A Deal With the Devil (28 page)

Kate shifted on the barstool and looked uncomfortable. “He just . . .”

Amanda’s mouth dropped open. She couldn’t believe her best friends would poke around in her brother’s affairs behind her back. This went way beyond Kate’s typical meddling or spousal gossip. This felt like betrayal. She folded her arms and lifted her chin. “He just,
what
?”

“Amanda, Jake . . .
we
. . . just wanted to help.” Kate’s eyes pleaded with Amanda to understand. “Do you really believe either Sam or I would ever do anything to hurt you?”

She didn’t want to believe it, but the last few minutes had shaken her to the core and she no longer knew what to believe. “Then why? Why would Rob be of any concern to either of you?” And if they’d heard some wayward gossip, why wouldn’t Kate just tell her? They’d always been straight with each other before. It made no sense.

“Sit down and we’ll talk,” Kate said.

Amanda sat, but regarded her friend warily as she tried to assign logic to actions that seemed completely out of character with the friend she’d known, and trusted, for so long.

Kate sighed. “Okay, here’s the truth. We’ve been worried because of everything going on with Rob. And earlier this week, Jake asked Sam to check around; to find out what your brother is up to.”

“But—”

“You have to admit,” Kate said. “This situation with Rob got completely out of control and Jake…
we all
. . . wanted to understand what might be going on.”

“Why would Jake assume my brother is any of his business?”

“Maybe for the same reason you consider his relationship with Max
your
business.” Kate shook more sugar into her coffee and stirred. “I swear; you’re both super clueless when it comes to love.”

“This isn’t love. It’s just some convoluted, unfinished business between two people who used to date.”

Kate tilted her head and the corners of her lips turned up as she said, “No honey. This is about two people who can’t stand to be apart but are too afraid to admit it. Two people who hate to see the other hurting or being hurt, so they interfere and nudge and make all kinds of mistakes in an attempt to get the other on what they believe to be the right track.”

“That’s not—”

“Hon, I know you’d like to believe this deal of yours is just about business and a little bit of residual chemistry, but somewhere deep inside, you know it’s not true. If so, Jake’s relationship with Max wouldn’t concern you and it wouldn’t hurt so much when he meddled in your brother’s life.” Her voice grew husky. “What’s going on between you two is about as real and as deep and as complicated as it gets. This is
love
, sweetie.”

Amanda’s shoulders slumped. “But I don’t want to love him,” she whispered. “There’s no point. It won’t work. I could never trust him to make a true commitment.”

“You can’t choose love. It just happens. And most of the time, it doesn’t make any sense.” Kate shrugged. “Look at Sam and me. Who would’ve ever imagined we’d end up together—especially after everything my family did to prevent us from getting together. Not to mention the fact that I had the gown on and was a mere five minutes from walking down the aisle with Mr. Wrong,” she said.

“But you guys are different. You two make sense. We don’t.”

“Love isn’t logical and it’s almost always inconvenient.” Kate paused to sip her coffee. “I know you like to pretend you’re all tough, but you’re not. You’re scared. It was easy to talk all tough when Jake was half a world away, but the idea of giving it another try with him scares the crap out of you. And I don’t blame you.” Kate turned to face her. “Jake
is
afraid of commitment and sure, you
could
walk away when your deal ends, but I don’t believe you want to.” She set down her mug and squeezed Amanda’s hand as she said, “Do you.”

Instead of answering, Amanda countered with a question of her own. “If he loves me, why would he do this with my brother?”

Kate shrugged. “He didn’t like what he heard about the money you loaned Rob, so he asked Sam to look into it. Nothing more. I know you want to believe the only thing going on with your brother is a few construction delays, but get real,” Kate said as she tapped her index finger to her temple. “Use your brain. Pretend it’s not your brother. You have to recognize the ring of truth in what we learned.”

Amanda decided she’d heard enough about her brother. She’d also listened to enough lectures on love and Jake and everything she’d done wrong over the past ten years. She shoved her mug aside, causing some of the coffee to slosh onto the counter and stood, glaring at Kate as she said, “I don’t
have
to do anything. I’m disappointed in you. After everything we’ve been through together; after all these years, this is how you act?” Amanda turned and strode toward the door. “I would
never
keep a secret like this from you or go behind your back like that. Ever.”

Kate shimmied awkwardly off the barstool and waddled after her. “Mand . . . don’t leave,” she said. “Please. You know I’d never do anything to hurt you. You
know
that.”

She cast a glance over her shoulder. The sight of her pregnant friend struggling to keep up dissipated some of her anger and Amanda stopped, expelling a long sigh as she said, “I know you wouldn’t hurt me intentionally, but what everyone seems to miss is that Rob is my brother; my only family. He
needs
me.” Amanda said. “And it pisses me off to know my best friends felt free to investigate him like he’s some dangerous criminal.”

“We—”

“I’m done. I came over tonight for some moral support. I didn’t expect to find out you’ve been sneaking around my back. I’m just…I’m really pissed at you guys.”

“I’m sorry,” Kate whispered, her eyes round and glistening with tears.

“We’ll talk about this later; when I’ve calmed down. Right now, I’m tired. Can I still stay tonight?”

“Please stay. You know where the room is.”

Amanda nodded and started toward the stairs. “Thanks. I really don’t want to go back to his place tonight.” She stepped onto the bottom stair and then turned back to Kate. “I know you thought you were helping, but I don’t believe Jake was as well-intended. As it relates to my brother, I think he’s out to hurt me because of his own messed up beliefs about family.”

“Actually, I think it’s just the opposite,” Kate said. “I believe he wants to protect you.”

Amanda scoffed. “Then you’re more delusional about this relationship than I’ve been, if that’s possible.”

* * *

Amanda stood at the door to Rob’s apartment for a full ten minutes practicing what she’d say and gathering the courage for the conversation to come. She was running on two hours of sleep and three Venti Skinny Lattes—a deadly combination.

What little sleep she got had been punctuated by nightmares—the kind where you show up late for class and inexplicably find you aren’t wearing pants. She’d experienced that one twice and in between, she’d spent hours staring mindlessly at the ceiling, replaying the conversation with Kate over and over in her head.

By the time the sun came up, she knew what she had to do. She needed to confront Rob in person. She didn’t believe the gossip, but couldn’t quite dismiss the prickle of doubt; the stirring of unease. Kate’s words held an undeniable ring of truth and, while she wouldn’t ever admit it to her, Amanda had always wondered if Rob was telling the truth about his reasons for needing the money. By challenging him in person, she’d be able to look in his eyes and see the truth. But she felt sure, hoped so deeply, that the crazy stories Jake and Kate considered fact were only vicious lies.

Amanda checked her watch again. She couldn’t put it off any longer. It was time to get on with it. She smoothed sweaty palms down the front of her jeans and rang the bell.

When Rob opened the door, his unkempt hair and bleary eyes made it clear he’d just dragged himself out of bed. “Holy crap, sis,” he said as he scratched his head. “What’re you doing here so early?”

“We need to talk.” Amanda strode purposely through the door and all the way into the living room before she stopped. She was a woman on a mission and determined to prove it.

Rob must have picked up on her mood because he instantly looked more alert as he plopped into the chair across from her. “What’s going on?”

She kept her voice calm and cool as she said, “Funny, that’s exactly what I’m here to find out.” She eyed him with a firm, unflinching gaze—determined to catch even the slightest hint of deception. “I’ve heard some very disturbing rumors.”

His eyes grew round and he stared at her more intently as he said, “Like what?”

“Like the real reasons for the construction delays.” She folded her arms. “And I expect to hear the truth.”

His brows drew together. “Why would I lie?”

She vowed not to waver—especially with the wild fabrications still bouncing around in her head. “Don’t try to deflect my question with more questions. Answer me.” She wouldn’t prompt him. She wanted him to voluntarily tell her the truth, the
whole
truth.

“We ran into delays due to permit problems. You have no idea what a nightmare Cook County can be.” His gaze never wavered. “Then the sub-contractors we hired to do the interior finish work backed out so we needed to find another crew. We’re still trying to get the money back from the original guys, since we paid them before they ditched us. The twenty thousand you gave me a few days ago helped us get the new sub-contractors started and now, we’re making progress again. You should stop by.” He grinned. “The place is really coming along.”

In the lengthening silence, she studied every aspect of Rob’s demeanor, trying to discern fact from fiction. Everything about his tone and manner—even his direct eye contact—indicated he was being truthful. “So there’s nothing you’re not telling me.”

He stood and plodded into the kitchen. “The only thing I left out is what a massive pain in the ass these delays have been. But that’s my problem, not yours.”

She chewed her lip. He hadn’t even blinked which meant he was either a very good liar or Jake had gotten his facts wrong. She was betting on the latter. But, but couldn’t resist one last test. “Who are your partners?”

Rob opened the cupboard and pulled out the coffee can and a filter. “You don’t know them.
I
don’t even know them all.”

This jived with what Jake had said and seemed to be the basis for the wild rumors her friends seemed to believe. It gave Amanda a degree of confidence in Rob’s explanations.

He poured water in the coffee machine and turned it on. Then he leaned against the refrigerator and folded his arms as he continued. “It takes serious bank to gut and rebuild a restaurant, so we’ve had added some new partners over the last few months to help ease expenses.” He picked up a cup and lifted a brow. “Want some?”

“No.” She still wasn’t sure whether to believe him.

“You seem pissed,” Rob filled his mug, looking completely at ease despite Amanda’s obvious concern. “What’s going on?”

“Last night, I heard all these crazy rumors about the restaurant and it scared me. I want to make sure you’re not in over your head,” Amanda said. “I hope you know, if you’re worried about something
, anything
, you can tell me. We’ll figure it out together.”

He yawned. “Everything’s fine. You know how people like to talk in this town—especially that crowd of yours. My place is going to be huge. You’ll be proud of me, sis.” He grinned and looked so pleased with himself, her anger and fear began to dissipate. “I promise. You have nothing to worry about.”

Amanda sank onto a barstool and watched as he swigged his coffee. His version of the story was consistent enough with what she’d heard from both Kate and Jake that she felt reassured. They must have taken random bits of information and patched it together to create the wild stories they had told her. She didn’t understand why, but she’d worry about it later.

“You sure you don’t want some?”

Amanda relented. “I’ll take half a cup and then I need to go.” As she reached for the mug, the overhead light bounced off her ring and shards of light flashed in a showy display of bling.

Rob set down his mug and grabbed her hand. “Damn, sis! You’re engaged?” His look of reproach shamed her. “Talk about keeping secrets.”

“That’s the other reason I’m here; I wanted to tell you the news in person.” She pasted a sunny smile on her face. “Jake and I are engaged.” She hated deceiving him—especially since she’d just accused him of lying to her.

A huge grin spread over his face as he trotted around the counter. He wrapped her in a big bear hug, picked her up and spun her around twice. “I
knew
it! I
knew
this would happen once he got home.”

He dropped her with a clunk the way he used to do when they were younger. She giggled and smacked him on the arm.

“When’s the big day?”