Page 68 of Falling For My Best Friend's Brother

I sent her a look filled with confusion. “Do about what? There’s nothing to be done. Nina is… She might be hurt right now, but she’ll be fine. She’s young and beautiful and amazing and she has her entire life ahead of her. Soon, a great guy her age will swoop in and be the man she needs. It can’t be me.”

Lindsay looked even more confused than me. “Why not?”

“We’re too different. I’m nine years older than her, Lin, and she’s your best friend—my little sister’s best friend. Do I need to go on?”

She let out a frustrated groan. “Do you love her?”

This was the weirdest conversation I’d ever had with my sister. I let out a harsh breath. “That’s irrelevant.”

“Like hell it is!” Lindsay shot to her feet. “Why are humans so complicated? Life is simple. You love someone? Then be with them. You don’t want someone? Then let them know and spare them the heartbreak. What is wrong with the world?”

I had a feeling she wasn’t just referring to Nina and me. That idiot she’d dated in college that broke her heart came to mind. If I ever found him, I’d beat him to a fucking pulp. He and that Michael fucker.

Still, it was nice to know that she wasn’t judging me for sleeping with her best friend. I was afraid that I’d ruined their relationship.

“Lindsay, it’s not that easy. Even if you’re somehow okay with both of us being together, there’s still the fact that we’re too different. There are miles between us. Miles that we will never cross, no matter how much we try.”

My sister froze for a moment, squinting at me. Then she loomed closer, as if she was seeing something in my face that she’d never seen before. I began to feel self-conscious, eyeing her suspiciously.

“Is it because… of her family?” she asked softly.

I swallowed, refusing to break eye contact. “What are you talking about?”

“Knox,” she began, looking so concerned and keen, as she resumed her position on the sofa again, this time facing me. “Are you referring to the fact that Nina comes from a rich family, and we don’t?”

Fuck.I looked away, gritting my teeth. I hated how this felt, how it made me look. My sister apparently knew me better than I knew myself, because how the hell had she managed to give words to emotions that I’d had trouble pinpointing?

“I’ll never be enough for her.”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Lindsay murmured, letting out a pronounced sigh.

“I do love her. I love her so fucking much that the thought of her and someone else physically hurts. It brings me to my fucking knees and rips my heart in two.”

Lin’s brows knitted in belief. “This is because of your ex, isn’t it? What was her name again… Charlie or what? The one who was always asking for expensive things?”

My chest tightened, feeling horribly ill suddenly. “She was just here. Nina saw her kiss me.”

“Fucking hell, Knox. What is wrong with you? Truly? Are you masochistic?”

“Maybe,” I muttered. “Look, whatever the reason is, I might never be able to give her the life she’s used to. And I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep.”

“Listen to me: I have known Nina since we were fourteen. She is the humblest person I have ever known. In the time that we’ve been friends, not once has she thrown her family’s wealth in my face. Whenever I was broke in college, which was most of the time, she would refuse to spend money too. She never offered to help me out because she knew how much I hated feeling like an appendage.

“When I applied for the job at a diner, she did the same so I would have company. Not because she needed the money...” Her voice broke then, and she struggled to hold back tears. “She doesn’t know that I know this, but one night I received a very generous tip from a customer. I later came to find out that thetip had come from Nina. She asked the customer to give it to me because she knew I would never take it from her directly.”

“My point is, Nina doesn’t care about how much a person has, but who they are. If she loves you—and she does— it’s because of you, Knox. Not because of what you have to offer.”

I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t believe what Lindsay was saying. I thought about how Nina helped me land this contract without asking for anything in return, despite how rude and horrible I’d treated her in the past. Goddammit, I was a terrible person.

Nina had been right.I’m the absolute worst.

Yet I hung on to my doubts, not wanting to give in so easily. “She’s messy.”

Lindsay sniffled, wiping her cheeks. “Always has been, always will be.”

“Way too young for me.”

“Old enough to know what she wants.”

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