Page 16 of From West, With Regret

“We’ve only been sisters half our lives, but sometimes it feels like it’s been our whole lives. Call it what you want, intuition or whatever, but my gut always made me question his motives.”

“What do you mean?”

“There were plenty of instances, but one of them was when you told me all about his stock trading.” Her green eyes find mine again. “I can’t say I know too much about Wall Street and stocks. Honestly, I think I’d rather eat cardboard than attempt to figure out how all that works. But the way he would brag about being able to manipulate the market with this stomach-turning money-hungry look in his eye. Like what he was doing was borderline illegal and he got off on it.” She shivers. “Rubbed me the wrong way.”

I process Selene’s thoughts—the same thoughts I would have whenever Heath would come home late after what he would call ‘a night out with the guys’, even though I knew it wasn’t as simple as that. He always counted on me not asking questions.

Selene is right to have had an unsettling feeling about Heath’s stock trading. I’ve felt the same way. Especially when he started giving out stock advice to a number of his associates, as though he were an expert or something.

“Back to your situation.” Selene cuts through my thoughts. “You may have your life in Boston, but you don’t have me. Or Julianna and Charleigh. We’d be here for you… just in case you weren’t aware.”

“I am and I know the three of you would be there for me.” I twist my mouth in thought, and stare up at the spinning blades as I feather my finger over the faded ink on my arm.

If I decide to leave Boston, I already have a job opportunity. West wanted to hire me based on nothing more than the drawing I sketched on a napkin. I still haven’t wrapped my head around it, wondering why. Why me? Why is he so trusting of me to create pieces for his bars? How many pieces, and for how many bars?

The Halls are one of the richest families in the country. Heath never explicitly shared the depth of his family’s wealthwith me, but a simple internet search told me my husband was worth at least three hundred million.

Heat blooms across my chest when I think about me searching online for West the other night. I needed to know more and why he gave me this sense of familiarity, but I’d given up after nearly an hour of not finding a single profile or mention of a West Hall that matched the one with the kind blue eyes who brought heat between my thighs. Probably explains why I never knew Heath had a brother. He doesn’t exist on social media.

I haven’t told Selene about my interaction with West. That I was honest with him more than I’ve been honest with anyone in my life. I didn’t tell her he’d given me butterflies and made me embarrassingly weak in the knees. I didn’t tell her about how I’d humiliated myself when I’d caught him staring at me as I lied to the entire crowd about his brother when he’d known the truth.

Everything about West, I’ve kept to myself. Just like the darkness of my unknown past I carry with me.

My throat tightens, and I struggle to take a breath. The blades of the spinning fan blur, and I grow dizzy. Probably from the lack of oxygen going to my brain. I shoot straight up and move to stand, anxiously wrapping my hand around the back of my neck.

“I need to change out of this sports bra,” I blurt out. “It’s suffocating.”

“Okay.” Selene sits up, resting her arms on her bent knees, her brows pulled together. Her blonde hair shimmers in the sunlight. I don’t want to leave, but there isn’t a glaringly obvious sign telling me to leave the bit of life I have back in Boston.

Where would I stay? Here in this tiny New York apartment with my sister?

“Are you okay?” she asks, concern lacing her voice.

“Yeah. My body just hurts. My arms and legs feel like Jell-O. I’m going to shower.”

“Okay.” She rises to a stand, too. “Try not to take too long though because I need to shower as well, and the hot water only lasts so long. Or else we’re waiting over an hour before I’ll be able to take mine.”

I nod. “I won’t take long.”

I leave my sister in her living room and walk the ten feet to her bedroom. I peel my workout clothes off my body and quickly step into the shower, not bothering to wait for the water to heat up, though it doesn’t warm until I’ve already squeezed a dollop of shampoo into the palm of my hand. I’m careful not to get too much water on West’s faded phone number, but when I catch a glimpse of it from the corner of my eye as I hastily smooth body wash down my legs, I know it doesn’t matter if it disappears now. I already have it memorized.

How was West able to infiltrate my mind so easily after only a few hours of interaction?

As if he’s turned himself into his own puzzle piece, I leave him with the rest I have yet to sort, and quickly rinse my body off before the hot water starts to dwindle.

Shivering, I step out and wrap a towel around myself, then squeeze the excess water from my long, black hair. I stare at my reflection in the mirror, deciding to go with a simple, relaxed look today. I brush a coat of mascara on my lashes and a bit of tinted moisturizer over my skin before stepping out into Selene’s bedroom.

“All set, Selene!” I shout from the end of her bed.

“Great.” She strides down the hall, making her way to the bathroom. “Just in time, too. The smell of my own sweat was getting to me.”

I laugh as she scrunches her nose in disgust, curling her lip.

I’m slipping my shirt over my head when my phone ringsfrom my duffle bag that’s sitting on top of Selene’s dresser. After digging into my bag, I fish it out and read the Boston number on the screen.

“Hello?” I answer, bringing it to my still-damp skin. At least this time it’s from the shower, not sweat.

“Hi, Mrs. Hall?” the woman on the other end asks.

---