22. Twenty-Two

22

TWENTY-TWO

T he fight turned out to be a dud. It was fun to go out with Rex—don’t get me wrong—but it was a second-round knockout. Basically, we got to our seats, had one beer, and it was over. Since Olivia was out with Tallulah—the idea of returning to the penthouse when I knew she wouldn’t be there for hours held little appeal—I suggested a beer at the sports bar.

Rex readily agreed, telling me he planned to hang out with me for an hour and then pick a woman to take home. He was transparent sometimes, which was of course why our friendship had survived as long as it had. Rex didn’t play games. What you saw with him was what you got.

“So, where are Olivia and Tallulah tonight?” Rex asked as we got comfortable in the booth that was always kept reserved for VIP patrons. It was so late in the night I wasn’t worried about anybody coming in and needing it.

“Cabinet of Curiosities,” I replied. “I got them passes for the speakeasy.”

“Really?” Rex’s voice was dripping with intrigue when I leveled my gaze on him. “That was nice of you.”

“What?” It was one word, but it came out way more defensive than I was expecting. I adjusted my tone immediately. “It’s not a big deal. I’ve been to the speakeasy a bunch of times. Your sister has not.”

“It’s just weird that you went out of your way for her.” Rex signaled the bartender for two beers and relaxed on his side of the booth. “I mean … she’s not your real wife.”

That simple statement—not even a lie—was enough to have me rubbing my chest, the spot over my heart. It felt as if he’d stabbed me when he said it. “That doesn’t mean I can’t do the occasional nice thing for her. It wasn’t even that difficult. I called down to Jackie and told her to get me a pass.”

“Oh, so you took the pass from one of the whales.” Rex looked amused. “That seems balanced.”

“It’s one night, and your sister wanted to have fun with Tallulah. It was the bare minimum I could do.”

“Okay.” Rex flashed me a surprised look. “I wasn’t giving you a hard time. It was a nice gesture.”

I tugged on my collar. I suddenly felt as if I was choking.

“What’s up with you?” Rex asked, his gaze searching as he looked me over. “You seem … tense.”

“I’m not tense. I’m just … tired.” That was a lie. I was definitely tense.

“No, you’re tense.” Rex shook his head. “What I want to know is why.” He stared for a beat longer, then sighed. “It’s Olivia, isn’t it?”

My heart seized in my chest. He knows. Was he about to call me on the fact that I was sleeping with his sister? Was he going to ask me to go outside so he could pummel me? Worse, was he going to drop me as a friend? Was he going to demand I pick him over his sister?

“What do you mean?” I asked in a voice that I hoped didn’t sound squeaky.

“She’s driving you insane because of the stripper nonsense. I told her to drop that. She won’t listen, though.” Rex clucked his tongue as he shook his head. “She is a lot of freaking work. I’m sorry if she’s making things difficult for you with your father.”

I let some of the panic I’d been feeling dissipate, and I was grateful when a server arrived with our drinks. I took advantage of the momentary lull to guzzle half my beer. I was much cooler and calmer when I spoke again.

“Actually, I’m fine with her involvement with the dancers,” I said. “I wasn’t at first—I thought it was a terrible idea—but she has a level head. She sees when our side is putting in real effort and she responds. She might not always agree with everything we say, but she thinks on her feet. I hear they’re making real progress in the negotiations.”

“That’s good I guess.” Rex’s gaze was on the television, where they were showing brief highlights from the fight. “We really need the regular dancers back. ‘Scab’ is not a word you want to hear in conjunction with strippers.”

I made a face and threw my napkin at him, which he swatted away playfully. “That was downright gross,” I complained, shaking my head. “I can’t believe you said that with a straight face.”

That charming grin I’d known all my life came out to play. “I thought it was pretty funny.”

“You would think that.”

“Well, if you don’t want to talk about scabs, perhaps we should talk about the fact that you’re sleeping with my sister.”

I froze with the bottle halfway to my mouth. He’d delivered the line with studied nonchalance, so at first it washed over me. Once the words hit, however, I froze in place.

What did he just say?

“Take a breath, Zach,” he chided, his voice still easy and calm. “I’m not going to kill you or anything.”

I lowered the beer back to the table. “I can’t believe she told you,” was all I could say.

“She didn’t tell me.”

“Who did?” A horrible notion filled my mind. “Tallulah wouldn’t have ratted on her.” I said it more to myself than him. “That’s not okay if she did.”

“Tallulah doesn’t know about it.” Rex rested his elbows on the table. “We talked about it just yesterday. We both had our suspicions, but Livvie isn’t talking either.”

“Then how did you know?” I felt sick to my stomach.

“You just told me.” Rex smirked before taking a swig of his beer. He was serious when he regarded me, and yet there was a twinkle in his eyes. “You guys are shitty actors, just for the record. Neither one of you has been hiding it all that well.”

“But…” I didn’t know what to say. I was genuinely at a loss. “How long have you known?”

“I had an inkling about three weeks ago,” he replied. “I knew for sure not long after. How long has it been going on?”

It felt like he was laying a trap for me. “Oh, well…”

His face hardened. “Longer?”

He knew, so there was no point not telling him everything. Well, not everything . I could not go into details regarding his baby sister. “It started the night we went to the rooftop bar,” I admitted, bracing myself.

“Oh, no.” He threw his hands in the air. “Now I’m going to have to pay up on the bet with Ruby. She said you were going home to do … well, you know … and I thought I had inside information and that was out of the question.”

Now I was confused. “Wouldn’t Ruby think we were always doing it?”

He glowered at me.

“I’m just saying, from her point of view, we were newlyweds. That’s what newlyweds do.”

“Right.” Rex tapped his fingers on the table. He looked caught between annoyance and amusement. “What’s the plan here, Zach?” he asked finally. “Are you two really married now?”

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t … I … man, stop looking at me that way.” I was starting to sweat.

“She’s my sister,” was all Rex said.

“I know she’s your sister. Why do you think we kept it secret? You’re the only one we cared about upsetting. Everybody else thinks we’re in it to win it anyway. With you, though…” I trailed off, searching for the right words.

“You’re my best friend,” I said finally. “You’ve always been my best friend. I swear you’re the only constant in my life. I like it that way. I just…”

“Couldn’t help yourself?” he suggested.

“It feels, looking back, that it was inevitable. I mean… I always kind of had a thing for her.”

Genuine shock reverberated across Rex’s features. “You did not.”

I solemnly nodded my head. “Yes, I did. Not when she was fifteen or anything, although I did find her crush on me cute.”

“You knew about that?”

I nodded. “I’m actually surprised you knew about it. Why didn’t you torture her to within an inch of her life if you knew?”

“Because she’s my sister, and she’s … soft, Zach. She’s always been soft. It’s one thing to tease her about her braces or being five feet tall. Her crush on you was something else.”

I stared at him. Hard. “Your mother threatened you with permanent damage if you said anything to her,” I surmised.

“There was that too.” Now a grin spread across Rex’s features. He was taking this better than I anticipated. I was still wary.

“You’re always going to be my best friend,” I said. “I was afraid that you were going to make me choose between her and you.”

“Just out of curiosity, who would you have chosen?”

I didn’t like that question on any level. “I’m not answering that.”

“Oh, that’s because it would’ve been me.” He grinned in such a way I knew he was messing with me.

“I have feelings for your sister.” It was best just to get it out there. “I don’t know where we’re going to end up, but we’re well beyond where we started.”

“And how does she feel about all of this?”

That was my current problem. Well, one of them. “I’m not sure.”

“Are you afraid to ask her or something?”

“Yeah.” I squirmed under his heavy gaze. “We’ve been … getting close.”

Rex raised his hand. “Do not give me a single detail. I’m hanging on by a thread as it is.”

“I care about her, but the logistics of this. I mean … how does this work? Do I say I want to date my wife? What if we realize we’ve made a terrible mistake? Are we going to stay together for the year, hating each other the entire time?”

“I don’t think there are any circumstances where Livvie would end up hating you,” Rex replied. “She’s always had a soft spot for you. Now I’m hearing you had one for her, too. When did that start?”

I lifted one shoulder. “I don’t know exactly. I mean… I always thought she was cute.”

“She had braces and could’ve gotten a role as a double in Munchkinland.”

“It wasn’t before she turned eighteen. I just remember not seeing her for a bit because I was at college, and then when I did see her after almost a year, she had that big glow-up.”

“You mean when she was eighteen? That was twelve years ago.”

“It wasn’t as if I was in love with her,” I argued. “I just started noticing her. We weren’t spending a bunch of time together or anything.”

Rex was back to drumming his fingers on the table. “You asked questions about her.”

“When?”

“All the time. You were sly about it, and I didn’t see what you were doing then. I see it now, though. You asked about her college. You asked if she was dating anybody. You always waited until I brought her up first and then just slid your questions in. You were sneaky.”

“Not sneaky,” I countered, feeling the need to defend myself. “It’s not as if I thought anything was going to happen between us back then. I just … wanted to know.” It sounded lame even to my own ears. It was the truth, though.

“Why didn’t you say something when I suggested you marry her?” Rex challenged. “I mean … that would’ve been a good time to bring it up.”

“I hadn’t seen her in a long time. I thought it would be fine. Out of sight, out of mind, right?” That wasn’t true, though, and it gave me pause.

“You’re just now realizing that you went for it because you knew that feelings were going to crop up, aren’t you?” Rex prodded.

“I…” Well, crap. Had I known? From the first moment I saw her sitting at the daiquiri bar, I knew I was interested. Sure, I shoved those feelings down—way down—and tried to pretend they weren’t there. They were, though.

They were always there.

“Ugh.” I slapped my hand to my forehead.

“You’re lucky I’m not using a two-by-four to do the same,” Rex warned. “You’re a freaking idiot. I hope you know that.”

“I’m an idiot,” I agreed.

“What’s done is done, though.” Rex blew out a sigh. He looked as frustrated as I felt. “If you’d slept with my sister before marrying her, I would be insisting you put a ring on it right about now. Since you’ve already done that…” He held out his hands.

“That’s it?” This couldn’t be it. There was no way he was just going to accept this and move on.

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t know. I thought I would at least have a punch coming my way.”

“Oh, it’s still coming.” Rex bobbed his head. “I can’t punch you in the face when you have meetings scheduled with your father this week. He won’t like that.”

“He won’t,” I agreed. “Not even a little. You should definitely avoid hitting me.”

“Dude, if you hurt my sister, I’m going to have no choice but to beat you up. You know that, right?”

“I don’t want to hurt her. That’s the last thing I want.”

He stared at me for what felt like a really long time—perhaps looking for a lie—then nodded. “Then tell me what’s going on.”

I balked. “Um…”

“Not that part!” he practically exploded. “I’m talking about the dancers.”

“Oh.” Thank God that’s what he was talking about. I would’ve died if it was something else. “She seems to like working with them.”

“But she still doesn’t have a job.”

“No.”

“That’s not like Livvie. She enjoys working.”

“I’ve been putting her to work.” It wasn’t until the words were out of my mouth that I realized how they might sound. “On the books,” I added quickly when Rex’s face turned so red I thought he might actually erupt like a volcano. “Those department reports that don’t add up right with the overhead? She’s been working on that for me.”

“Oh.” Rex relaxed a bit, although not entirely. “That was actually a smart move. I know it’s been bothering you.”

“I need someone who can look, but I don’t have to worry about reporting back to my father.”

“If he’s not worried about it, why are you?”

“I can’t explain it. I feel as if there’s something off. Or, maybe it’s a test of some sort. Like he knows there’s something off and he wants to see what I’ll do about it.”

“If it was anybody else but your dad, I would say that’s unlikely. It does sound like something he would do.”

“The thing that bothers me is that Livvie can’t figure out exactly what’s going on either. She’s looking. She agrees there’s something off. She’s much smarter about this stuff than me, which means whatever it is, it’s buried.”

Rex nodded to encourage me to continue.

“If this was a trap by my father, would he make it this hard?” I asked. “I mean… I can see him sending me fake reports to see if I even notice something is going on. This is deeper than that, though.”

“Way deeper,” he agreed. “I can see your father trying to make it as hard as possible, though. He might get a kick out of it.”

“Yeah.” He wasn’t wrong. “It just feels off.”

“Well, let Livvie keep at it. She’s like a dog with a bone when it comes to this stuff. Eventually, though, you realize she is going to want an actual job. She’s too independent. Just being married to you isn’t going to be enough for her.”

The rebuke—because that’s what it felt like—was a hard slap across the face, and I recoiled.

“Not like that, you big baby,” Rex chided. “I didn’t say you weren’t enough. She needs to keep her mind busy. Eventually, the dancers and clubs are going to settle. She’s going to figure out what’s going on with the books. When that’s done and you’ve actually talked about your feelings and decided to stay together, she’s going to want a job.”

My lips curved, a smile taking over when I didn’t know one was possible. “You think we’re going to stay together?”

“Oh, look at you.” Rex was disgusted. I honestly didn’t blame him. “You’re such a girl.”

“Hey!” I jabbed at him. “Your sister is a girl, and I happen to think she’s great.”

“You cannot get mushy with me about my sister. I can’t have it. I’ll cry if you get all swoony with her.”

“Swoony?”

“You know what I mean.” Rex was stern. “I didn’t see this happening. I wouldn’t have ever wished for it. I can kind of see it now, though.”

“And you’re shipping us now, aren’t you?” I teased. “I’ve been debating between CarStone and Zivvie.”

“Definitely Zivvie.”

“Right?” My smile faded after a minute. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

“I know.” Rex waved off my apology. “I get it. The thing is … it’s going to take me a bit to get used to this. You can’t grope my sister in front of me. I’ll have to kill you if you do.”

“I promise.” I grinned. “Just out of curiosity, though, did you know that she snores? It’s kind of cute.”

“Oh, see, you’re going to be a pain now. I’m going to have to kill you regardless.”

“I think you’re going to learn to love me again.”

“And I think you’re dreaming.”

“Care to place a wager on that?”

Rex smirked. “Well, it is Vegas.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought you would say.”