Page 39 of Collateral Damage
We’re silent for a long moment, staring at each other. Is she comparing me to Ethan? Is she hating me right now? Her eyes are brimming with tears, and I hate myself for what I’ve done.
The last five minutes may have been the best of my life, but they were the worst of hers. She loves Ethan. Not me. We’ve made a huge mistake. I’m about to ask her how much she regrets this and how much she hates me when she says three words that shatter me.
“Don’t tell Ethan.”
It’s the confirmation I need, as much as it kills me. Ethan is the one she loves most. My stomach roils with shame. I’m going to be sick. Ethan and I tell each other everything, and here’s this horrible secret I’ll have to take to my grave.
I’m a traitor, and I’ve made her a traitor, too.
Sybil is the best person I know, but if I were to step away from this situation and see it for what it is, even I can admit my brother deserves better.
“I won’t say anything, but maybe Ethan was right. You don’t know what you want,” I admit.
Her face falls, and the guilt eats me up even more.
“I’ll go now,” I add. “I promise not to do that again. You—You didn’t deserve that.” I clear my throat and take one last look at the girl, committing everything about the way she looks tonight to memory. “I’m sorry. For all of it.”
I turn and stride away, making it to the door and barreling into the hallway, then down the elevator and out to the city street below. She’s haunted me for years, and this day is going to absolutely wreck me, like a poltergeist of my own making.
We have to leave this in the past, to let it go, to wish it had never happened, even if it’s a lie. Even if regretting a kiss like that feels like a sin.
But I know what’s coming next.
She’s going to get back together with Ethan. Those two? They’re already on a path not even I can derail them from. It doesn’t matter that Ethan ended it with her. I know it won’t last long. Sybil loves him, and she loves her family—and Ethan and her family want them to be together. It’s a done deal.
As it turns out, I’m right. Less than twenty-four hours later, Ethan and Sybil reconcile.
And even though it spears me right through the heart, I tell myself I deserve to feel like shit, and I remind myself everyone wants them to be together. So I keep my dirty secret buried deep and try my best to be happy for them.
Seventeen
Sybil
Present - Age 27
“Nice place you’ve got here. It’s really something else,” Benton compliments Cooper, who, thank goodness, has the decency to wipe his glare away the second Benton makes eye contact with him. Not that he replaces it with a pleasant expression. It’s more like he smells something a little less potent than a skunk.
“Yeah, I like it.” Cooper’s voice is clipped, and I bite my tongue from saying something snarky. I swear, if Cooper sours this deal with Benton, I’m going to kill him.
“Can I speak to you privately?” I grab Cooper by the arm.
Perry steps in with Benton and the two other cast members we have here tonight, making introductions I’ll have to catch later. I march Cooper away from the group, knowing exactly where the home office is, since it’s the same floor plan as Ethan’s.
I can’t help but take in Cooper’s design as I go, noting it’s more high-end than I expected. When I helped Ethan and Arden with their place, it was pretty sterile and needed a woman’stouch. But Cooper’s home is the perfect blend of modern-masculine meets cozy-artist. He either hired an interior designer or there’s more to Cooper than I know. I’d compliment him if I wasn’t so pissed.
“What’s your problem?” I hiss the second we close ourselves inside his office.
His jaw ticks. “I don’t have a problem.”
“If you weren’t looking like you hoped Benton would spontaneously combust, maybe I’d believe you,” I say.
“Are you done embarrassing yourself, yet? We have guests to attend to.”
We have guests to attend to?I’ve never heard him talk to me so formally, and it unnerves me even more.
“Getting Benton here was no easy feat, and if things go well tonight, I’m certain he’ll take this to his manager, and we can work out a deal.”
His eyes darken. “We don’t need Benton. We can find someone better.”
