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“I want to talk to you if that’s okay. I want to apologize and explain myself. I was a bad brother.”
“Damn right, you were.”
“Florida has made you even feistier, you know,” he chuckled on the other end of the phone. “Matthew taught you to talk like that?”
“At least I didn’t punch her, jackass!” I called, as I rinsed the plates in the sink.
“Are you at Matthew’s? I could drive up to his address—”
“Do you think I still live in the apartment I used to live in with the woman you slept with?” I should probably stop talking about Paige given that I was with Reagan now. And it didn’t matter anymore even if Paige chose to appear on my doorstep right now, I’d choose my feisty blonde. But I liked reminding Ryan what he did because it made him squirm.
“Right. So, can we meet? I really want to see you, Reagan. Please.”
“Okay.” Her answer surprised me. I turned from the sink, leaned against it, and crossed my arms against my chest, showing her I was hesitant about her idea.
“What?” I mouthed and she shrugged, telling me I didn’t have a say in this and that I could either just support her with it or be quiet. And I couldn’t stay away even if it meant I had to see her brother one more time.
“But I don’t want to see Daddy. Just you.”
“He flew back to California three hours ago.”
“He’s always been a horrible father. A good husband, but a horrible father.”
“I know.”
“Okay,” Reagan breathed, telling her brother that she was done. “I’ll text you the address.”
“And I’m coming, too. That’s nonnegotiable!” I yelled at Ryan so he’d know that if he was planning something stupid, he wouldn’t be able to pull it off.
“Whatever, asshole.”
“Jackass!”
Chapter twenty-four
Reagan
I decided that being in a public cafe three blocks from Matthew’s penthouse for lunch was a good idea so he’d think twice before he decided to do something stupid.
Matthew went back to my apartment with me to get some clothes since he had insisted that I stay with him for a while. And who was I to say no to that? If he and I could barely keep our hands off each other at the hotel, and it proved to be extra difficult when we were in the same room together.
And Matthew showed me that there was no point stepping on eggshells when it came to sex. “You have me, darling,” he had said when we enjoyed a quickie in his kitchen after Ryan’s call. “Say the word and I’ll take care of you.”
I loved that Matthew wasn’t coddling me, that even if I had decided to give my brother the benefit of the doubt and see him today, he was vocal about his disapproval but he didn’t stop me. Instead, he decided that he was coming in case my idea went south. In exchange, I gave him the privilege to knock Ryan out cold if the situation required it.
I wore the biggest sunglasses I could find in my closet, a green oversized hoodie, and sweatpants. I pulled my hair up in a ponytail and looped it through the hole of my cap. It was the laziest outfit I had thrown on in my entire life and I didn’t like it. Yet Matthew had said I looked sexy and reminded me about how hot he thought I was when he had taken me in his car before arriving here.
“You touch her, you try to reach out across the table, and I’ll break your hand,” I heard Matthew warn when we sat in the booth at the back of the cafe by the glass wall where several pedestrians were walking by.
“She’s my sister,” Ryan argued, his expression grouchy. And for the first time in years, I saw my brother up close. I wanted to hug him, to run across the cafe and bury my head against his chest. He had always been my protector and the person I could talk to about everything.
So the fact that he had thrown a punch at me didn’t just hurt physically, but it hurt emotionally as well. And the pain was enough to stop me from doing those things. Instead, I sat close to Matthew and he held on to my knee when I got settled, telling me he was there.
“Didn’t stop you from punching her.”
“That was—Okay. All right. Relax.”
“Not gonna happen,” Matthew answered nonchalantly as I rolled my eyes at the testosterone dancing in the air. I didn’t have time for these men to fight right now. I wanted what my brother needed to say.
