I glanced down for a few seconds to gather the strength to answer.
“I am.”
His jaw tightened. Okay, maybe I should have told him when I had a place to escape to…not strapped in at thirty-thousand feet in the air while sitting next to him.
Smart going, Turner.
“How long?”
“If I’m being honest, the moment I met her in the dance studio for our first consultation.”
I couldn’t help but notice his hands balling up.
“Were you the one fucking her when old lady Hopkins walked into the studio? And don’t you dare lie to me, Turner.”
No longer able to look into his eyes, I turned away.
“You asshole. I swear to God if I wasn’t on a plane right now I’d kick your ass. That’s my sister!”
“I know who the hell she is, Cord,” I whispered. “I’m sorry if you feel like I betrayed you.”
“Betrayed me? You slept with my sister! My sister who happens to be a lot older than you!”
“Her age has nothing to do with this.”
“You’re goddamn right. She’s my sister!” Cord shouted. It didn’t take the flight attendant long to come over to us.
Her eyes bounced between the two of us. “Gentlemen, do we have a problem here?”
“I need to move my seat before I kill this prick.”
Her eyes widened in shock.
“I sort of just told him I slept with his sister,” I said with a half shrug.
“I see. Well, there is an empty seat in first class, why don’t you take it, sir,” the flight attendant said to me.
“Wait! Why does he get the first-class seat? He slept with my sister! There are rules against this sort of thing.”
She frowned and leaned closer to Cord. “There are also rules for threatening to murder someone on an airplane. And there are rules for when you sleep with a woman and sneak out in the middle of the night.”
Cord looked harder at the flight attendant. “Have we?” He pointed between the two of them.
Nodding, she replied in the same hushed tone. “On your last trip to Vegas, Cord Parker.”
Cord closed his eyes and mumbled, “Ah, hell, I thought you looked familiar.”
Motioning for me to head to first class, she got one last jab in as she placed her mouth against Cord’s ear. I didn’t hear what she said, but Cord’s face turned white as a ghost. When I looked back, he shot me a go-to-hell look.
“You can take a seat here, sir,” the flight attendant said when she caught up with me in the first class cabin. “I’ll get your carry-on in a moment. Would you like something to drink?”
I smiled. “Um, no thanks. I appreciate you breaking that up, and I’m really sorry about the whole one-night stand thing with Cord.”
She smirked. “I wouldn’t tell him this, but he was worth it.” And with a wink, she headed up the galley.
* * *
Cord, Dustin, and Tom made their way to my truck. I was guessing Cord was cursing himself for not driving.
Dustin hit me on the shoulder, “Dude, he’s ready to tear your head off.”
Tom laughed his ass off as Cord opened the back door and threw his bag in. “What, now you don’t want to sit in the front, Parker?”
“Fuck you, Tom. It wasn’t your sister he screwed.”
The hour and a half drive back to Oak Springs felt like an eight-hour drive. I dropped Dustin and Tom off first and then took Cord back to his place. When I pulled up, I got out of the truck and followed him to the back stairs.
“You keep following me, Turner, and I can’t promise you won’t be facing a gun at the top of the stairs.”
I sighed and kept going. “Will you just talk to me, Cord? Please.”
After unlocking his door, he pushed it open. “You have ten minutes, and after that, I’m fucking beating your ass.”
“What if I finish in five? Do I get a five-minute head start?”
He narrowed his brows. “If it only takes you five fucking minutes to explain why you went around my back and slept with my sister, then no. I still get to kick your ass.”
I raised my hands. “Fair enough.”
Following Cord into his place, I waited for him to tell me to start. He walked into the kitchen, reached into the refrigerator and grabbed two beers. “Your time has already started, asshat.”
“Well, hell, you could have told me I was on the clock.”
“You’re wasting more time.”
Reaching for the beer, I nodded. “Right.”
I took a long drink, let out a gust of air, and sat on the sofa.
“It was wrong to approach your sister without telling you how I felt about her. At the same time, though, we’re all adults here, Cord. You can’t keep your sister from being with someone.”
He grunted.
“The attraction was clearly mutual, and I fought it. Honestly, I did. But your sister is so damn amazing. She’s smart and funny and that mouth makes me laugh every single day.”