“Why are you being so defensive and hiding things? That’s not like you at all.” She batted away a stray piece of hair from her face. “You’re not back with Phoebe, are you?”
“What?” The idea of Phoebe and me ever being anywhere near each other was so far out of left field that I sputtered out a laugh. “No. Hell no.”
“Then who is it?” Imogen asked, and then her mouth turned down and I knew which angle was coming next. The guilt angle. “You always tell me everything, and it hurts that you feel the need to hide something.”
“I know.”
“So? How is this any different?”
I lowered my gaze, staring way too intently at my coffee. “It just is.”
She sighed, and then, thankfully for me, the waitress interrupted to bring out our food.
“A Belgian waffle with strawberry compote for the lady,” the waitress said, setting down a plate in front of Imogen. “And Patty’s Special for the gentleman. Can I get you two anything else?”
“No thanks”—I glanced at her nametag—“Lauren.”
She winked at me. “Yell if you need anything.” As she walked off, Imogen eyed my plate.
“Mmm, that looks good.” She waited until I reached for the ketchup, and then she leaned across the table and swiped one of the sausage links off my plate before I could stop her.
“Jesus, what is it with you and Viper stealing shit off my plate?” I said, pouring out a healthy amount of ketchup to go with the hash browns.
“You talk about him a lot.”
“Who?”
“Viper.”
As I swallowed my food, I realized what I’d said, but it wasn’t like I’d admitted he stole shit off my plate in bed.
With a shrug, I lifted my over-medium egg and placed it on top of my toast. “Yeah, well, it’s bound to happen. I’m with the guys almost every day.”
“No…” Imogen took a bite of her waffle, and as she chewed, she stared at me thoughtfully. “That’s not it. You don’t talk about the others as much.”
I rolled my eyes and cut into the egg-toast combination. Sometimes my sister was too perceptive, but I’d been careful not to throw out any clues, so there was no way she could guess. Could she?
“So,” she said, her tone turning casual as she cut into her waffle, “Viper eats off your plate, huh?”
I focused on my food. “He eats off everyone’s plate,” I lied. “He’s an asshole like that.” No, you’re the asshole, I told myself. Just fucking tell her.
“Yeah, I guess a guy like Viper is used to getting what he wants.” It was a simple comment, what could be an innocent observation, but I knew my sister, and her words made me lift my head and pin her with narrowed eyes.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that he’s got a reputation for taking whatever strikes him. Food, sex, men…”
Goddamn the way my skin flushed so easily. I could feel the warmth flowing into my cheeks, and I tried to hide it by lifting my coffee to my lips with both hands.
“Halo.” Imogen’s voice was softer as she leaned over to cover my mug. As I lowered the coffee back to the table, her forehead creased. “Tell me. Tell me what’s going on.”
I stared at Im, wondering if I confessed, if I told her my secret, if she’d still look at me the same way she looked at me now. But the truth was that I was tired of hiding. She knew something was up, and eventually, she’d figure it all out. It was better to have it come from my lips than for her to find out some other way.
Setting down my fork, I let out a long rush of air, my skin scorching now. She waited patiently, and when I found my tongue, I said, “I’m involved with Viper.”
From her lead-up to this moment, I could tell she’d been suspicious, but when I actually said the words, Imogen swallowed, the rest of her frozen.
“Define…involved,” she said slowly.
God, where was the alcohol when I needed it? “I’ve been staying at his place most nights.”
Imogen stared at me, and the shock written all over her face would’ve been funny if it hadn’t been in response to what I’d told her. When minutes passed and she didn’t blink or say anything, I waved a hand in front of her face.
“Im? You okay?”
“I… You…” She finally blinked. “I’m gonna need a minute.” She held up a finger as she lifted her mug to her lips, finishing off the rest of the coffee, and when she set it down, she said, “Okay. I’m ready. Explain.”
I started at the very beginning, when I’d walked into the audition and how Viper gave me a hard time. Even though she’d known that bit from my freak-out after the audition, now that I knew what Viper had actually been thinking, I had a different perspective on it. I told her about how he defended me after the disastrous show in Savannah. How we’d worked together to write the songs for the album, and how that slowly turned things into more, until it all exploded back in Miami. I glossed over the details, because my sister didn’t need to know all that, but I explained the situation, how we’d agreed to keep our attraction strictly physical. Obviously I wasn’t gonna tell her I’d started having feelings for Viper, because that was something that couldn’t happen, but it was enough that she was in the know now.