Edge of Love (27 page)

“
An appointment?” she
asked.

I kissed her on the forehead. “I’ll
explain later.”

She sighed. “Okay.”

“
I’ll see you soon.” I
left her bedroom then walked down the hall. Ryan and Janice were
sitting at the table when I walked by.

Ryan raised an eyebrow.
“Morning?”

“
Hey,” I said. I opened
the door and walked out. Obviously, Ryan hadn’t heard us last
night, thankfully. I left the building and hailed down a cab.
Within a few minutes, I arrived at my destination.

I walked into the building then
approached the apartment. As soon as I saw Cortland’s face when he
opened the door, I knew he already anticipated the occasion of my
visit. He sighed then squared his shoulders, preparing for the
punches that were going to be directed at him. There was nothing
that I wanted more than to beat the shit out of this fucker, but I
held it back.

“
Got a minute?” I
asked.

Cortland nodded. “Hold on.”

He closed the door and disappeared for
a few minutes. When he came outside, he was wearing his jacket.
“Monnique is home.”

I nodded. “So, she doesn’t know about
you and Scarlet either, does she?”

Cortland walked away from the door so
our voices wouldn’t be overheard. “No.”

“
And she’s living with
you? Don’t you think she should know that?”

He shook his head. “My past has
nothing to do with her. Sleeping with Scarlet has no effect on my
relationship with her. The only reason why I haven’t told her is
because I don’t want it to be awkward with Scarlet. She’s like a
sister to me.”

“
A Greek
sister.”

Cortland sighed. “Just get it over
with.”

“
What?”

“
You’re going to beat the
shit out of me, right?”

“
I might. I haven’t
decided yet.”

Cortland stared at me. “Then what do
you want?”

“
I want to know what
happened between you two.”

“
Why don’t you ask
Scarlet?”

“
I want to hear it from
you.”

He sighed. “When she came to Seattle,
she was depressed and lonely. She and I started spending time
together. I wanted to help her get back on her feet, because as
soon as I met her, I knew I loved her.”

I felt the jealousy course through my
veins. The idea of him loving my Scarlet, fucking my Scarlet, made
me shake.

Cortland caught the look. “I don’t
mean romantically. I mean in a friendship way. She and I just
clicked immediately. She reminds me of Ryan.” He ran his hand
through his hair. “Anyway, she and I talked about you a lot. She
told me she loved you and couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.
We started drinking one night and she came onto me. I tried to
fight it but I couldn’t. We ended up sleeping together. I felt
horrible for two reasons. One, Scarlet is my best friend’s sister.
I knew he would be pissed. And two, I had a girlfriend.”

I shook my head. “That’s fucked
up.”

Cortland ignored the insult. “She and
I agreed that it couldn’t happen again. I needed to break up with
my girlfriend and find someone to fall in love with. And she needed
to get over you without sleeping around.”

“
So, you never had sex
again?”

Cortland sighed. “We had sex again at
my place. That was the last time. Somehow we became closer because
of those experiences and now she is one of my closest friends.
There are things I tell her that I would never tell Ryan. I know
that’s hard for you to believe, but it really was meaningless. We
were both just trying to make ourselves feel better. In the end, it
worked, albeit for different reasons.”

I nodded. “So, you’ve never been in
love with her?”

“
No, but I love her very
much.” He put his hands in his pocket and looked at the ground.
“And I know how much she loves you. Please don’t leave her, Sean.
Give her another chance. The only reason why she didn’t tell you is
because she loves the way our family is. Since she doesn’t have one
of her own, she was afraid to destroy this one.” He sighed, “She
didn’t want this to happen.”

“
We’ll see.”

Cortland stared at me. “So, now are
you going to beat the shit out of me?”

“
I don’t know
yet.”

He sighed. “Well, let me know when you
do.”

“
Did you wear a
condom?”

Cortland was quiet.

“
Answer me.”

“
No.”

“
Did you fuck her or make
love to her?”

Cortland looked uncomfortable with
every question. “I fucked her.”

“
Did you take advantage of
her when she was drunk?”

Cortland looked uncomfortable. “I
don’t know how to answer that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “It’s a simple
question.”

“
No.”

“
Why was that
hard?”

“
She was the one throwing
herself at me. You know how beautiful she is. I tried to resist but
I couldn’t.”

“
And why was that
difficult?”

“
I know the idea of her
wanting someone else is difficult to hear. I know you love
her.”

I didn’t say anything.

“
So, are you going to do
it now?”

I ignored his question. “What did Ryan
do?”

“
Scarlet and I both told
him together. He was angry at me for a long time, but after he saw
Scarlet and I together, he dropped his resentment. It was clear to
him that Scarlet wasn’t hurt by our interaction. If anything, it
made her stronger.”

I nodded.

“
You’re going to work it
out, right? Please don’t leave her because of me. There’s nothing
between us. I love Monnique and Scarlet loves you.”

“
That isn’t the point,
Cortland.”

“
Then what is?”

“
She lied to
me.”

“
No, she
didn’t.”

I glared at him. “She purposely kept
that from me. How can I ever trust her again?”

“
She only did it to
protect everyone. She wasn’t being malicious. She has nothing to
hide. You two weren’t even speaking when she and I got together.
You can trust her, Sean. That was the only thing she hid from you.
Please give her another chance.”

“
Why do you
care?”

“
Because I love Scarlet
and I want her to be happy. If you walk away from her, it will kill
her. It will take her years to recover, if she ever does. Please
give her another chance. I’ll let you beat the shit out of me if
that’s what it takes. Blow off your anger on me.”

I smiled. “That’s very
tempting.”

“
Then do it.”

I shook my head. “No.”

“
Then what are you going
to do?”

“
I don’t know.”

Cortland sighed. “Is there anything I
can do to help?”

“
Yes.”

Cortland stared at me, waiting for me
to speak.

“
I don’t want Scarlet to
know about this conversation. You got it?”

He nodded.

“
If I find out you told
her about this meeting, I’ll make her cut you out of her life so
she can be with me.”

“
That would never happen.
She wouldn’t make Ryan drop his best friend, so she would have to
stop talking to him as well. You know she would pick her brother in
a heartbeat.”

“
Are you willing to gamble
it?”

Cortland shook his head. “I won’t say
anything. You have my word.”

“
I was never
here.”

“
What’s the need for
secrecy?”

“
Just do it.” I turned
around and walked away, leaving Cortland standing in the hallway. I
took a cab back to my apartment then watched the game on the
television. It was painfully lonely, but I couldn’t call Scarlet or
go see her. I didn’t want to talk to her just yet.

I loved that girl more than I could
ever put into words. I wanted to marry her and spend the rest of my
life with her, but her recent betrayal pained me. The past few
weeks have been out of control. It seemed like all we did was fight
all the time. A part of me wanted to throw in the towel and take
the easy way out, but I couldn’t do that. I loved this girl too
much. I couldn’t live without her.

I just didn’t know if I could trust
her again. When I tested her, I hoped she passed. If she failed
again, I didn’t know what I was going to do. After being with
Penelope, I couldn’t be with someone I didn’t trust implicitly. I
wanted to trust Scarlet and move past this. The idea of Cortland
fucking her broke my heart. I hated picturing it. I hated that he
made her come. I didn’t want her to be with anyone else but me. I
knew that was irrational and unreasonable, but I couldn’t stand it.
Now every time I saw Cortland, that’s what I would think of. Him
coming inside her. Scarlet was mine. I didn’t want to share her. It
bothered me that someone else that I thought was a brother to me
had been where I had been. It was childish, but what can I say?
When it came to Scarlet, I was immature.

26

I waited for Scarlet to arrive at
Mega-Shake. I didn’t want to talk somewhere in private because I
knew where it would lead. She and I would just end up sleeping
together. I needed to talk to her first.

When she walked through the door, I
didn’t stand up to greet her. She walked to my table then leaned
over to kiss me. I turned my face and gave her my cheek instead. It
broke my heart to see the pain on her face, but I couldn’t return
her affection when I was this upset. I would be lying to
her.

She sat across from me and tucked a
strand of hair behind her ear. She still wore her engagement ring.
I had never seen her take it off her finger since I gave it to her.
Even when she showered she never removed it. The knowledge made me
happy. I wanted the whole world to know that Scarlet was
mine—especially Cortland.

“
I miss you,” she
whispered.

I didn’t respond to her comment. I
didn’t need to. Of course, I missed her.

She lowered her gaze. “What did you
want to talk about?”

I leaned back in my chair.
“Cortland.”

“
There’s nothing to
say.”

“
I have a few
questions.”

She nodded. “I’m surprised you haven’t
tried to beat him up. You haven’t even talked to him.”

I’m glad that Cortland did as I asked.
“Well, I haven’t had the chance.”

She sighed. “Please don’t hurt him,
babe.”

“
Please don’t call me babe
right now.”

She closed her eyes in
pain.

I hated this as much as she did. “How
was the sex with him?”

She avoided my gaze.
“Sean—”

“
Answer me.”

“
It was fine.”

“
Did you come?”

She swallowed the lump in her throat.
“Yes.”

I tried to hide the anger on my face,
but it was useless. “Did you use protection? You did,
right?”

She was quiet for a moment. I waited
for her to answer me. Was she going to lie to me? “No,” she
whispered.

“
You let him fuck you
without a condom?”

She closed her eyes and
nodded.

I was thankful that I heard this from
Cortland beforehand. Hearing it from Scarlet the first time would
just crush me. “I thought you only did that with me.”

She shook her head. “We just—didn’t
have anything.”

“
Have you been
tested?”

She nodded. “I’m clean.”

“
I want your
papers.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. “Okay.”

I closed my eyes. I hated hurting her
like this. I felt like such an asshole. “So you just slept with him
once, right? I don’t think I could forgive you if you slept with
him twice.” I stared at her and waited for her to answer my
question. If she was going to lie to me again, this would be the
moment.

She didn’t say anything for a long
time, clearly having an internal battle. “No,” she whispered. She
wiped her tear away. “I slept with him twice.”

I sighed. That was music to my ears.
She didn’t lie to me. “Do you love him or did you ever?”

“
I’ve only loved Cortland
as a friend.”

I nodded. “Scarlet, if you want to be
with me I have one condition.”

She stared at me.

“
I don’t want you to see
Cortland anymore.” I waited to see how she would respond. I was
just curious if she would pick her brother and friend over me. I
suspected she would. It wouldn’t change anything, but I just wanted
to know.

“
But then I would be
taking my brother’s best friend away from him.” She sniffed. “I
would have to stop seeing Ryan, too.”