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Tossing his suit jacket and tie over the back of a chair, he walked into the kitchen. “Didn’t think you would,” he replied, opening the refrigerator and getting a beer for himself.
Dylan took a long swig of the beer before saying anything else. “What brings you here?”
Jake finished chewing and reached for another slice of topping-heavy pizza. “Have you seen this?”
He picked up the magazine Jake tossed his way. “Since when do you read this trash?”
“I don’t,” Jake said defensively. “Sara gave it to me.”
Dylan glanced down at the cover, which featured a photo of Callie the night of the fundraiser. She looked absolutely gorgeous. “You came all the way here to give me this?” He reached for a slice of pizza, wondering what Jake was up to. Tabloid headlines never bothered the guy, or if they did, he never let on.
“I met her this weekend. She’s staying in Newport for a little while,” Jake explained between mouthfuls of pizza.
Dylan’s hand stopped on its way to his mouth. “So? What does that have to do with me? Tell me you didn’t come here to tell me that.”
Jake dropped his pizza, folded his arms across his chest, and leaned forward. “She’s not Francesca, Dylan.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Why would you think I’d compare those two? I barely know Callie Taylor.” He knew every word coming out of his mouth was a lie. He knew her in the most intimate way possible. Dylan bit into the pizza, which smelled heavenly, but tasted like saw dust.
Jake opened the magazine that Dylan discarded and pushed it back toward him. “I’d say you know her fairly well.”
Damn it. Pictures of them together gazed back up at him. Who else had seen these? Maybe a better question was, who hadn’t?
“It doesn’t take a genius to see she cares about you. She nearly broke out in tears whenever I mentioned your name.” Jake paused for a moment as if to let his words sink in. “And I’d bet my new car you feel the same way, bro.”
“When did you become Dr. Phil?” Dylan asked sarcastically. Although his brother was right about his feelings, he didn’t have to like it, and he certainly didn’t want to be getting relationship advice from his kid brother.
Finishing off his beer, Jake went to get another. “I don’t know what you did, but you should try to fix it.”
“She didn’t tell you?” He’d been wondering if she’d told Warren. Dylan didn’t know how his stepfather would react to the fact he’d gone along with Phillips’ plan, and Warren’s opinion mattered to him.
“Nope. Don’t think she even muttered your name. I brought you up, not her.”
Dylan pushed his pizza away. “Mum and Marty were worried that Callie would go to the media before Warren did. They thought if she did it would hurt Warren’s campaign.” He blew out a deep breath. “Marty asked me to spend time with Callie. To keep an eye on her and make sure she didn’t say anything to anyone before Warren made his announcement.”
“And you went along with that?”
“If I didn’t, Marty planned to hire someone to do it.” Dylan looked away from his brother’s eyes.
“He’d do it too.”
“That was my conclusion as well, so I agreed. I didn’t plan for things to progress as far as they did, and then after a while, I more or less forgot about what Phillips wanted altogether.”
“What went wrong?”
“Callie overheard me talking to Phillips at the fundraiser and learned the truth. When she asked me about it, I couldn’t lie to her.” Dylan took another swig from his beer, still unable to look his brother in the eye.
“I tried to explain everything, but she wouldn’t accept anything I said and told me to get out. We haven’t spoken since that night.”
Jake whistled low. “Ouch. I can see why she’s pissed at you.”
“That’s putting it mildly.” Dylan laughed bitterly. The pizza he’d eaten now felt like a lead weight in his stomach.
“You should still try to undo this mess with her.” Jake fell silent for a moment, looking much more serious than Dylan had ever seen him. “I know you, Dylan. You never would’ve let things go as far they did if you didn’t care about her.”
Dylan opened his mouth to protest. His brother didn’t give him a chance. “She’s about as different from Francesca as they come, so stop using her as an excuse. Yeah, Francesca was a bitch, but she was only one woman. You can’t judge them all using her as the standard.”
Dylan stared at the younger man. When had his baby brother become so insightful?
