Page 25 of When the Storm Breaks
After the awkward start, the meeting went about as well as could be expected, given the circumstances. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Ridge had been cheating all semester. Chloe was willing to give him another chance and I got the distinct impression she was doing this for me as much as for Ridge. I was going to kick his ass.
This school year couldn’t end fast enough.
* * *
When I enteredthe kitchen after my shower, Ridge tossed something at me. I caught it in one hand and opened my fist, staring at the strip of foil packets. I should never have told him my plans for the evening.
“Four enough?” he asked. “I’ve got more if you need ‘em.”
The little shit. “Why are you giving me condoms?”
“Didn’t anyone ever teach you to practice safe sex?”
“Always do.”
“Well, now who’s lying? You knocked up your cousin’s fiancée. That’s just bad form, bro.” He shook his head and tskked. “How low will you go?”
He was lucky I didn’t plant my fist in his face. There was so much about him that reminded me of myself. Same cocky grin. Same surly look. Same defiance for authority figures. But this smug bullshit? The judgment? That had Jude written all over it. I would have loved to hear Jude’s side of the story. Had he talked about this with Ridge?
Must have. Why else would Ridge be calling me out on something he knew nothing about? I tossed the condoms in the kitchen junk drawer and shut it, then leaned against the counter to face my brother.
Ridge was sitting at the chopping block island shoveling leftover lasagna into his mouth with one hand and playing on his phone with the other.
“What did Jude tell you?”
“Jude didn’t tell me jack shit. He thinks of you as a brother. I’m just calling it the way I see it. Your girl Lila’s crazy in love with the dude,” he taunted, like he was telling me something I didn’t already know.
Lila wasn’t my girl. Never had been. But my smart-ass brother obviously knew that too, and he wasn’t the only one who thought I was low for getting Lila pregnant. When the family found out, Patrick called me every name in the book then refused to speak to me for an entire year. My cousin Jesse, the baby of the family who had a blind loyalty to his brother Jude, just shook his head and told me he was ‘disappointed in me.’ Strong words for Jesse who was the most easygoing and forgiving McCallister. And Gideon, well, he hated Jude at the time, so he was Team Brody.
Payback is a bitch, Gideon had said, a sly smile on his face like he was reveling in Jude’s downfall.
“So who’s the chick staying in the guesthouse?” Ridge asked.
“Nobody.”
He looked up from his phone. “Is nobody hot?”
Was a five-alarm fire hot? I shrugged, not wanting to give him any more ammunition. “She’s okay.”
He set down his phone and studied my face. “Why are you still here? You don’t have to stay home and babysit me every night. I’m not Noah. I’m used to looking out for myself.”
But he didn’t have to do that anymore and I wanted to say as much but I didn’t. “I know that.”
He shook his head. “I don’t get you. Is it because of Lila?”
“Is what because of Lila?”
“Is she the reason you don’t have a girlfriend? You’re not exactly ugly.”
“Thanks for that. And Lila has nothing to do with it.”
“From where I’m sitting, she haseverythingto do with it.” He shoveled another bite of food in his mouth. “But hey. It’s none of my business. You do you.”
Good thing because I had no intention of explaining my actions to Ridge. In order to understand what happened between me and Lila, you would have had to be there. Me, Jude, and Lila had a lot of history. Going back to when we were ten years old.
I checked my phone for the time. Quarter past seven. I was already late for dinner. Shiloh was another problem I really didn’t need right now. Ishouldsteer clear of her. But I’d never been very good at doing what I should. And even though I’d tried my damnedest to dissuade her from helping me today, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy she’d stubbornly refused to listen.
Trouble was I liked hanging out with her. Shiloh intrigued me in a way that very few women did. She was tough and tenacious, two traits you needed if you wanted to get to the top of any profession, with a brand of crazy that made for some interesting conversation.
