Edge of Love (25 page)

Cortland shook his head. “I really
don’t know. I hope it doesn’t come to blows.”

“
Why is everything so
messed up?” I said.

Cortland grabbed me and wrapped his
arms around me. I laid my head on his chest and closed my eyes.
Being with him somehow made me feel better. Other than Sean and
Ryan, he was my closest friend. I was closer to him than I was to
Janice. If Sean told me I couldn’t see him anymore, I don’t know
what I would do. I wrapped my arms around his waist and held him
close to me.

He leaned toward my ear. “Do you wanna
go to Mega-Shake and get your mind off of it?”

“
Nothing will get my mind
off of it,” I whispered.

“
Do you want to go home,
then?” he asked.

“
I want to move back in
with Sean.”

He sighed. “I know. I’m sorry this is
happening.”

“
It’s not your fault,
Cortland.”

“
I shouldn’t have slept
with you to begin with.”

“
Even though it’s ruined
things with Sean, I wouldn’t go back and change it.”

“
Really? Why?”

“
Because now you’re one of
my closest friends.”

He held me tighter. “I love you too,
Scar.”

Janice patted my shoulder. “Let’s go
home. I suspect that’s where Ryan will go when he’s done screaming
at Sean.”

I sighed. “You’re right. Let’s
go.”

23

Sean

As soon as I heard the pounding on my
front door, I knew Ryan had decided to pay me a visit. I suspected
that Scarlet would explain the whole thing, but Ryan didn’t believe
my innocence, apparently. I turned off the television and opened
the door.

He marched into my apartment and
slammed the door behind him. His eyes were wide open and they shot
out sparks when they looked at me. He was furious. I tried to
remain calm so he wouldn’t yell, but I knew it was
inevitable.

“
ARE YOU FUCKING WITH MY
SISTER?”

“
No, I love Scarlet. I
would never betray her, Ryan.”

“
Then why is this
prostitute coming to your front door? I find it odd that she knows
exactly where you live.” He stepped closer to me and I stepped
away. I knew he was going to punch me, but I wanted to be out of
the way when that fist came at my face.

“
After the office went out
last night, she and I shared a cab. The driver dropped me off
first.”

“
That’s fucking bullshit
and you know it!”

“
I’m not
lying.”

“
Then how does she know
which apartment number you are? She obviously came with you to your
door.”

I paused at the accusation. I wasn’t
sure how she knew. “She must have watched me or asked the
landlord.”

“
Try again.”

Now I was getting angry. “I didn’t
cheat on Scarlet. That one woman is a crazy slut. Yes, she told me
she wanted me, but I said I had no interest. I even introduced
Scarlet to her.”

“
If you rejected her, then
why did she come to your apartment?”

“
She keeps trying to
seduce me. That’s why I’m quitting on Monday. It isn’t fair to
Scarlet.”

“
And I like how you told
her about this whole thing.”

I knew what he was implying. “I was
going to tell her on Monday after I quit.”

“
I’m sure,” he said
sarcastically.

“
I was. I already have my
resignation letter. I just never expected Maria to show up
here.”

“
Maria? Your girlfriend
has a name?”

I felt my blood boil. “I didn’t fuck
her! I don’t know how many times I have to say it. Scarlet knows I
wouldn’t do that to her.”

“
Well, Scar is distraught
with depression and pain. She can’t think clearly anymore.” He
stared at me, accusation brewing in his eyes.

“
We’re still together. I
just need space right now. I’m still upset that she lied to me. And
I’m still angry about the wedding fiasco. The only reason why she
apologized for that is because she wants me back. I know she still
doesn’t want to get married there.”

“
She already apologized to
you. That should be enough if you still love her.”

“
Of course I
do.”

“
Then move back in with
her.”

“
I can’t.”

“
Why?”

“
I’m still not ready.
Maybe you think I’m unjustified in being angry, but I couldn’t care
less. Scar fucked Cortland and never told me about it. I could move
past that part—even though it kills me—but not the lying. She was
never going to tell me the truth. That’s just hard to
accept.”

Ryan was quiet for a moment. “I do
understand. I would be angry if Janice did the same
thing.”

I felt my heart freeze. I slept with
Janice. I was doing the same thing by not telling him. I would have
to talk to Scarlet about this.

Ryan continued. “But if you cheated on
Scarlet, I’m not going to let that go. I will beat you until they
take you to the hospital—which will be pointless because you’ll be
dead.”

“
Well, it’s a good thing I
didn’t.”

“
If I find out that you
lied to me, it will be worse—much worse.”

“
Since you and Janice got
together, your tattoo girls haven’t come to you for casual sex?
That hasn’t been a problem for you?”

Ryan was quiet for a moment. “That has
nothing to do with this.”

I nodded. “So, it has. And what did
you do to stop it?”

He glared at me. “I made it clear that
I was in love with Janice.”

“
And did that stop them
from wanting you?”

“
No.”

“
So you understand my
situation perfectly.”

“
But they didn’t come to
my house. I made it clear I was committed to someone.”

“
As did I. It isn’t my
fault that she came here.”

Ryan sighed. “I want to believe
you.”

“
You know me, Ryan. I
wouldn’t cheat on anyone, especially Scarlet—my fiancé. Even if I
knew I wouldn’t get caught, I still wouldn’t do it. Scarlet has
been the best I’ve ever had.” I suddenly felt awkward talking about
her like that with her own brother. “I just—don’t need it anywhere
else.”

Ryan nodded. “I feel the same way
about Janice. She’s amazing in bed.”

“
So is
Scarlet.”

Ryan didn’t respond to my comment.
“I’m sorry that I came over here and started more drama. I know you
and Scarlet are already going through a tough time. I didn’t mean
to make it worse.”

“
Forget about it. In
truth, it makes me happy that Scarlet has someone to protect her
when I’m not around. I would have done the same thing if I had a
sister.”

“
Thanks for being cool
about it.”

“
Just don’t threaten to
put me in the hospital again.”

He laughed. “Don’t let any other girls
come to the apartment.”

“
That’s a fair
trade.”

He stared at me. “Are you and Scarlet
going to be okay?”

I sighed. “We’re working it
out.”

“
I really hope you still
marry her. I talked to her about her selfish, brat-like ways.
She’ll stop acting like that.”

I smiled. “Thanks. Sometimes she won’t
listen to me.”

“
And you think she listens
to me?” He laughed.

“
Well, a little more, at
least.”

“
What are you waiting for,
Sean?”

“
I’m not ready to hear
what happened between her and Cortland. I’m just not
ready.”

Ryan nodded. “I can understand that.
But if you are going to take her back anyway, why be apart? You may
as well work on this together.”

“
No. I need my space. I
can’t be around her and Cortland right now. I’ll just rip his head
off, and I’ll treat Scarlet without any respect. I need to get over
this before I come back to the relationship.”

Ryan sighed. “She had good intentions.
She didn’t want to ruin this family—that’s all.”

“
You aren’t mad at
Cortland?”

“
I was, but I forgave him
after a while. The truth is Scarlet and Cortland got a lot closer
because of it—as friends. I realize how odd that sounds, but they
were both going through a hard time when they slept together. They
were just helping each other.”

I nodded. The idea of them sleeping
together made me sick.

Ryan walked to the door. “I’ll see you
later.”

I moved behind him. “Okay.”

“
Do you want me to say
anything to Scarlet?”

I was quiet for a moment. “Tell her I
love her.”

“
Alright.” He walked down
the hall and disappeared.

24

Scarlet

“
Ryan’s here,” Janice
said.

I jumped from the couch and ran to the
door. I looked at his knuckles. They weren’t bloody. “What
happened?”

“
Nothing.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What
do you mean
nothing
?”

“
I didn’t beat the shit
out of him.”

“
And that’s it?” I asked
incredulously.

He looked at me. “I believe
him.”

“
I told you,” I said.
“Sean wouldn’t do that. Not to me or anyone.”

He nodded.

“
And what else
happened?”

“
That’s it.”

“
You were there for over
an hour.”

“
We talked about your
relationship.”

“
What did he
say?”

“
He needs space. The same
thing he’s been saying.”

I sighed. “Anything else?”

“
He loves you.”

I smiled. “Well, I’m glad everything
is okay.”

“
I apologized for storming
over there and threatening to kill him.”

Janice laughed. “That’s a first. Ryan
never apologizes.”

I nodded. “That surprises me
too.”

Ryan smiled. “I think you guys are
going to be fine, Scar. I understand why he wants to be
alone.”

“
What did he
say?”

He shrugged. “He’s just not ready to
deal with the idea of you sleeping with Cortland. It makes him—a
little crazy.”

“
I can understand
that.”

“
And he says he can’t be
around Cortland because he’ll just want to kill him the whole
time.”

Cortland sighed. “That’s good to
know.”

I looked at Cortland. “He won’t hurt
you.”

He shook his head. “I don’t know.
You’re his fiancé. I would be upset if Monnique slept with Ryan
before we got together.”

Ryan made a guilty face. “Uh, maybe
now isn’t a good time but—”

“
Shut the hell up,”
Cortland said with a laugh.

I rolled my eyes. “I know you slept
with everyone in Seattle, but you couldn’t score
Monnique.”

His eyes widened. “What? Hell yeah I
could. I’m amazing in bed. Tell them, babe.”

Janice laughed. “He knows his way
around.”

Cortland shook his head. “She wouldn’t
date a tattoo artist.”

My brother smiled. “I would love to
chisel some ink into that skin. I should offer her a free
session.”

Cortland raised an eyebrow. “You
better not.”

Ryan laughed. “We’ll see.”

“
I have an idea,” I
said.

“
What?” Ryan
asked.

I looked at Cortland. “Let’s go on a
double date.”

“
You, me, Monnique, and
Sean?” Cortland asked.

“
Yeah.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I really don’t
want to get my ass kicked in front of my girlfriend.”

Ryan laughed.

“
Cortland,” I said. “We
can prove that there’s nothing between us anymore.”

Ryan shook his head. “I think Sean
already knows that. As much as seeing you two together last week
hurt him, he understands there’s nothing between you. If there
were, you would have been with him instead.”

“
And if we do decide to
have this wonderful double date, let’s wait until things are back
to normal,” Cortland said. “I don’t think throwing us in an awkward
situation is going to help. If anything, it will probably just make
Sean mad. Give him space to deal with this.”

I sighed. “I guess you’re
right.”

Ryan laughed. “Cortland just wants to
avoid Sean as long as possible.”

Cortland sighed. “He’ll come after me
eventually. He knows where I live.”

“
Good thing you work out,”
Ryan said.