Layla clamped her lips, her heart going out to both Andrew and Diana. “What a difficult situation,” she said, rubbing his forearm with her other hand, much in the same way he had soothed her earlier.
She could see why Jessica had thought she and Andrew were such a great couple. Even though she didn’t remember him, she could already feel the camaraderie they must have shared back in the day. Away from his brother, he was easy to talk to, and she could tell he shared many of her basic morals, unlike Nathan, who had to put effort into even being polite.
“Yes, I can tell you’re a genuinely thoughtful and caring human being who takes his promises seriously,” she said. “But I’m just confused about one thing.”
“What?” he said. “Ask me anything. I’ll answer it.”
“Why didn’t you tell your brother the truth after I fell?”
Andrew glanced over at her, confused. “What do you mean?”
“You see, he says I told him I loved him, had sex with him, and then went right back to you, but I don’t think that’s the way it went down. So I’d like to hear the real story now.”
Silence and Andrew took his hand back, his formerly warm demeanor going as cold as a winter’s day. But Layla refused to let him retreat behind the hard Sinclair wall.
“You’re a good man, Andrew. I can see that clearly. And no matter what led you to keep the real story from Nathan, I’m sure you realize now that I deserve to know the truth.”
More silence, but eventually Andrew said, “I didn’t lie to him.”
“I know you didn’t,” she said. “You’re not the kind of person who lies. But maybe you let Nathan believe something that wasn’t true and then I fell, and so you never bothered to set the record straight.”
Andrew slammed his hand against the wheel. “It wasn’t like that,” he said. “After you spent the night with him, I caught you sneaking out through the house. You immediately burst into tears and said we needed to talk, so I took you up to my room, where you confessed everything. Then you said we needed to break up. I couldn’t believe it, we’d been such a great couple, but you were just going to throw away everything we had after a one-night stand with Nathan. I pointed out to you that we hadn’t even slept together. For all you knew, we already had what you thought you had with Nathan. So I kissed you, and you let me.”
He shook his head at the memory. “Maybe you thought you owed me at least that much since you were dumping me for my twin brother, but when you didn’t respond to my kiss, I broke it off. That’s when we saw Nathan standing in the door. He walked away and you were about to go after him, but I held on to your arm and kept you there, trying to convince you that you were better off with me. By the time I let you go, it was too late, Nathan had already left for Ibiza.”
His lips thinned. “The note you left under my door was actually one asking for forgiveness. You said you didn’t want to come between Nathan and me and you felt so bad about the entire situation, you wouldn’t be seeing either of us anymore. But I didn’t find the note until after you fell, and a week later Nathan came back from Ibiza even more of an asshole than before he slept with my girlfriend. I figured he didn’t deserve to know the truth. And then your father tried to blackmail us, and Diana showed up, and somewhere along the way I just lost my moral compass. I’m sorry.”
He peeked sideways at Layla to see how she was taking all of this, but his contrite expression turned to one of surprise when he found her smiling from ear to ear, tears glistening in her eyes.
“You’re happy?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said. “Because now I finally know the truth. And the truth sounds exactly like me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“SO YOU’RE really planning to choose Nathan over me?” Andrew said as they pulled into the valet service line outside of his Fox Chapel mansion. Since it was technically his house, he could have parked in the separate garage structure. But Andrew, being the chivalrous type, had opted for the valet line since Layla was wearing heels.
Layla winced. “It sounds like I already chose Nathan a long time ago. It just took a while for me to get back to him.”
“But he’s not like you,” Andrew said. “He’s not a good person. Half the time, he’s not even a decent person. You and I make sense, but you and he don’t.”
Layla turned to face him. “You know how you were describing your relationship with Diana as a puppet show? I think that’s how I’d feel if I chose you. Logically we make sense, but no matter what, my heart belongs to Nathan.”
Andrew gripped the wheel, his face the picture of bitterness. “Wow, leave it to Nathan to take the one girl I’ve ever really loved.”
“He didn’t take me,” Layla said. “I chose him, too. We chose each other. And just let me point out, neither of you have been particularly honorable throughout this whole ordeal. You could have told him, but instead you let him spend years thinking I’d chosen you over him.”
Andrew’s jaw set just like Nathan’s often did. For two people who claimed to be exact opposites, they had an awful lot in common, Layla thought.
“It’s not like he really loved you back then or now. He’s probably just using you to get under my skin. He likes doing that, you know.”
A certain serenity stole over Layla after Andrew accused Nathan of pretending to care about her just to get a rise out of his brother. Suddenly, she didn’t just hope, she knew down to her very core this wasn’t the case. “No, he loves me. He might not have said the words yet, but I know he loves me. I mean, he was so petrified you were going to steal me away, that he had a provision for it in the marriage contract he offered me.”
“Wait a minute,” Andrew said. “He asked you to marry him? Just to keep you away from me? And how is he not a bastard again?”
Layla reached across the space between them and cupped his face in her hand. “Don’t be like this, Andrew.”
“Like what,” he asked, his jaw still clenched tight.
“Don’t let my choosing Nathan make you bitter. There’s a woman out there who truly is perfect for you, who will love you the way you deserve to be loved. Meanwhile, Nathan is your brother, the only one you have. Do you know how much I’ve always longed for a sibling? I won’t come between you two, so you either need to give Nathan and me your blessing, or you need to tell me to leave town, so you two can get back to being brothers again. Whatever you decide, I’ll do it.”