, and the two of us stared back at him, terrified and at a complete loss for words.
My mouth dropped open, but I had nothing to say. I merely watched the varying expressions dashing across Tobias’s face. Surprise, shock, confusion, disbelief, disgust, anger…
“What the hell?” he said, when he was finally capable of speech. The restroom door swung open again. He momentarily stepped aside, permitting another man to exit, and then turning his icy gaze right back at us. “What are you doing?” he demanded.
I wanted to sink into the floor and disappear at the way his eyes trailed me from head to toe. Or at the very least, I wanted to make a run for it and hide in the women’s bathroom, where I would be free from the scrutiny of his gaze. I knew how incriminating Anderson and I looked, just like I knew there was nothing either of us could do about it.
After all the sneaking around, we had finally been caught red-handed, in the worst possible way.
“Please tell me that this isn’t what I think it is,” Tobias said, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes for a second.
Anderson gave a nervous laugh behind me. “It isn’t what you think it is,” he said, unsuccessfully trying to make his voice sound light.
“Then what the hell is it?” Tobias said through gritted teeth, his eyes blazing angrily.
I averted my gaze to the floor, feeling like a child in his presence. He may as well have been my father, catching me sneaking a boy into my room.
“Tobias, man—chill,” Anderson said.
“Excuse me?” Tobias said, incredulously. “What even gives you the right to speak to me right now? I do you a favor and find you a date for tonight, offer to let you take my own sister, and you do this? Have you lost your goddamned mind? That’s my sister, An
derson!”
“Tobias,” I said, casting a nervous glance down the hall and hoping no one could hear him. “Please, not so loud.”
“My voice level is the last thing you have to worry about, Joanna,” he said, his voice deadly serious. He shook his head and sneered at me. “I can’t believe you, Jo. I thought you had class. And here you are, running off with him during the middle of a gala.”
“Hey,” Anderson said, his voice suddenly stern. He stepped forward, no longer cowering behind me. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way.”
“And don’t you dare put your filthy hands on her again,” Tobias growled. He laughed mirthlessly. “I honestly cannot believe this. She needed a break Anderson, you knew that! She needed a moment to breathe and be herself, alone. But instead you sleep with her! I never thought that my best friend and my little sister would sneak off to screw in the middle of my company’s event, right before I’m set to give a speech!”
“Tobias, we’re sorry,” I said, trying to hold back the tears. I had never seen Tobias so angry. Anderson and I had both knew he wouldn’t take it too well when he found out about us, but we could have never expected this level of anger…
“You are beyond sorry,” Tobias said. “You are so reckless. And Anderson, this is just disrespectful. You’re supposed to be my partner.”
“All right, Tobias, that’s enough!” Anderson bellowed. “Cut it out! We get it, already. You’re pissed. We’re sorry, but you have no right to talk to us this way. You don’t control our lives.”
“No, I don’t control your lives. You do. And what’s pathetic is that I’m standing in front of two so-called adults who don’t even know how to control their own hormones! Even if you wanted to sneak around behind my back, did you have to do it here? Right now?! Does the word ‘discreet’ mean anything to either of you idiots?”
“We’re sorry! What more do you want us to say?!” I yelled.
A hush fell among us as several others passed through the hall, entering and exiting the restrooms, casting curious gazes at us along the way.
“I’m so disgusted right now, I don’t know what to do with myself,” Tobias said. “The two people I trust the most, and you go off and do something like this? Just get the hell out of my sight. Both of you.” Fuming, he turned around and stormed down the hall.
I stood, trembling on the spot and listening to Anderson calling after my brother.
The ‘big reveal’ for Anderson and I had gone ten thousand times worse than I could have ever anticipated. I was shaken to my very core. But on some level, I couldn’t entirely blame Tobias for being upset. It was incredibly stupid and inappropriate for Anderson and I to have snuck off in the middle of the gala like we had.
Our whole relationship thus far had been irresponsible.
Anderson chased Tobias down to the end of the hall and then swore at the top of his lungs. I watched as he disappeared back into the ballroom.
All the while, I continued standing in front of the closet, at a complete loss for what to do. My heart shattered into a million pieces at the mere thought that I had potentially caused such a riff between Anderson and Tobias. The two of them had been lifelong friends, and I’d never known them to be seriously upset with each other.
I felt sick to my stomach.
Anderson rounded the corner, coming back towards me. I suddenly felt a powerful wave of nausea that sent me running to the women’s room. I reached a toilet just in time. Every ounce of the fancy food that I’d consumed came pouring out of my mouth. When I was done, I almost felt too weak to stand.
