Page 30 of Deal Breaker
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
She put her hands on her hips. “Well, you can’t possibly think anything’s ever going to happen between you and Sophie?” Her eyes rolled back in her head so hard, I wondered if they would ever come back to normal. “You’ve had ten years to make it work, and what’s the result? Nada. Zip. Zero. Nothing.”
I opened my mouth to mention what had happened last night, but Jodie didn’t deserve to know the truth.
“You should try something new. Someone who won’t cause so much of an issue with Autumn.” Jodie threw her hands up in the air. “Like me!”
The confidence of the woman bordered on arrogance. A small part of me applauded her for that level of bravado. But I was about to smash her dreams into tiny pieces.
“Sorry, Jodie. You are a lovely woman, gorgeous, intelligent and all, and you’ll make some guy really happy. But that guy’s not gonna be me.”
“Sophie isn’t even interested in you.” Jodie pointed in the direction of where she was swaying to the music in Trent’s arms. “Look.”
I felt my eyes turn green as I stared at them over the other side of the room. Jealousy ate at me, and I knew I needed to talk to Sophie.
But I needed to talk to my sister first.
Without another word, I turned my back on Jodie and went in search of Autumn.
Tracking her down was harder than I’d anticipated. She wasn’t on the dance floor; she wasn’t at the bar. I even hung around outside the bathroom to see if she was in there.
Eventually, I found her in the foyer, chatting to Brianna’s sister.
“Oh, thank God I’ve found you!”
I clutched her arm, dragging her away from the conversation, much to the open-mouthed surprise of Brianna’s sister.
Autumn swatted my hand away. “Get off me, you idiot. What’s the matter?”
“I need to talk to you. Now.”
Her eyes clouded over. “What’s wrong?”
“Not here. Come with me.” I started towards the stairs up to the Gentlemen’s Suite, which we’d used that morning. It would be quiet up there, and we could talk without fear of interruption.
“Max, you’re worrying me. What’s going on?” Autumn tried to keep up with me as I strode off.
The serene calm of the suite enveloped me as we walked through the door.
I paced around the small room while Autumn settled herself on the couch. She stared up at me expectantly, waiting for me to speak.
The jumbled mess that was my thoughts struggled to find a sensible starting point.
“It’s Sophie.”
Two words met with total silence. Autumn wasn’t going to make this easy for me. After a while, she finally spoke. “Go on.”
“I’ve had a crush on her for years. She was always around the house, being funny and smart and pretty. That teenage crush developed into something I couldn’t dismiss. I’ve been hesitant to go for it because I know she’s your best friend. And I know all that girl-code stuff about not getting involved with your best friend’s brother. Hell, it wasn’t exactly my smartest move falling for the one girl who was always in our house, when I knew it was unlikely anything could ever happen between us.” The words fell out of my mouth. Once I’d started, I wasn’t sure I could ever stop. “But we’re all grown up now. It’s been ten years.Ten years,Autumn. I have to give this a try. I have to know whether it could work out. I need you to be okay with us to at least have this one chance. And I feel like it’s now or never.”
“What if it’s never? What if I can’t give you my blessing?” Autumn jumped to her feet. “What if I’ve been telling Sophie for ten years that she can’t ever get involved with you because you’re my brother?”
Her words hit me like a punch in the gut. Had she really been saying that? Was her disapproval the reason for Sophie keeping her distance all these years? Before I could say anything else, Autumn chipped in.
“I know she stayed in your room last night,” she said, picking at the edge of her fingernail, avoiding my gaze.
“You do?” My eyebrows shot up. “How?”
“Who do you think actually let her back into the cabin this morning?” She hesitated. “I thought something might have happened. Then she told me how you shoved her out of a window. Seriously, Max, that isnotthe way to win over the girl of your dreams.” Her shoulders shook as she giggled silently at my actions, somewhat at odds with her initial reaction.
