“Oh, it’s changed,” Nathan said. “Layla is mine now, and you don’t have any business with her.”
Andrew stiffened. “I don’t want to upset Layla any further, so I’m going to ignore you.” He turned his gaze back to her. “Does this mean you’re driving to the ball with me?”
“No,” Nathan said.
“Yes,” Layla answered at the same time.
Nathan turned to regard Layla for the first time since he caught her kissing Andrew. “No,” he said again, the command in his voice unmistakable.
“Yes,” she repeated, her eyes steeled with resolution. “You don’t own me, Nathan.”
His entire body went stiff. It felt like she’d thrown a bucket of ice water at him. “And you asked why I don’t trust you?”
He could see the steel in her eyes falter as guilt overrode her need for answers. “I’ll see you at the ball,” she said. “I promise.”
“You also promised you’d attend the ball with me. If you go with Andrew then you’re breaking that promise.”
Again a falter. She looked from him to Andrew and back to him. And for a moment, he thought she’d give in, but then she drew herself up straight. “I guess I am breaking my promise then.”
She turned to Andrew and said, “Lets go.” Then she walked toward the still open door without a backwards glance.
Andrew followed her, but as he closed the door behind them, he met Nathan’s eyes. And smirked.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“I STILL can’t believe Nathan did this,” Andrew said, his hands tight on the steering wheel of his Mercedes S-class, as they coasted through town on their way to Fox Chapel. “He’s always been an irredeemable asshole, but this goes beyond his usual behavior. I could seriously maim him.”
Layla peered at him sideways from the passenger seat. He’d been ranting about Nathan for the last ten minutes. “Are you done being angry with your brother yet?”
He threw her an apologetic look and covered her hand with his. The gesture was so automatic and familiar, she could easily imagine them driving in this exact same manner as younger versions of themselves. “I’m sorry. This is not the way I wanted our reunion to go. Nathan ruined that, too,” he said.
Layla opened her mouth to answer, but he ended up correcting himself. “I’m doing it again.” He squeezed her hand. “Okay, no more talk about that evil piece of shit I call a brother. Let’s start answering your questions. I’m ready and willing. Ask me anything?”
“Really? Anything?” she said.
“Yes, really. You have to understand, Layla, I’m not usually like this. The Andrew you used to date was laidback and easygoing. I still am, but Nathan gets under my skin and brings out the worse parts of me.”
She half-smiled. “Yeah, he has a way of doing that.”
“But like I said, ‘Enough about him.’ Where do you want to start? With the fall?”
Layla nodded. “Yes, we could start there. Can you tell me what happened that night?”
“Well, I don’t actually know much. You’d come to visit me, but I was out to dinner with my parents. Apparently you asked one of the maids if it was okay to slip a note under my bedroom door. According to her you insisted on doing it yourself, and she liked you—” he broke off with a wry smile. “Everybody liked you. I’m sure the same is still true.”
She demurred. “Not everybody,” she insisted, thinking of whoever had spray painted her locker at work and the front door of her apartment.
“And still humble, too, I see.” He gave her a teasing glance before continuing on. “In any case, she let you go up. Five minutes later she heard you scream, then she found you at the bottom of the staircase. From what the police could determine, you were distracted, missed the first step, and couldn’t correct yourself once you started falling.”
“So I wasn’t pushed,” Layla said.
“No, Nathan was in Ibiza, and it was night time, so there weren’t any servants upstairs. But we paid your father off, because we knew how hard it would be to prove if you actually decided to take us to court. Also, at Sinclair Industries, we pride ourselves on our good community standing. My father didn’t want a scandal.”
Layla squeezed his hand. “Thank you for telling me. I really needed to hear what happened. And I’m sorry for any distress my father caused your family.”
“No, I’m sorry for not coming to the hospital. If I’d known you were suffering from amnesia, it wouldn’t have mattered that…” he trailed off with a shake of his head. “Believe me, I wouldn’t have stayed away.”
Layla gave his hand another squeeze. “I believe you. I think when you’re not dealing with Nathan, you’re a very upstanding and kind man. I can tell that.”
Andrew let out a pent up breath. “I didn’t realize how much I needed to hear you say that until you just did. I know Nathan made it seem like I was an uncaring pig for serving Diana and then seeking you out, but believe me, I struggled with the decision to ask Diana for a divorce. I keep my promises, and I made a vow to her, but we’re just not good together. I like the outdoors, she prefers spa vacations. I want at least three children, she wants one, because she says she doesn’t want to ruin her body. Hailing from two wealthy Pittsburgh families, it looked like we had enough things in common on paper to get along, but when it came down to who we really were as people, we were exact opposites. We would have made ourselves miserable keeping our promises if I hadn’t ended it.”
Layla thought of the look of disappointment on Nathan’s face after she informed him she would be attending the ball with Andrew. “Yes, I understand we can’t always keep our promises, even when we want to. I’m sure it must have been hard for you to take that step.”
“It was,” Andrew said. He stared ahead at the road. “But at the same time, it felt inevitable. You know why we went on our first date? Because our mothers were tennis partners and basically commanded us to go to the homecoming dance together. The entire time we’ve been together has felt like playacting to me. Of course we should date, we’re perfectly matched. Of course we should get married, that’s what our families expected from us. It’s like I’ve been living this other man’s life this entire time, except for when I dated you. I chose you. What we had was real, unlike the puppet show Diana and I were putting on.”