Page 11 of Enemies with my Bestie’s Brother
She tucks her clutch to the side. “It is. But it is deserved.”
“That’s fair, I guess. You knew that nothing was going to come of that weekend.”
She rolls her eyes. “I would have thought that you would have at least said goodbye. I knew that nothing was going to happen between us, but I expected you to be a better man than that.”
That one hurts. I know that I’m a better man than that. She’s the only woman I’ve ever snuck out on.
“Look,” I say, not wanting to get into anything having to do with that weekend. “I don’t know why you had Penny approach me about allowing you to design my home, but I can’t believe you actually want to do that.”
Her mouth drops open, and she looks like she is seconds away from lunging across the table at me. “What did you just accuse me of?”
“Clearly, you set up this meeting. I had no clue that you are an interior designer.”
Whitney grits her teeth and glares at me. “You righteous asshole. Do you think that I make a habit of preying on people?”
“You’re at this meeting, are you not?”
“I told Penny that this was a bad idea, and I didn’t want her help. I should have known when she insisted that it had something to do with you.”
I scoff and cross my arms, leaning back in my seat. “And what is that supposed to mean?”
“She has this massive blind spot when it comes to you. It’s like she thinks that you’re a perfect person who can do no wrong, ever. She manages everything you don’t want to manage yourself and you just let her do it.”
“Penny is the one who spoke about an interior designer first.”
I feel the anger bubbling in my veins, but I try to keep a lid on my temper. Throughout my entire life, I have tried to remain calm and collected. My father always used to say that nobody got anywhere by throwing a temper tantrum.
Yet, Whitney makes me feel like I have no control over my emotions.
“Penny might have mentioned it first, but did you tell her that you were going to look on your own? No, you stepped to the side and let her handle everything for you.”
My jaw clenches as I look at her. “Where do you get off acting like you know me?”
“I know what you have Penny do for you.” She looks like a snake, coiled and ready to strike. “I know that she used to regularly miss nights out because you asked for her help handling one thing or another. Sure, she was happy to help, but you were just as happy to take advantage of her kindness.”
“She’s my sister.”
“She’s also too loving and kind for her own damn good. She doesn’t know how to put her foot down with people, especially you.”
I shake my head in disbelief. I can’t believe that she is turning this around on me.
Though I like Whitney more than I like a lot of Penny’s other friends — at least, I thought I did — this is a whole new side of her.
“You’re defensive because you know I’m right,” I say as the waiter comes to our table with two glasses of water. He puts them down, along with the tablet to order from, before taking off.
“You’re right?” Whitney shakes her head. “You couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t want to work with you. I only agreed to this meeting because I thought I would be meeting a stranger, and because it would make Penny happy.”
I still don’t believe her. If she works for me, she gets a wealthy client to add to her portfolio. She can share the work that she does for me to grow her business here.
It might not sound too bad, until I consider the fact that she is using Penny to get ahead with her career.
People who grew up with very little money — as Whitney said she did during our weekend together — tend to latch onto those with money. At least they do in my few decades of experience.
Whitney used to seem like she was different from the rest. Though, that was always based on what Penny told me.
Now that she’s sitting in front of me, I’m seeing another side to her.
After what happened between us that weekend, there is no way that she would genuinely want to spend time with me. Her pride was hurt, and she doesn’t seem like the type to forget that easily.
