“Move.”

Riley raises her eyebrow and fails to budge from her seat on the couch…in my favorite spot.

“Don’t make me move you. You may be older, but I’m bigger and stronger.”

She sighs and sticks her tongue out at me before sliding over to the other end of the couch with her plate in hand.

I drop into my usual spot and flip on the television. “I assume you want to watch the game?”

“Duh.” The word somehow manages to make it out around the piece of pizza shoved in her mouth.

I find the Kings game and relax back into the plush leather with my own slice. It’s been a hell of a couple days, and all I want to do is enjoy the game in peace. Of course, I hadn’t expected my nosy sister to appear at my door half an hour ago.

At least she brought wine. I can forgive the intrusion since she brought booze. Plus, I made her promise not to discuss my recent exploits and unemployment.

I should have known that was an empty promise. My sister is nothing if not tenacious.

“You really just left her in bed and never even called or anything?”

“Jesus Christ, Riley!” I toss my pizza back on the plate and glare at her. “You couldn’t leave it alone, could you?”

She holds her hands out. “What? What did I do?”

“You promised you wouldn’t bring it up.”

Her plate lands on the coffee table, and she turns toward me. “I’m sorry, Rafe, but I feel like this is something that you need to talk about and face. You had an amazing night with this woman and then just left her in the dust as soon as shit got real. That’s a real dick move.”

Like I don’t know that.

I’ve spent the last two days regretting every move I made that morning, but it’s not like I can take it back. “What’s done is done, Riley. Let it be.”

She grins at me and shakes her head. “No can do, little bro. I’m a woman. We don’t let things go, which is why I know that Andy is probably reeling from what happened. She lost her job over this, over standing up for you and acting on whatever the attraction between you was. That’s a big deal. And to wake up to all that turmoil and not even have you there, not even a note, that’s pretty fucked up.”

“If I wanted a sermon, I would have gone to church with Mom.”

“Ouch. I’m not trying to lecture you, here. I just think you need to at least call this woman and give her an explanation and an apology. You weren’t the only one whose life was affected by all this.”

No shit.

I may have been forced to resign, but I wasn’t the CEO of a multi-million dollar network like Andy. She didn’t stand a chance once those pictures got out.

And it’s not that I don’t feel like a dick for how I left things, it’s more that I feel so awful about it, I don’t even know how to go about contacting her.

What the hell would I even say? I had the best night of my life, I’m sorry it cost both of us everything?

“What would I say to her, Riley?”

She leans forward, grabs her pizza, and takes an enormous bite before answering me. “You tell her the truth. Explain why you left so suddenly and why you didn’t call or come back.”

“You mean tell her I totally panicked and didn’t know what to do? Yeah, that’s a fabulous idea.”

There’s a brief moment of silence while she chews another bite. Then she dives right back in, eliminating my momentary reprieve. “If that’s the truth, then yeah. There’s no shame in admitting you panicked. I probably would have too in that situation, but really, Rafe, you should have woken her up and you two should have dealt with this together.”

I scrub my hands over my face and then move my plate to the table. My appetite has vanished quicker than I did from her bedroom. “I know that. That’s why I feel like such a fucking ass.”

“How did you leave things with the network? All you told me was you quit before they could fire you.”

“I dropped off a letter of resignation. Two hours later, I got a call from someone in the legal department asking me to sign something that said Andy never sexually harassed me or coerced me into sleeping with her.”

Riley’s jaw drops and she gasps. “Did you sign it?”

I scoff and glare at her. “Of course I did. Andy didn’t do anything wrong, at least, other than violating corporate policy. I get that sleeping with someone you are superior to creates all sorts of implications, so I know why they needed a release. I would never want her to get into trouble for what I did, and I’m not some asshole who would use what happened between us for my own gain by suing the damn network.”

She chuckles and takes another bite of her pizza. “Why the hell not. You could be set for life.”

The pillow I throw hits her square in the face, and she practically chokes on her food.

“Not funny, Riley.”

She shrugs and grins at me. “I thought it was funny.”

It was a little funny, but I can’t bring myself to laugh about that right now. I can’t laugh about anything. My life has fallen apart so quickly, I’m barely standing. And the way things are between me and Andy only makes it worse.