“You’re damn right I’m upset!” His head swung between us like he didn’t know who he should be more mad at. “You two have beenfuckingbehind my back? I can’t believe you would cheat on Carmen!”
“No!” Hunter said, relieved. “I broke off the engagement before flying here. I don’t want to be with Carmen.”
“Oh, so one more thing you’ve been lying about,” Brad said. “What a great friend you are.”
“Then let me tell you the truth.” Hunter stood, holding the blanket around his waist. “We’re not kids anymore, Brad. We’re all adults. And I care deeply about your sister. I’ve been thinking about her for the past five years, which came to a head at your Dad’s funeral.”
“Hitting on my sister on the worst day of our lives? Nice,” Brad said sarcastically.
“No! I didn’t…” Hunter waved a hand dismissively. “When I saw her at the funeral, I realized just how strongly I felt about her. I knew that I had to tell her how I feel, and see if the two of us had a shot at something. So I broke off the engagement and flew back here. I would do anything to get close to her again. I made up an excuse to stay in the house and record throwback videos. I invested inYours Forever Gemstonesso I would be able to keep in touch with her. I…”
My stomach turned to ice. “That’swhy you invested in my business?”
Hunter turned to me, confused. “No. I mean, not only that. I think it’s a cool idea, and I do believe in your creativity in coming up with new ideas, and I wanted tohelpyou…”
His excuses fell flat. “You invested in my business ascharity?All this time I thought you believed in the idea, but you were just… you were just…”
“You were trying to get in her pants,” Brad said, sneering.
“What? No! Erica, you have to believe me…”
“You didn’t think my business would succeed,” I whispered. My entire body felt numb, like I had been dunked in ice. “You were just throwing me a bone. Trying to make me happy.”
“Yes!” Hunter said, seizing on the word. “I was trying to make you happy, Erica! When I saw you at the expo, you looked so discouraged. Like the world had beaten you down and stolen your spark. I knew you needed a helpful boost. I would do anything to make you feel confident again.”
He thought he was saying the right things, but he wasn’t. All I heard was that his money was essentially charity, and he didn’t actually believe in the potential of my business.
All the confidence I had been accumulating for the past three weeks disappeared. In the blink of an eye, I felt like that high school girl again, fumbling around with bad business ideas and being humored by the people around me.
“Erica,” Hunter pleaded with me. “You understand what I’m saying, don’t you?”
I couldn’t bring myself to respond.
“Wait a minute,” Brad cut in. “You said you’ve been thinking about her the past five years?” He waved a finger between us like a Harry Potter wand. “Didthisbegin in high school? Were you fooling around with my sisterwhile you lived here?”
“Not exactly,” Hunter began.
Brad scoffed. “Notexactly?I can’t believe this. After everything we did for you? We took you in after your parents died, when you hadnobody. And how did you pay us back? By fucking my sister in the next room over?”
“We never had sex back then,” Hunter quickly said. “We hadonekiss, and then…”
“Oh, okay,” Brad said angrily. “So you waited until my parents died, then flew here to fuck Erica. Taking advantage of her grief so you could get in her pants.”
“No! That’s not it at all!” Hunter insisted. “Your sister means so much more to me than that. I…” He trailed off and turned to me. “Erica, I think I’m in love with you.”
Ten minutes ago, the words would have made my heart sing. But now my stomach roiled in reaction. I thought I was going to be sick.
One of the phones on the coffee table vibrated to life. All three of us bent to look at it.
“Carmen?” Brad said. “If you broke off the engagement, then why is she calling you?”
“I still need to move out next week,” Hunter said wearily. “All my stuff is at her place.”
“Or maybe you never broke up with her at all, and wanted to see how far you could get with my sister first,” Brad accused.
Hunter grabbed the phone and thrust it at my brother. “Answer it, then. Ask her what happened if you don’t believe me.”
Brad snatched the phone from him and put it to his ear. “Hey, Carmen, this is Brad Porter. I’m Hunter’s friend. He can’t come to the phone. How’s the wedding planning going? Do you have a date yet?”