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I followed him, pressing my lips together. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“Okay, I get that something’s going on, but I’m totally missing what it is,” Zoe murmured, her gaze darting back and forth between us.
I didn’t look away from Landon as I answered, “You’ve been doing such a great job consoling me over the breakup that it didn’t hit me until now that my brother has been oddly blasé about the whole thing. He hasn’t threatened to drive down to Chicago and kick James’s butt once. He has warned every guy who’s even thought about asking me out on a date about what would happen if they hurt me, but he hasn’t done a darn thing to back that up when it comes to James. That seems awfully suspicious to me.”
“Oh, wow. That’s an excellent point.” Zoe got up to stand next to Landon as she asked, “What’s going on?”
My brother scrubbed his hands down his face. “I promised James I wouldn’t say anything.”
“Whose side are you on?” I sniffled. “His or mine?”
“Yours. Always yours,” he swore.
“Then you need to tell her what’s going on,” Zoe demanded. “Whatever reason James gave that had you agreeing to keep such a big secret from your sister can’t be worth the misery she’s going through.”
“Shit, baby. I know,” he groaned, pulling her against his side before meeting my gaze. “It’s not my story to share, so all I’m going to say is the situation isn’t what you think. The last thing James ever wanted to do was hurt you.”
I thought about how protective he’d been over my twisted ankle. How he’d treated me like I was easily breakable and he wanted to wrap me in bubble wrap even though I was fine. “That jerk broke my heart for my ‘protection,’ didn’t he?”
“Like I said…he didn’t want to hurt you,” Landon repeated.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. What in the world could I need protecting from that would warrant breaking up with me?” I paced back and forth, raking my fingers through my hair. “I’ve cried over the a-hole for days, and it was supposedly all for my own good? As if I’m a child who needs to be protected from everything and not a grown woman who can make her own decisions?”
“Sorry, but you’re always going to be my little sister who needs protecting, as far as I’m concerned,” Landon muttered.
I stabbed my finger at him. “Yeah, but you’re my brother…not the guy I’m sleeping with!”
He made an exaggerated gagging sound. “I do not need to hear that shit.”
Zoe elbowed him in the side. “What your brother meant to say was that this is a conversation you should have with James.”
“You’re right. He’s the one who needs to learn that I can stand by his side, no matter what’s happening,” I agreed with a nod. “And he owes me one heck of an explanation since my brother is being so tight-lipped.”
“Go to him,” Zoe urged.
Landon shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”
“Too bad.” I shoved his shoulder. “You lost the opportunity to have an opinion on what’s going on when you refused to tell me why your friend broke my heart.”
“Damn, sis. Don’t hold back or anything on my account,” Landon muttered, making Zoe giggle.
“You’re lucky I didn’t use the self-defense moves you taught me against you for going along with whatever James’s plan was.” I gave Zoe a quick hug. “But I’ve got bigger fish to fry at the moment.”
I was too emotional to even think about packing anything, not that it mattered since I’d never brought the bag I originally packed back home. Nor had James sent it with my car when it’d been delivered to my apartment—yet another sign that our breakup wasn’t as real as I’d thought. I might not have really ever dated before him, but even I knew that the returning of things was what you did after breaking up.
It would’ve jumped out as a red flag to me so much sooner if I hadn't been so upset. But I wasn’t going to beat myself up over it because I shouldn’t have needed to guess why James had ended our relationship. He never should have broken up with me, no matter how much he wanted to protect me from whatever was happening in his life.
During the drive down, I came up with at least a dozen perfect things to say to him. From witty quips to a scathing dressing down, I went back and forth over how to handle the confrontation with him. But when I banged on the front door of his Winnetka house, and he flung it open, all that came out was, “How could you do that to me?”
12
JAMES
My knees got a little weak when I opened the door to find Samantha standing on our porch, looking like a goddess with fire in her eyes and her blond hair blowing in the wind.
“Samantha,” I croaked.
She wasn’t who I’d been expecting to find on my doorstep, and we hadn’t taken care of the threat yet. But seeing her now, right in front of me, I knew I wouldn’t be able to push her away twice.
