Why wasn’t I strong enough to stand up to my family and just say no when it came to this engagement party?
Because they’re your family. A catch-22 I couldn’t escape.
When I was doing little more than sniffling and hiccupping, I pulled away from Michael. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head. “Don’t be.”
“I know I’m asking a lot, but—”
“You’re not,” he said as he wiped away more tears with a cocktail napkin. “You know I’ll go. Of course, I’ll go. It’s just that your family…” He shook his head again, in obvious angst.
“I know.”
Yet, he felt compelled to say, “They don’t get you.”
“No, they don’t.”
It was an uphill battle I’d fought my entire life. Everyone expecting me to be just like them. Me wanting to stand on my own and be the person I wanted to be. I was fairly certain that was why my mother always took Lizzie’s side over mine. Even with the glaring facts of my sister’s twisted, immoral nature staring her in the face.
As though he knew the direction in which my thoughts ran—and I’m sure he did because he was that perceptive—he said, “My guess is, your sister wanted Seth from the beginning. She was jealous you got into Harvard and she didn’t. She hated that you were dating someone from a more prestigious family than her boyfriend’s. And…you were happier than she was. Of course, she had to make a play for Seth.”
I rolled my eyes at how shallow my sister could be. “I never threw any of that in her face.”
“I’d never take you for the type to do that. No one would. Regardless, she couldn’t escape it.”
“Yeah, well,” I said as I went for the wine again. “It takes two to tango, as they say.”
“Lizzie is a looker.”
“Michael.” I slammed my glass down, surprisingly not breaking the stem.
He speared me with an honest look. “I didn’t say she’s as hot as you, but come on. She’s a pretty little redhead who knows how to bat her eyelashes and pout. And I’m certain that’s not the only way she uses her mouth to get what she wants.”
I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I remembered when I’d walked into my bedroom on that fateful afternoon my sister and Seth had been in the sixty-nine position. She’d given him one hell of a blowjob as I’d stood there in the doorway watching, shocked into paralysis. They hadn’t even noticed me as they’d changed positions and he’d fucked her ass.
“Oh, my God.”
I couldn’t even begin to process how their affair had come about. But I couldn’t lie to myself. It was obvious by how familiar they were with each other’s bodies that they’d been together many times before. My stomach roiled at the thought.
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
Chapter Four
When I came out of the bathroom, he was standing in the oversized archway of his bedroom, a shoulder propped against the frame. I’d run to the restroom in his master suite because it was the only one I’d ever used. I had no idea where the guest bath was.
My stomach, now empty, wasn’t twisted in knots anymore. I’d used a spare toothbrush accumulated from his dentist visits because he used an electric version instead. I’d also swished some mouthwash to make me feel better.
He said, “You’re not going tomorrow.”
I gave a half laugh, half snort. “I’d never hear the end of it if I didn’t go.”
“I don’t care. And you
shouldn’t either.”
“It’s not that simple,” I said.
“Of course not. But still…don’t go.”