CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - TATE

I was at my computer tweaking photographs when my sister burst into the room. “Great news, brother!” She plopped down on my bed and tossed a pillow at my head.

I ducked and spun my chair around to give her a dirty look and toss it back. “What the hell?”

“I found a house!”

“The one down the street?” I had hoped my sister would stay closer to me rather than move across the city where I couldn’t keep an eye on her.

“You wish! It’s only a few minutes from here, but the house is perfect, and I already put down some earnest money. I just have to come up with the rest of the down payment, and then I’ll use my next trust check to pay the closing cost.”

“Here, take this.” I passed her the check from Hazen, and her eyes bugged.

“Wow, is this what Hazen gave you to be super-stud on his silly website?”

“Yeah,” I shrugged. “I want you to have it.” Megan’s expression grew softer. “Still haven’t heard from Kami?”

I shook my head. “No. She won’t answer any of my texts. I thought about going down to her work, but I don’t want to be that guy and cause a scene. I just don’t know what to do, Meg.”

“Do you want me to try?” she asked. “I mean, I know she and I don’t know each other well, but I’m willing to give it a shot.”

I shook my head and smiled at my sister. “I really appreciate that, but I need to fix this myself.”

Megan opened her mouth to speak but the sound of knocking at the front door cut her off. I scrambled to my feet and all but ran to the door, hoping against hope that Kami had come to talk. When I threw the door open, however, it was Rain that was standing on the other side. And boy was she pissed.

“Rain—” I started, but she held up her hand.

“No, you don’t talk, asshole. You listen,” she said, her voice harsh.

I shut my mouth and stood helplessly while she let loose on me.

“You are a sorry excuse for a man,” she began. “Kami is the best thing that has ever happened to you, will ever happen to you, you threw it all away? Why? So you could fuck a bunch of whores who send you pictures of their fake tits?”

“It’s not like that Rain,” I tried again.

“I said you don’t talk!” she yelled. “My best friend is hurting because of you; because of your selfishness and your need to get your dick wet. You are a disgusting piece of shit.”

“Hey!” came Megan’s voice from behind me. “My brother may be a lot of things, but he is not a piece of shit.”

“It’s OK, Meg,” I said, holding up my hand.

“No, it’s not,” she argued. “I’ve had about enough of this. He made a mistake, a really big one, but he doesn’t deserve to be talked to like this.”

“A mistake?” Rain asked, incredulously. “He was fucking several other women at the same time that he told my best friend that he was in love with her!”

“No, actually, he wasn’t,” Megan said.

“Listen, I get that you are his sister and you want to protect him but—”

“Oh, for the love of Christ. Would you please come in off the porch and let him explain? The neighbors don’t need to know our business.”

I stood between my sister and Kami’s best friend, not quite sure what to do, but knowing I had to do something. “Yeah, Rain. Please come in.”

Hesitantly, she stepped over the threshold and into the living room. Megan turned to go back to her own room, but added, “I’ll let you two talk, but know that if I hear you berating him again, you and I are going to tangle.”

I shook my head and motioned for Rain to sit on the couch. “I’m sorry about my sister. She can be a bit overprotective. Can I get you something to drink?”

Rain perched on the edge of the leather sofa and shook her head. “No, I don’t want anything from you but an explanation of why you would do something like this to Kami. And be forewarned, that my bullshit detector is a lot more sensitive than hers.”

I sighed and sat down. I was going to tell Rain everything and hold zero back. I couldn’t let anything stand in the way of winning Kami back.

“It’s true that I have been talking to women on Matched Solid, but I swear to you, I have not been sleeping with any of them. I haven’t even met any of them.”

She regarded me with an air of disbelief, and so I continued.

“The site is owned and operated by my best friend Hazen. He needed some help boosting traffic on the site and he asked me to help him out. The job was that I would send messages to newcomers as well as the women who weren’t getting as much attention, to keep them coming back.”

“So you were baiting them?” she asked, her lip curled in disgust.

“Yeah, I guess I was. But I swear to you, that’s all it ever was. I came across Kami’s profile the very first day I started helping out. I thought she was beautiful and had actually seen her at her coffee shop months before. I sent her the standard welcome message. I never expected it to go anywhere further, but then she responded and we actually started to talk. That’s the truth.”

“So you did all that for your best friend, just as a favor?” Rain asked unconvinced.

“Well, that actually leads to another topic.” I took a deep breath before continuing. “I have a hefty family inheritance, for which I will only be given the lump sum if I’ve settled down and conceived one heir by my thirty fifth birthday.”

“So you used the dating site to find the girl you planned to knock up, and my best friend was one of hundreds of girls you flirted with before you found your perfect baby mama?”

I cringed, hating how that sounded. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Listen, I know how awful that sounds, but the minute I actually spoke to her and got to know her, I was committed. I will swear to you, to her, to anyone who will listen, that I never met up with or did anything with those other women. It never went past a few harmless messages. I love her, Rain. I love her more than I’ve ever loved anyone.”

“You can see how your reputation makes that a little hard to believe, right?” she asked me.

I sighed. “Yeah, I know. I’m the first to admit that I’ve been a dog in the past. I’ve been selfish and immature and stupid before, but all that ended when I met Kami. I want to be the best person I can be for her. I want to be the man she deserves.”

“I’m not sure that even exists,” Rain said softly. “She deserves the world.”

“I know. And I promise to spend the rest of my life to give it to her. Do you think she could ever forgive me?”

“I don’t know,” Rain admitted. “And I don’t know if she should.”

I got up and went to my room, returning with my laptop and a folder of papers with the terms of my inheritance. I handed all them to Rain.

“Go ahead, look through it all.”

After about ten minutes of reading and poking through my computer, Rain looked satisfied. “Ok, I believe you.”

My heart swelled with hope. “You do?”

“Yes. You made her happy, Tate. Happier than I’ve ever seen her. You’re going to have to do a lot of work to get that back.”

I nodded my head vigorously. “I know and I’m willing to do whatever it takes. Will you help me?” I asked, hopeful.

Rain regarded me with a look before finally nodding her head. “I’ll see what I can do.”