Forty-three

ANDREW

Waking up on the seventh day without Lilah is no easier than the first day.

It fucking sucks.

I don’t know how she did it, but she’d managed to make my house feel like a home. Waking up alone was never a problem before, but now I can’t shake the loneliness that’s settled over the whole house.

Irritated, I hop into the shower to wash away some of the memories. But being in the shower doesn’t help at all.

All I can do is reminisce about the way I washed her from head to toe after painting her. Or the countless times I invaded her shower time as she got ready for work in the morning.

We had so many quickies up against these walls and the memories are enough to make me want to pull my hair out.

How the hell did she permeate every part of my existence?

I can’t look anywhere in this godforsaken house without seeing her everywhere.

No matter how many times I tell myself that she’s a two-timing liar, I still crave her. Every part of her.

But she was working for my brother.

I can’t allow myself to want someone who would knowingly get wrapped up in his shady dealings. No matter the cause. All she had to do was ask me for the money and I would have given it to her in a heartbeat. Now I have to hold my nerve and keep her out of my life for good.

No matter how many times she emails or calls, I will not respond.

Why had she chosen to be underhanded about it?

Drying myself off, I ignore her toothbrush above the sink and I reach for mine. I haven’t brought myself to throw hers out yet.

I’ll get around to it one of these days.

Dressed, I head downstairs for coffee. My appetite is hit or miss but the recent lack of sleep makes it necessary for me to load up on caffeine.

My kitchen feels cold without her.

Every morning, we’d sit at the bar and eat breakfast and now the silence is killing me.

Even Gladys misses her. She’s told me countless times that it may be worth my while to hear out Lilah, but I won’t change my mind. There’s nothing she can say to convince me she didn’t know what she was doing.

I’m on my second cup of coffee when there’s a chime alerting me to someone at the gate.

The black Bentley, without a doubt, belongs to my brother and I don’t want to see him.

He’s showed up every day for the past three and he won’t take the fucking hint.

I already wanted nothing to do with him before, but now those feelings are amplified. He’s a repulsive animal who needs to rot in hell.

It makes me sick to think I confided in Lilah about him and she was working for him the whole time.

If I needed any further proof that no one is to be trusted, I have it in spades now. I should have stuck to the script and moved on after checking her off my bucket list.

I won’t make that mistake again. Lesson fucking learned.

Pressing the buzzer again, Edward makes his second attempt to get me to open the gate.

I watch amused at the way he stares down at his Rolex while waiting.

Forever the impatient asshole.

You’d think he’d stay far away from me after the way I smacked him around last time. But it looks like he wants more.

Oh, what the hell? I’m bored and could use some entertainment. He’s just going to keep showing up every day.

Swiping up, I open the gate and his car roll through moments later.

Pulling open the door, I notice that his nose has healed and can’t resist commenting on it.

“I see that you are healing nicely, is that why you’re back for more?”

Edward only cuts his eyes at me and asks if he can come in.

“We need to talk,” he states.

“I think you did enough of that on your last unannounced visit.”

He has the decency to look remorseful.

“I fucked that up, Andrew. Hear me out,” he sighs, staring at me with eyes that mirror my own.

As much as I want to send his ass packing, I stop when I remember he’s the only family I have left and if we’re at odds then I really have no one to turn to in this world.

And that thought fucks me up more than I’m willing to admit.

We’ve had our differences over the years but my beef was never really with him. It was with my dad and he died before we could resolve our issues.

I don’t want that to happen again. No matter how screwed up the situation is, he’s all I’ve got.

Leading him into the living room, I plop down in my favorite chair and wait for him to follow suit.

“What do you want?”

My brother lifts his pants legs before taking a seat on the edge of the sofa. He steeples his hands under his chin like he’s deep in thought.

“I owe you an apology,” he starts with a heavy breath.

“What do you think you have to apologize for?” I want to know.

My question stumps him for a minute but he quickly recovers.

“I didn’t know you two were in love,” is all he says.

He looks at me, and I return his gaze, stone faced.

Edward finally continues, “Lilah is in love with you, and you, Andrew, love her back.”

It’s the last thing I expected to come out of his mouth.

“I’m not in love with her,” I deny too quickly. “If anything you did me a favor.”

“Right.” He doesn’t sound convinced. “Look, all your money has been recovered and rerouted back to your account. I was a dickhead for trying to take something that wasn’t mine to begin with.”

Wordlessly, I study him and he starts to fidget.

“I guess I didn’t want to admit that you were right all those years. I am jealous of you and I didn’t understand just how much until I realized how much Lilah loves you and how much you love her.”

“Stop saying that shit. She’s no better than you in my book. She played her part. Hope you compensated her accordingly,” I say with a shrug.

It’s none of my business either way but I at least hope she got something out of all this.

“That’s the thing. She won’t take it. She doesn’t want anything to do with my money after the way things blew up. All she did that night was defend you and that’s when I realized I fucked up. That woman loves you with everything in her.”

Focusing on the carpet, I’m quiet as he elaborates.

“In all fairness, I really did think she was cheating on you. I couldn’t wait to rub that shit in your face after I had seen her out with the guy when I went to pick up coffee one day. I hired a private investigator to collect any evidence he could, but their coffee shop meetings were all he uncovered. They never went home or anywhere else together and barely even touched.”

I don’t give a fuck. She was still doing it behind my back. Why is he in my living room defending her right now?

“She turned to this Mason after she saw the return on your first investment. I’d been hounding her all week to get you to make another commitment but she wouldn’t budge. That night I came over here she had just discovered Rio Venture Corp was a decoy and was headed here to tell you herself. My guy overhead the conversation and I knew I needed to run interference. So I did what I did and I’m not proud of it,” he finishes with a shake of his head.

When I don’t say anything, he sighs and stands to his feet.

“I felt like I owed you an explanation… face to face. I’ll see myself out. Take care of yourself, Andrew.”