Page 103 of Crushed By Love

Cooper walks beside me, our steps in sync for a minute before he begins. “Ethan has changed.” He announces this like it’s some kind of revelation.

“Okay? And you came all the way over here to tell me that?”

He nods.

“Why?”

“Because you’re the one who changed him.”

Forty-Four

Alonging blooms in my chest but I quickly stomp it out. “What is this really about?”

I stop and turn on him, taking in the lines of his face. He’s barely aged, still looks like the same carefree guy I knew, but there’s a maturity behind his eyes that was never there before. How much has happened to him in the time since he finished grad school and started working for his father? And how much has happened to Ethan?

“I am being honest,” he says. “He told me what happened between you guys. I know everything.”

This revelation comes with mixed feelings. Half of me feels vindicated, like I wasn’t just a footnote in Ethan’s life. And the other half is jealous that Ethan had someone to talk to when I had nobody. I went through that shit on all my own.

“And what did he tell you?” Because I’m curious but I’m also suspicious that it’s not the full truth. Ethan doesn’t strike me as the kind of person to take accountability for his actions, no matter how much I wish he would. But he came to you, he told you everything. He groveled and you kicked him out—this thought grabs on tight and won’t let go.

“I know about the hurricane and how you ended things.”

“Do you mean how I ended things or how he ended things? Because there are two sides to that story.”

“Both. And I also know about the lawsuit. My father was an ass but that’s not the surprising part. If only you knew the hoops we’ve had to jump through with him, you’d understand why my brother and I are so fucked up.”

We’re not walking anymore, we’re just standing here face to face as the surf occasionally splashes around our feet. Forget trying to save my tennis shoes. Mine are sinking deeper into the sand, water seeping in, but it’s like I’ve forgotten how to move. All I know how to do is have this conversion with him, to seek healing for festering wounds that won’t close.

“So tell me, what is the surprising part? Because I already know that you guys were the ones to drop the charges, not Conrad.”

“That my brother, a guy who gets every damn thing he wants, who isn’t afraid to go after anything, that has never had trouble with women before, is so fucking hung up on you that he hasn’t even been able to look at another woman in two years.”

That leaves me speechless.

“And you’re not even going to give him a chance.”

That doesn’t.

I step back, breaking free. “Give him a chance? You can’t be serious.”

“I’m dead serious.”

“But I’m a Laurence now––”

“I don’t give a fuck if you’re a Laurence or he’s a King. You want him. He wants you.”

“I don’t want him.”

He laughs. “I’m not blind. You’ve wanted him since the day we met you. And guess what? You guys can be together. It’s not that complicated.”

But it is that complicated.

“The girl I knew was head over heels for my brother.” I open my mouth to argue but he beats me to it. “Don’t even try to deny it, we both know it’s true. You never took your eyes off him all summer.”

I scoff. “How would you know? You were busy burying your dick in women all summer.”

His eyebrows shoot up. “And why the fuck do you think I never had sex with you?”

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