Billionaires Dollar Series

The same words he spoke to me at the poker game, all those years ago. Tears prick at my eyes. What have I done that’s so horrible? Caring about him?

I wish I didn’t, so I didn’t have to feel this way right now. Glad he can’t see my face, I turn around and walk out of the study.

The door doesn’t slam behind me. That would take more anger than I have at the moment. It closes with a soft creak, like a whimper, the sound echoing in my head as I race down the hallway.

The knock on my front door is heavy. If it hadn’t been made from steel, it would probably bear marks.

“Nick!”

The voice is familiar. The fury in it is not. I run a hand over my face and contemplate not opening. Running from my problems has always been a much, much nicer option.

But it’s also a short-term solution.

So I open the front door. Cole bursts through, the look in his eyes worse than a punch to the gut. Physical violence would have been preferable to that look. I’d left his party without seeing him, not wanting to throw a scene at his cozy, family-filled gathering.

But I’d known he’d come and find me soon enough.

“How could you?” he spits. “My sister?”

There are no words I can say to make it better.

None at all.

“I know,” I say.

“Her explanation didn’t make sense,” he grinds out. “So maybe you can explain it to me? Because right now it’s looking really fucking bad.”

The image of Blair, upset and confused, trying to explain us to her brother explodes in my mind. And all because I hadn’t answered her calls out of a fear that she’d tell me we were over. That she quit the job and planned to cut me out of her life.

“I don’t know if I can,” I say. Without conscious thought, I take in his stance, his closed fists. My legs brace against a sudden attack.

“Try,” he growls. “Because all I know is what I saw, and that a few hours later, my little sister is sobbing in my living room because of you.”

Sobbing?

Blair was crying, about me? Because of me? The ground seems to tremble beneath my feet. “Is she okay?”

Cole turns venomous eyes on me. “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?”

Fuck.

How do I even begin to explain this? When I’d considered having this conversation, I’d expected to have weeks to prepare myself. To find the right words to make Cole understand that it hadn’t really been a choice at all.

I brace my hands against the back of my couch. “I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“Oh, that makes it so much better,” Cole says. “That you hurt my sister on a whim.”

“It wasn’t like that,” I say, gritting my teeth. “Not at all. We grew closer. It wasn’t planned, and I knew I should have stayed away, but…”

The look Cole shoots me is deadly. Spare me the gory details, it says, or I’ll kill you where you stand. And I’d probably let him, because knowing Blair is somewhere crying because of me…

“But what? There are thousands of women in Seattle who’d have you. Fuck, I’ve seen you have your pick of them! But you had to choose my sister?” Cole’s voice is vibrating with anger. “You were the one who told me to avoid mixing business and pleasure when I started dating Skye. Don’t make a mess, was your advice.”

Oh, the irony.

“It wasn’t like that. It was never… never for lack of someone else. I didn’t want another woman but her.” My voice is hoarse. All our years together and we’ve never had a conversation like this. Never ventured into this territory. But just like when I’m with Blair, it all comes pouring out. “Damn it, Cole, you’re basically my brother.”

He braces his hands on the other side of the sofa. It’s like a divider, the two of us boxers on either end of a cushioned ring. His shoulders are tense. He’d much rather punch me in the face, but he’s resisting it. For now.

“I’ve seen you with women,” he grounds out. “It’s never emotional. It never lasts. It’s always transactional in some way. Are you telling me that this is somehow different? That it’s not just…” His skin goes dark red and I know the word he’s not saying, the word he can’t bring himself to. My reply is quick to save us both the pain of that.

“It wasn’t for me. Never was.”

And that’s the truth of it.

For all the years I’ve stayed away from Blair Porter, it’s been exactly for this reason. Crossing the line would never be unemotional. Never casual. It would be something right away-she would deserve nothing less. Hell, she’d demand nothing less. And she hadn’t.

And I’d reacted like I knew I would.

“Then why is she crying? Why does she think it’s over? Put the pieces together for me.”

“Because it is,” I say. “It’s not… fuck, Cole, I don’t know what to tell you. I’m not good at relationships. I’ll hurt her. It’s better that we stop it now, before it goes too far.”

“Beautiful timing,” he says. “Because I’d wager she’s already pretty damned hurt.”This is property © NôvelDrama.Org.

His words feel like a slap. One I know I deserve. Had this been a kickboxing ring, I would have known how to respond. This, though… I’m drowning.

“She’s strong,” I say. “She’s had to be. There’s so much in store for her… I can’t ruin any of it. Can’t be attached to her name and jeopardize it.”

“So much in store for her…” Cole echoes, eyes narrowing. “Do you know about the things in her home office?”

“She told you?”

His eyes are twin flames of accusation. “She told you?”

A burst of pride erupts inside me. She’d faced one of her fears, then, by telling him.

“She was worried about your reaction,” I say. The words slip out before I can stop them, a testament to how unhinged I’m becoming.

It’s the wrong thing to say. Cole’s eyes blaze. “She told you that?”

I can see the instant he realizes that he’s miscalculated somehow. That there’s more to the story here than he’d assumed, that this is both deeper and wider and broader. “Fucking hell, man. You’ve made such a mess of this.”

“I know,” I say. “It’s over now, though. I’ll leave her alone from now on. I promise you I will.”

Cole shakes his head. “I’m so tempted to hit you right now. You’re being even more thick-headed than usual. Would you give up this easily if it was a company you wanted to take over, huh? Would you give a fuck if your reputation wouldn’t become attached to hers?”

I’m shaking my head too, this time in disbelief. “You can’t possibly want me to continue seeing Blair.”