Page 36 of Crushing On My Brothers BFF

“Does it hurt you?” Paul asks, each word drawn out, a drawl, painful to hear.

“I’m not the one who fell off his bike, am I?” I say, trying for a joking tone.

He smiles, then it fades again. He stares into space. “Being here. Not at work. Taking care of Sophie.”

“I’m not taking care of her,” I tell him. “She can handle herself.”

“Still, she needs someone, someone who understands. I don’t want her to see me like this. All dosed up. I don’t want her here.”

I press my hands together, stubbornly looking at the wall. The universe can’t be this twisted and unfair. I refuse to accept it. Even after the video, Paul has no idea how badly I still want—need—his sister. My body and heart stir when I look at her, but that video has bent everything out of shape.

“She knows you were injured,” I tell him.

“I’ll remind her of Dad,” he says, sounding both sad and happy simultaneously. Or maybe it’s sad and high. It’s like the drugs are working their magic, but his real feelings are trying to break through. “Can you put her up for a few days? I need these pills, just for now. I just don’t want to remind her of our parents, sick all the time, taking pill after pill. I need to be strong for her. I can’t take them knowing she’s around here. I can’t, bro.”

The desperation in his voice tugs at me just as fiercely as my hunger for his sister, but differently, obviously. It’s like I’m being torn in two different directions.

“I’ve got the nurses,” he says.

“And security,” I tell him.

He nods slowly. “If Sophie’s away, no harm in that, is there? And you can keep her safe if she’s recognized.”

This request only seems strange to me because I know how badly I hunger for his kid sister. Yet, from his perspective, it’s the most normal thing in the world. Who else would he ask except his rich best friend?

“But,” he continues, “if you’re hiring security, I want control of what information they pass on. I won’t live under a police state.”

This triggers my interest. “Get plenty of secret visitors, do you?”

“That’s my business. We’re watching for your mystery stalker, not any friend who might drop by. Leave it there, please.”

I nod, stunned to hear him like this, so invested. Clearly, it means a lot to him. Maybe it is a woman. Perhaps this request to take Sophie is about more than pills and memories.

“How’s the public drama, anyway?” he asks, changing the subject.

“Things are heating up there,” I admit. “I’m trying to arrange a one-on-one with that fame-chaser from the hospital.”

Paul nods. “That’s a good idea.”

“Corporate didn’t seem to think so.”

He laughs darkly. “I thought you were corporate now.”

“Too many variables,” I tell him. “Too much chaos. They want everything to be curated and clean so they can check and double-check every last thing.”

“Fuck ’em. Let the audience decide who’s right. If they choose her…” The company loses millions. People could lose their jobs. “Then they’re idiots, too.” His eyes are starting to close as the pain pills swallow him. “Will you do it, Kaleb? Please?”

Don’t make me. I can’t think of any decent reason to turn him down. I know how much it means to him—not to be seen as weak by his sister. I know how proud he is of basically raising Sophie and his enthusiasm when we began this business together. How could I tell him no?

“Of course I will,” I say.

“That’s what he said?” she murmurs, her arms folded across her middle. I wish she wouldn’t do that. She’s pushing her tits together, stirring impulses in me that I need to kill now. There’s no place for them in my life when that video and hercrushexist.

“He wants me to take you away for a few days,” I say tightly, standing behind the couch.She’sstanding behind the opposite chair as if she wants to put as much space between us as possible.

Riley is in the kitchen, making a drink. “He told me the same thing,” Riley says, with that suspicious looking away again.

A thought occurs to me. I take on the persona I use during business meetings, walking across the room into the kitchen area. Riley turns, eyes flit to me, and then flit down.

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