Betrayal: Abby's Guilt (The Betrayal Series) (2 page)

Abby wished she knew why Kyle and Brianna were estranged. He wouldn’t even pick her up at the airport and chose to meet with her, after two years, at a party where he knew they would have very little opportunity to talk. Abby did not understand why Kyle seemed to hold so much resentment and anger towards his only sibling or why he refused to talk about it. She and Kyle shared everything. Why not this? She knew Kyle was angry at Brianna for skipping their father’s funeral, but it wasn’t just that. Kyle’s attitude towards his sister had been the same since Abby met him, long before his father died. There was something else going on, and Abby was dying to find out what it was. She was looking forward to meeting Brianna at the party and getting to know her while she was in town. Abby hoped to learn, once and for all, what happened between her and Kyle.

Chapter II

Later that day, Abby and Kyle were at the birthday bash for Kyle’s best friend, Ryan. Ryan, a very popular guy around campus, decided to throw himself a little birthday party to celebrate his twenty-first birthday. It looked as if Ryan had invited the entire NYU student body, judging by the number of drunk coeds stumbling around the apartment he shared with three other students. There was a lot of dancing, drinking and yes, even fucking, going on in that apartment that night.

Kyle was leaning against a wall, drinking a beer and joking around with the birthday boy when he spotted Abby across the room. She was all smiles surrounded by friends and taking selfies with them with her phone. Kyle smiled as he gazed at her and wondered what he had done to deserve a living doll, a flesh- and-blood angel like Abigail Sloane. She looked enchanting that night in her flowered-pattern, royal blue dress. Kyle loved that strappy, knee length dress on her. He loved how its bodice wrapped around her tiny waist and how the flared, knee-long skirt bounced around her with every step she took. She had her luscious, brown hair pulled back into a high, elegant ponytail, and she was wearing no makeup, except for some lip gloss and some eyeliner. She was the picture of loveliness that night.

Kyle glanced at the clock hanging on the wall across from him and saw it was almost ten o’clock. His sister Brianna had not shown up, and Kyle was secretly hoping she wouldn’t. He really did not want to see her. Kyle wished he could cut Brianna out of his life completely. But their mother begged him not to and asked him to at least be civil to her. That’s the only reason he agreed to meet with her when she emailed him telling him she was coming to New York and wanted to see him.

Kyle had hoped he could’ve gone all his life without having to introduce his sweet, innocent girlfriend to his deviant, screwed-up sister, but Brianna was very insistent on meeting Abby. He knew Brianna was going to keep bugging him until she met Abby. Kyle realized that with Brianna potentially relocating to The Big Apple for work, sooner or later she and Abby were going to meet. So he decided to get it over with and have them meet at a crowded and loud party where he knew there’d be little chance of any real conversation between the two girls. There were what Kyle considered shameful secrets about Brianna, and he did not want Abby to ever learn about them.

Just when Kyle thought he was going to get through the night without having to go through the uncomfortable process of introducing his sister Brianna to his girlfriend and friends, the door to the apartment flew open. All the eyes in the room, including Abby’s, flew to the stunning woman who had just walked in.

“That’s Brianna,” Abby remarked under her breath to no one in particular as she gazed, wide-eyed, at the leggy blonde who was scanning the room as if she was looking for someone. Abby had seen pictures of Brianna on Google Images, but seeing the woman in the flesh made her realize those pictures did not do Brianna justice. On a scale of one to ten of attractiveness, Brianna was easily a twenty five. Abby couldn’t get over how stunningly perfect that woman was and how much she looked like her brother. Brianna’s thick, wavy dirty blond hair; her fair complexion; her almond-shaped, ocean blue eyes; her perfectly sculpted, plump lips; and the seductive way in which she swayed her hips when she walked, had all the men in the room shamelessly ogling her like hungry dogs. Her strapless, skin tight mini dress showed she had curves to go for days. She drew whistles and a handful of dirty compliments from some of the drunk coeds as she slowly made her way to the other side of the living room.

Abby watched Brianna ignore all the cat calls and head over to where Kyle was standing. She saw Brianna place a hand on Kyle’s shoulder before leaning in and landing a brief kiss on his cheek. She saw Kyle eye Brianna up and down before mouthing something to her. The lack of hugs or warm smiles made it evident to Abby that Kyle was not happy to see Brianna, but Brianna did seem happy to see her brother. Abby decided to walk over to them and introduce herself.

“Hi…,” Abby greeted the mystery woman, her eyes sparkling with curiosity and admiration. She eyed Brianna from head to toe before stepping to stand next to Kyle. She curled one arm behind Kyle’s waist and waited for an introduction.

“Hi…,” Brianna grinned, curiously scanning the petite brunette from head to toe before returning her gaze to Kyle.

“Abby, this is my sister Brianna. Brianna, this is my girlfriend Abby,” Kyle muttered, his eyes looking as cold as that introduction sounded.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you, Brianna,” Abby beamed, releasing Kyle’s waist and stepping forward to wrap her arms around Brianna’s neck. Abby hugged her boyfriend’s sister as if she had known her her whole life.

Brianna was taken aback by the friendliness of his brother’s girlfriend. “Wow. It’s nice to finally meet you too, Abby. You are so adorable,” Brianna gushed, breaking the hug and scanning Abby from head to toe once more. “You’ve done good, little bro. She is pretty and gives nice hugs,” she joked, gazing at her brother.

Abby giggled at Brianna’s remarks, but Kyle did not. Kyle just glared at his sister, incapable of hiding his disdain for her. He didn’t like the way Brianna was staring at Abby. He was starting to regret inviting his sick, perverted sister to that party.

“I can’t believe I’m speaking to a real-life movie star. I’ve watched all the movies you’ve been in. I think you are very talented, Brianna,” Abby praised the stunning blonde. She was a little star struck. Brianna had that effect on people even though she wasn’t exactly a world famous actress yet.

“Well, thank you, Abby. That’s very kind of you,” Brianna replied, giving Abby a curt nod.

“Let me get you a beer so we can all sit down and talk,” Abby suggested. She had turned on her heel to walk away from the group when Kyle grabbed her wrist.

“Don’t, Abby. Brianna and I are going to go have a little chat alone. After that, she is going back to her hotel because she is very tired and has a very busy day ahead of her tomorrow. Isn’t that right, Brianna?” Kyle glared at his sister, forcing a smile that did not match the darkness in his eyes. Brianna did not say anything, but her friendly smile disappeared as she listened to Kyle not-so-diplomatically tell her he wanted her gone from that party. Abby could see pain clouding Brianna’s gorgeous blue eyes. She felt bad for her.

“Go hang out with your friends, babe. I’ll come get you later, okay?” Kyle instructed Abby, almost pushing her away.

“Okay…,” Abby said slowly as she searched both Brianna’s and Kyle’s faces trying to figure out what was going on. She headed back to the couch while she watched her boyfriend and his sister climb out a window and into the apartment’s fire escape. Abby sat back on the couch, ignoring all the chatter going on around her. Her eyes were fixated on the window Brianna and Kyle had climbed out of. She wished she was a fly on the metal rails of that fire escape exit. She was dying to know what Kyle and Brianna were saying to each other. She had a suspicion they were not reminiscing about their childhood back in Montana.

About half an hour later, Brianna and Kyle got back inside the apartment. Kyle climbed through the window first. With a flushed face and a tight jaw, Kyle scanned the room looking for Abby. When he spotted her, he headed towards the couch where she was sitting. Brianna climbed in through the window a few seconds later. She headed straight to the kitchen where the drinks were without making eye contact with anyone. Abby noticed her lips were smiling, but her eyes told a different story. They were shifty and couldn’t hide the soul-crushing pain that clouded them. It looked to Abby as if Kyle and Brianna had spent that half hour saying some hurtful things to each other on that fire escape. Abby wished someone would tell her what was going on so she could help. She felt so helpless and frustrated.

Abby questioned her boyfriend when he sat next to her on the couch. “What happened? What did you say to Brianna to make her so upset? What is going on Kyle?”

“It’s nothing. It’s a family thing. Don’t worry about it,” Kyle replied, patting Abby’s knee. “I’m going to go get us some beers. Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

On his way to the kitchen, Kyle passed Brianna who was coming back to the living room with a beer in her hand. They gave each other death stares and continued on their way. In the living room, Brianna sat on a different couch than the one Abby was sitting on. She glanced over at Abby, smiled and tipped her beer bottle towards her. Abby thought about going over to Brianna and talking to her, but she didn’t get a chance to get near the mystery woman. As soon as Brianna sat down, the men at the party began to hound her. Three of them sat around her, fawning over her and shamelessly ogling her. Brianna giggled and flirted with all three of them while taking small sips from her beer.

Suddenly Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” came through the speakers, and Brianna shot up to her feet. “I love that song. Turn it up,” she shrieked before turning her attention to her three admirers. “Which one of you handsome boys is going to ask me to dance?”

All three men almost knocked one another to the ground trying to claim Brianna’s hand. Brianna chose to drag all three of them to the dance area. If the men at the party were not going wild for Brianna before, they definitely were when she began to seductively writhe her body and sway her hips to the funky beat of the song. She ran her hands all over her hair and body while her three drooling dance partners fought for her attention. Abby, along with everyone else in the room, couldn’t take her eyes off the breathtaking blonde who looked like she was genuinely having a blast dancing to the fun, groovy tune.

Abby stared at Brianna wishing she could be her.

Kyle, who had returned from the kitchen, seethed with embarrassment. While they were out on the fire escape, Kyle asked Brianna to leave the party and stay away from his girlfriend, but Brianna refused to leave. She told Kyle she was going to enjoy the party and leave whenever she goddamn pleased. Kyle was not amused by Brianna’s suggestive dancing. He was convinced she was putting on that little show just to further embarrass and humiliate him.

The night went on, and Brianna continued to dance and flirt with just about every guy in the room while staring defiantly at her brother. Abby could not find a single opportunity to talk to the mysterious sister since the men at the party wouldn’t leave Brianna alone for a second. That plus the fact that Kyle barely left her side the entire night.

A few hours later, most of the party guests had gone home. The music had been turned off and the only people left were Kyle, Abby, Brianna, birthday boy Ryan, and his three roommates. All three of Ryan’s roommates were shamelessly drooling over Brianna. They sat around her on one of the couches and hung on her every word as she regaled them with interesting anecdotes about her life as a Hollywood movie star.

“So, Brianna, do you have a boyfriend? And if you don’t, can I be him?” Matt, one of the drooling roommates, asked a tipsy Brianna.

“I don’t have a boyfriend, Matt. As a matter of fact, I have never had a boyfriend in my whole life,” Brianna giggled, patting the cheek of the stocky but adorable young man.

“You don’t do relationships? That’s cool. I’ll settle for anything-your boy toy, your sex slave, whatever you want me to be, gorgeous,” Matt pleaded as his roommates shook their heads and tried to stifle laughs.

“Actually, I do do relationships. I just don’t do them with men,” Brianna clarified.

“What do you mean?” Sergio, a Brazilian stud and one of the other roommates, asked. “Wait…Are you saying you’re a lesbian?”

Brianna shrugged and smiled coyly at Sergio. “Card carrying member since 1987.” She then turned her attention to Kyle and shot daggers at him with her eyes.

Abby’s mouth fell open when she heard the startling revelation. She had no idea. Kyle had never mentioned to her that his sister was gay. When Abby googled Brianna, she did not find a single mention of Brianna’s sexuality on the internet. She found a couple of pictures of Brianna attending movie premieres, but she was accompanied by men in all of them. Abby was shocked, not that she had any prejudice against gay people. She just found the news surprising given how flirty Brianna was being with all the men at the party. Abby turned her head to face Kyle and found him glaring and huffing at Brianna. His face looked flushed with anger. Abby was startled by the dark expression on her boyfriend’s face. She had never seen Kyle looking that upset.

“Well, that settles it boys,” Cody, the third roommate, chimed in. “We can all go to bed now. None of us has a shot with gorgeous Brianna. Nothing to see here.”

Sergio and Cody got off the couch and went to fetch more beers, but Matt remained seated, still drooling over Brianna. He was not throwing in the towel just yet. “It’s okay if you’re into girls, sweetheart. It just means we have something in common. I’m not giving up on you, Goddess Brianna. I believe you’re worth the fight.”

Brianna giggled. She found Matt’s hopeless insistence adorable. “I’m glad you don’t have a problem with me being gay, Matt. There are plenty of people who do. And I’m not talking about strangers. I don’t give a flying fuck what they think of me. I’m talking about people who are your flesh and blood, people who are supposed to love you unconditionally. But because of their small mindedness and their ignorance, choose to believe lies and shut you out of their lives instead.” Brianna said all of this while staring Kyle down.