Page 20 of Beauty and her Billionaire Beast
She takes a loud, longbreath that makes me feel she’s a lot closer than two thousand miles away. “All right, all right. I’ll hear you out. But don’t expect me to like the guy. You keep insisting that the two of you were just best friends, but I could tell there was a heck of a lot more between you, even if you never acted on it until now. He might’ve seen you as a friend, but you? Girl, you fell so hard for that guy thatthere was nothing left for you to landon.”
My heart freezes in my chest and I have to swallow a few times just to open up the tightness in mythroat.
“I was never in love with him,” I shoot back and hear the defensiveness in my voice. “We were just friends. We were always just friends…untilnow.”
“Oh yeah, sure. That’s why you cried yourself to sleep for ages after he leftand forgot all about you… Look, sis. I’m sorry. I was never very good at being a nice, supportive sister. I’m gonna shut up now, and just listen to whatever you have tosay.”
Of course, now I don’t know what to say anymore. She’s already judged me, Knox, and our actions. I can’t ask her for advice on what to do. She won’tunderstand.
“So, you saw him?” she asks after silence frommyside.
“Idid.”
“Are you togethernow?”
“No, of course not. I’m just…I don’t know what to do. I see him everywhere I go now. And the attraction between us, it’s nothing like when we were friends, yet that bond is still sostrong.”
“Oh.”
“And I have all these feelings that were never therebefore.”
“Isee.”
“He kissed me tonight. There’s somethinggoing on with him. He’ll open up to me eventually, and I want to be there for him like before…but…”
“Butwhat?”
“He’s so going to hurt me again. I can feel it already. Like my heart is breaking now because it knows what’scoming.”
“Hmmm.”
I know my sister isn’t being authentic. She’s holding her tongue. But even in her act, letting out my fears, hearing them out loud,it’s helpingme.
“You know what?” she asks, breaking thesilence.
“What?”
“Take it a day at a time. For all you know, this is exactly what the two of youneeded.”
“What?”
“You’re my sister and I love you. Go ahead. Get laid. Fall for him. Hear his hopes and dreams. Maybe this time, with sex in the equation, maybe this canwork.”
“Wait, what? How can yougo from he’s a sorry ass son of a bitch to wishing me luck withhim?”
“Easy peasy, my darling. All I’m saying is try to live a little. If he breaks your heart, so what? Broken hearts heal…eventually. And I promise I won’t say I told you so if it doesn’t work out. I swear to God. I might fly back to kick his ass if that happens, but I won’t say I told you so. How’sthat?”
I flop downonto the bed. Bethany is no help. Not one bit. I need to work this out on my own. Not even Knox can give me all the answers. In a way, Bethany is right. I’m going to take a chance and live for achange.
“Thanks, Beth. You’ve been a bighelp.”
She lets out a laugh. “Liar.”
“No, really. I’ll take it day by day. Bottom line is I’m glad he’s back. So, I may make a few more mistakes,but I’m sure to enjoy at least some of it. It’s better than what I had going onbefore.”
“True.”
“Tell me about Colorado,” I say, moving on to herlife.
