My Best Friend's Brother: A Standalone Friends to Lovers Romance (Soulmates Series Book 2) (26 page)

Chapter 47: Andi

Shane
was about to throw the covers off and get his phone when Izzy walked in with
hers next to her ear.

I
froze with a loaded nacho chip halfway to my mouth, as if that might keep Izzy
from seeing me wearing nothing but the sheet I was sharing with her brother.
 

She
dropped the arm that held her phone and the color drained from her face, her
eyes darting from Shane to me to Shane to me.

Then
she took a step backwards into the hall and closed the door.

I
dropped the chip I was holding into the Styrofoam box and looked at Shane.

At
first I felt a wave of anger that the door hadn’t been locked while we were
fooling around, but I was even more upset about the way we'd been caught in our
lie.

They
say a picture says a thousand words, but I didn't want to tell Izzy about me
and Shane with a picture.

I
wanted to tell her one word at a time, conjuring up as few pictures as
possible.

Without
speaking, we turned away from each other and tried to locate our clothes.

I
was about to scoot from under the sheet and make a run for my pants when she
opened the door again.

She
blinked several times, as if she was convinced she was imagining the scene
before her.

"I
can explain everything," Shane said, the sheet pooling in his lap.

"Don't
worry about it," Izzy said. "I'm pretty sure my sex
ed
teacher covered this in sixth
grade."

"It's
not what it looks like," he said.

I
wanted to disappear.

Izzy
scoffed. "I'm pretty sure it's exactly what it looks like."

Shane
lifted his palm like a white flag. "Just give us two minutes to get
dressed, and we can talk."

Her
lips fell apart, but she didn't say anything more. Instead, she just pulled the
door closed again.

Shane
laid a hand on my arm. "I'm sorry, Andi. I know this isn't what we had in
mind."

I
shook my head. "I thought we had more time. I thought she was at a
thing-"

"I
came back to get a sweater!" Izzy shouted through the door. "But I
can see why that wouldn't cross your mind considering how hot it is in
there."

Shane
groaned and dropped his feet to the floor, cracking the window before he walked
over to collect his boxers in a bunch at the end of the bed.

I
scrunched my face. "Would you mind-"

He
read my mind and picked up my clothes, bringing them in a clump to my side of
the bed.

"Do
you think I should stay?" I asked, pulling my bra on.

"No!"
Izzy yelled. "I want to talk to Shane."

"I
said give us two minutes," he said, glaring at the closed door. "Not
stand outside and provide commentary."

"If
you don't think I get to have an opinion about this you are so wrong," she
said, the anger in her voice making me feel three inches tall.

I
pulled on my sweater. When my head came out the hole, Shane had his jeans back
on.

I
let my eyes linger over his muscled chest for a moment before he pulled his
shirt over his head. Then I wiggled into my skinny jeans.

Without
talking, we put the nachos away and straightened the bed.

Finally,
we gathered by the door.

He
turned to me and laid a hand on my face. "It's going to be okay," he
said. "I promise."

I
tried to take comfort in his eyes.

"There's
no one I wouldn't fight for you," he whispered. "I'll make her see
what a good thing this is."

I
nodded and gave him a hug, pressing the length of my body against him. We fit
together just right. All we had to do was make her see.

"I'm
aging out here," Izzy said.

Shane
opened the door. "Don't be so dramatic."

Izzy
looked through me like she didn't even know me.

I
felt my hands go clammy in response to her obvious disapproval. "I don't
know what to say."

"You
could say, ‘Sorry for lying to you,’" she said. "Or ‘sorry for never
ever lying to you about anything and then picking this to start with.’"

I
swallowed.

She
shook her head. "How could you keep a secret like this from me?"

I
shrugged. "Because I kept it a secret from me, too. For a long time."

She
made a face like she had a bad taste in her mouth. "Don't even pretend
you've always had feelings like this for him."

I
pursed my lips.

"Oh
my god," she said. "You actually think that?"

I
glanced at Shane. "I do, yeah."

She
dropped her head and stared at the floor between us.

"Why
don't I stay?" I suggested. "We can all talk about it
togeth
-"

"I'm
sure my stomach can't handle that," she said, leaning against the
doorframe. "I'd rather you go and maybe I'll come by later."

I
squinted. "Maybe?"

"We'll
see.”

I
sighed. "I wanted to tell you-"

"But
you were busy. I get it."

"I
just didn't know how, and I didn't want to mention it before-"

"Before
what?" she asked, cocking her head.

"Before
we knew if it was serious."

She
raised a palm between us. "What don't you understand about the fact that I
don't want to talk to you right now."

Shane
stepped forward. "Don't be a bitch, Izzy. She hasn't done anything
wrong."

Izzy
laughed. "Good one. I'm pretty sure she's done everything wrong that a
best friend could possibly do, but I can see why you might not be able
to-"

"She's
my best friend, too," Shane said. "I know you forget that sometimes,
but we've all known each other for the same amount of time."

Izzy
turned to me. "Why are you still standing there?"

I
felt totally defeated apart from the solace I found in Shane’s face.

"You
should go," he said. "It's Izzy's turn to try and make sense of this.
Let's let her do it on her terms."

"Okay,"
I said, looking back at Izzy. "I just think it kind of sucks that her
first term is for me to fuck off."

She
raised her eyebrows. "So you're not deaf?"

I
clenched my jaw. "Fine. I'll go. But for the record, Izzy, I'm only sorry
I wasn't more upfront with you. I'm not sorry about what we've been-" I
felt a pinch in my tear ducts. "I still love you, too. Just so you
know."

She
extended her arm out the door, inviting me to walk through it.

So
I did, looking back at Shane one last time as I stepped into the hallway.

I
heard the door to his room close when I was halfway to the fire exit and took a
deep breath.

It
was frustrating that I couldn't even begin to imagine what was going through
Izzy's head. I mean, I didn't have any siblings to be protective of, siblings I
had to worry about sharing with anyone else.

And
I knew Shane's track record was far more varied and experienced than mine. She
probably thought I was weak. Or that he'd manipulated me.

And
he had. For fifteen years. By being the most handsome, interesting guy I knew.

But
at the very least, I knew she and I were on the same page in that we wanted him
to be happy.

If
only she could believe he might find happiness with me.

Chapter 48: Shane

I
was familiar with the multitude of Izzy's expressions, but the angry one she
was making just then wasn't one of my favorites.

"How
could you?" she asked, the thunder gone from her voice.

I
sat down on the edge of the bed. "How could I what?"

Her
hands went to her head as if she were going to pull her hair out. "How
could you take advantage of our best friend like this? When she's never been
more vulnerable?! When she trusts you the way she-"

"Hold
on a second. You think I'm using her?"

"Yeah,
I do." She set her hands on the edge of my desk and hoisted herself up.
"I think you got bored and forgot how much her friendship means to us- has
always meant- and you stuck your dick where it didn't belong because you're lazy
and it was convenient."

I
furrowed my brow. "So you blame me for this?"

"I
do."

I
sighed.

"Should
I not?" she asked. "I mean, I suppose there's a smidgeon of a chance
that I'm wrong about this, but I seriously doubt it, especially considering
your track record.”

"What's
that supposed to mean?"

"That
you don't really respect any of the women you sleep with, which is why it
breaks my heart that you would condemn Andi to that category."

I
shook my head. "You've got it all wrong."

She
cocked her head and looked at me like she’d forgotten I was a full eleven
minutes older than she was.

"First
of all, it's not that I don't respect the women I sleep with, okay? I just
don't love them. There's a difference, and you and I both know those things
aren't mutually exclusive."

"What
are you saying?" She turned an ear towards me. "That you love
her?"

"Yeah,"
I said with a lack of hesitation that surprised even me. "I do."

Izzy
rolled her eyes. "Oh please, Shane. I just caught you in a post coital
nacho fest two minutes ago, and now you want to tell me you're in love?"

"Yeah.
Head over fucking heels."

She
put her feet on my desk chair, her elbows on her knees, and her face in her
hands.

"And
that's why you shouldn't be mad at me. Because I'm not treating her like all
the other girls. I know she's different, and I'm treating her
accordingly."

She
peeked at me through her fingers. "And where is this going?"

"What?"

"You
and Andi."

I shrugged.
"I don't know. Far if I have anything to say about it."

She
dropped her hands. "Far?"

I
nodded. "But I didn't want to say anything to you until I knew that."

"And
now you know?"

"In
every bone in my body."

"Let's
leave your body out of it," she said. “It’s probably what got you into
this mess.”

"Fair
enough."

She
sighed. "I still don't get how this even started? You never felt this way
before."

"Actually,
I think I did. I just didn't recognize the feeling for what it was because
she'd always been such a big part of our lives."

"So
what changed?" she asked. "What made you suddenly see her as a woman
and not as a sister?"

"I
never really saw her as a sister."

"Sure
you did."

I
shook my head. "No. I'm pretty sure I realized you guys were different as
soon as you hit puberty."

"But
you never said anything? Even back then?"

"Because
I was a pubescent bundle of horniness who couldn't make sense of myself, much
less my relationship to anybody else."

She
pursed her lips. "
Mmm
. I suppose that is pretty
much how I remember it."

"Thanks."

"But
I still don't get what happened that made you guys get together. After all this
time…"

"A
few weeks ago, Mike pushed her around- scared the shit out of her. She showed
up here bleary eyed with a busted lip."

Her
face dropped. "Shit."

"She
asked if I would go get her stuff from his place."

"Uh-huh."

"So
I did, and when I came back, I wanted to keep an eye on her. Plus, I felt
guilty about the fact that I’d basically been avoiding her ever since she
started dating Mike-"

"She
mentioned that."

“So
I asked her to stay the night.”

Izzy
raised her eyebrows.

"Anyway,
at some point she started worrying about her busted lip- that it wouldn't heal,
that it looked like shit. So I kissed it. Just where it was cracked. Just to
shut her up."

She
narrowed her eyes at me.

"And
I felt something."

"What?"

"A
shift? A craving? I don't know. But I knew I didn't want to let her slide back
into the periphery of my life again."

"So
you started seeing more of her."

I
nodded. "I took her to my barn dance- like you suggested. I figured she
needed a reminder about how she deserved to be treated."

"Sure."

"And
that's sort of when we started getting to know each other better."

"And
all this time you've both been lying to me about it?"

"It’s
more like we wanted to make sense of our own feelings before we tried to
articulate them to the only person we care about as much as we care about each
other."

She
groaned. "You are such a jerk. I can't even stay mad at you."

One corner of
my mouth curled up
.

"I
suppose I had The Ink on some level that there was chemistry between you."

I
raised my eyebrows.

"Like
when we used to go to your football games, I always felt like there was
something in her eyes that wasn't in mine. Like she was way more worried about
you getting hurt or something."

I
turned an ear towards her.

"And
sometimes when you guys used to pick me up after theater practice, there would
be this weird energy in the car, this tension."

I
hooked my thumbs in my pockets.

"And
of course the way you treated Steven after he asked her to the spring dance
senior year was highly suspicious."

"That’s
because he asked her before I did."

"You
asked her?"

"Casually.
But also completely seriously."

"And
now you’re in love with her, huh? Just like that. Like so much that you
genuinely don't want to be with other people?"

I
leaned back on straight arms. "Like so much I don't even notice other
people."

She
smiled.

"It's
like brain drain or something. I swear I've never felt so stupid and happy at
the same time."

"Sounds
like love alright."

"It's
not anything I've felt before anyway, but it definitely feels like a good
thing. Like a lasting thing."

She
crossed her legs. "Does she know how strongly you feel?"

"I've
mentioned it," I said. "So I think she knows."

"Uh-huh."

"Plus,
my new favorite hobby is thinking of ways to show her how crazy she makes me
so-"

"And
where does she stand?"

"That's
harder to say. She doesn’t exactly wear her heart on her sleeve quite as much
as I'm willing to."

"I'll
talk to her," she said. "And get to the bottom of it."

I
sighed. "Sounds good. Because if she doesn't feel the same way, I really
need to reel it in."