Sweet Sins (7 page)

“Your brother was the cause of that one, not Zander.” She rose from the chair then moved to the kitchen. “Dinner is almost ready.”

“Okay.” I was relieved Cassandra wasn’t upset with me. Having my brother come here and treat her like a dog was grounds for anyone to be upset. I admit my brother was a little crazy, but even this was extreme for him.

I walked upstairs then shut the door to my bedroom. I pulled out my phone and called my brother.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“She didn’t leave me.”

“Okay. I’m glad.”

Silence.

“Mike, I know you’re pissed at me, but my actions came from a good place. I had to make sure you weren’t being screwed over. You may be my older brother but I’ll protect you. I love you…”

This was hard for me to say. “I don’t think it’s best if you be my best man on Saturday.” I said it with no emotion, just forcing
the words out.

Sean was quiet for a full minute. “What…?”

“Cassandra is pretty upset with your actions. She doesn’t feel like a member of this family, at least with the way you treated her. And, I just think it’s best if you weren’t in the wedding party at all. I’m really disappointed in you.”

“I…I was just trying to look out for you.”

“Even so, what you did was wrong.”

Sean had nothing to say.

“It doesn’t feel right anymore. I know you’re my brother, but I’m going to ask someone else.”

“Look, I’m sorry, okay? I’ll drive over there and apologize to Cassandra right now.”

“No. We’ve had enough drama for one day.”

“Mike, I’m your brother. Come on.”

This was harder than I thought it would be. “I’m sorry.”

“But…you can’t just cut me out like that.”

“I want Cassandra to be comfortable on her wedding day, not feel worthless because you don’t approve of her.”

“I do approve of her. I love Cassandra.”

“It doesn’t seem like it.”

“I just had to make sure, okay?”

“If I wasn’t concerned about it, then you shouldn’t have been. If you and Scarlet were having problems, I would never corner her and force her to do something against her will.”

“I didn’t force her,” he snapped. “I persuaded her.”

“You said if she didn’t do it, it was an omission of guilt.”

“Well, why did it have to be a big deal? If she had nothing to hide then why refuse?”

“Because she doesn’t have to prove anything to me.” I raised my voice, feeling my blood pressure go along with it. “I’m sorry this happened. I don’t want to kick you out of the party but I don’t have a choice. I can’t stand next to you on my wedding day knowing how you treated my fiancé.”

Sean was quiet on his end of the line. “I was doing it for you, man.”

“I know…but I didn’t want that.”

Sean fell silent.

“I gotta go.”

“Yeah.” His voice was so quiet I could barely hear him.

I hung up without saying goodbye.

7

Sean

God, I felt like shit.

My brother didn’t want me to be his best man anymore. I knew he’d be upset with me, but we always worked out our differences. We fought and argued but got through it. I never expected him to kick me out of his wedding party. I was his brother but he didn’t want me to stand beside him on the greatest day of his life.

And that hurt.

I didn’t care about weddings or what I would be doing in them. It didn’t make a difference to me. But not being my brother’s best man was painful.
The fact I permanently ruined our relationship hurt most of all. I was so upset I couldn’t even talk to my wife. I marched out of the house and headed to the beach without looking back. She said something to be, but I ignored her. I couldn’t think right now. I was at my lowest point, drowning.

I sat on the beach and stared at the sand below my feet. The waves moved to the shore in the distance but I couldn’t see them. Only the sound indicated it was there. A few stars sprinkled the sky, but the lights of the city still clouded most of them.

“Sean?”

I didn’t look at Scarlet. I just wanted to be alone. “Go back inside.”

She sat beside me. “What’s wrong?”

“I just want to be alone.” I said it more aggressively than I meant to.

“You tell me everything…”

I rested my arms on my knees and didn’t look at her. “I fucked up big time.”

She pulled her knees to her chest and listened to me.

“Zander came to the office and insisted on a paternity test. Mike refused to believe that Cassandra lied to him and slept with her ex when they were broken up, so he refused the request. But I couldn’t just let it go. What if she was lying? What if the baby didn’t even belong to Mike?”

“Then what happened?”

“I went to Cassandra
and told her to get a test.”

Her eyes widened. “Without telling Mike?”

I nodded. “I told her I didn’t trust her. If she didn’t get the test it would always make me doubt her. If she didn’t do it, she was hiding something. She refused me a few times before I finally convinced her to do it. She said she would never forgive me for forcing her to take the test. But I did it i anyway because I wasn’t going to let my brother get screwed over.”

“And did you?”

I nodded. “The test said Mike was the father.”

Scarlet breathed a sigh of relief.

“But that doesn’t mean she didn’t sleep with Zander, which I’m still not entirely convinced of.”

“Did you tell Mike?”

“Yeah. He was pissed. After he got home and talked to Cassandra, he called me and told me I wasn’t in the wedding anymore.”

She gasped. “He kicked you out?”

“He said he doesn’t want me to stand up there with Cassandra, not after what I did to her. He’s pissed at me for getting involved in his relationship. But I just had to make sure. I couldn’t stand by and watch my brother get used.” I shook my head and kept my eyes glued to the sand. “Now everything is all fucked up.”

Scarlet rested her chin on her hand and stared at the ocean.

“Do you think he’s overreacting?”

She released a deep breath from her lungs. “What if the situations were reversed? What if Mike had done that to me?”

“I would have been pissed.”

She nodded. “And?”

“But I would have understood why he did it, to protect me. My actions came from a good place.”

She rubbed my back. “I know you were just trying to protect him, but you meddled in their relationship. That crossed a line
, Sean.”

I yanked away from her touch, not wanting to feel her hand. “
What do you know?” I knew I was lashing out at her but I couldn’t help it. “You’re the one that watches every little move Ryan makes. You didn’t tell him I fucked his fiancé.”

Her eyes burned in irritation but she didn’t react. She simmered quietly, letting it go.

“I was just trying to help. I realize it was a little extreme, but I had to know, okay? What if Janice married Ryan and you weren’t entirely sure if she was carrying his baby or some douchebag’s?”

Scarlet stared at the ocean.

“Answer me,” I snapped.

“Are you asking me what I would have done?”

“Obviously. Are you deaf?” I hadn’t been an ass like this to Scarlet in a long time. I needed to stop.

“If it were me, I would have talked to Mike first.”

“I did,” I snapped.

“I’m not done,” she hissed. “Then I would have went to Cassandra and nicely asked her to take
the test. If she said no, I wouldn’t have pressed it, and I certainly wouldn’t have threatened or pressured her to do it. The key to getting people to do what you want is to give them a reason to. Harassing her would get you nowhere, especially with Cassandra’s attitude.”

“Looks like you know everything,” I said darkly.

Scarlet kept her distance from me, a foot of sand between us.

I ran my fingers through my hair in irritation. “I don’t know what to do…”

She kept her silence.

“Baby, help me.”

“What?” she asked. “What can I do?”

“Just tell me how to fix this. I don’t want to lose my brother. I don’t want Cassandra to resent me. Honestly, I was just trying to do what’s best for my brother. I may have gotten carried away and I’m sorry for that.” My palms moved to my face and I sighed, feeling the stress move into my bones.

“I’ll talk to him,” she said quietly.

“When?”

“Well, it’s late now.”

I sighed. “Please.”

“Okay. I’ll go now.”

“Thank you.”

She stood up then brushed the sand from her jeans.

“I’ll drive you.”

“I’m okay, Sean.”

“I’m coming.” My
voice was clipped. She knew not to argue with me.

We got into the car then drove the mile down to their house. When we pulled into the driveway, we saw all the lights on. It wasn’t late, but at least they were still awake.

We walked to the front door, my hands in my pockets.

“Let me do all the talking, okay?” Scarlet said quietly.

I nodded.

She knocked and we both waited.

Mike opened the door a minute later, a pissed look on his face. “I told you to leave us alone for the night.”

I kept my mouth shut.

Scarlet cleared her throat. “Can I talk to you?”

Mike looked at her then glared at me. “Using your wife? So typical.”

Scarlet placed her hand on his arm, comforting him. “Please just let me talk.”

Mike couldn’t refuse Scarlet because he loved her like a sister. I suspected he loved her more than me, especially now.  “Fine.” He stepped aside and let us enter.

Cassandra was sitting on the couch, a blanket on her lap. She looked at us then stood up, her face unreadable. She wore one of Mike’s sweaters, and it trailed down to her thighs. She came to Mike’s side and stood close to him, like I’d lash out and hurt her or something.

That stung.

“Hey.” Scarlet was my voice. “I’m sorry for dropping by so late. But it’s important.”

Cassandra didn’t say anything. She didn’t even look at me, just like she said she would
n’t.

Scarlet cleared her throat. “I realize this is awkward because of my relationship to Sean, but I just want to be the moderator in this. I see both sides of the story clearly. I just want to help.”

Mike gave me a long glare before he looked back at Scarlet.

“Sean
may have crossed the line with his behavior,” Scarlet said.

“May have?” Cassandra’s voice was venomous.

“He did,” Scarlet corrected. “He did. But please try to put yourself in his shoes. If you were really scared your brother was going to marry someone who was carrying another man’s baby, wouldn’t you feel determined to do something about it?”

Cassandra shook her head, the fire in her eyes. “It would be different if Sean just asked me to do it. That isn’t what happened. He forced me. He may not have touched me, but he forced me to do it. And it would be totally different if Mike wanted the test. If he asked, I’d do it in a heartbeat. It would
n’t have offended me or hurt my feelings. So the fact Sean hijacked the entire thing made it pretty clear that he doesn’t care about me, he doesn’t trust me, and he certainly doesn’t think I’m good enough to marry his brother. And if that’s the case, why would he even want to be in our wedding?”

Mike stroked her arm, trying to keep her calm.

“It’s not like that,” I said weakly.

Cassandra looked like she might slap me. “You even said to my face that you didn’t trust me.”

“I was just frustrated that you weren’t cooperating,” I said immediately. “I was letting my anger get to me. I’m sorry. I mean it.”

“I hope you feel like shit,” she spat. “I told you Mike was the father.”

“That still doesn’t mean you didn’t sleep with Zander.”
Fuck. Why did I say that?”

Scarlet sighed, cringing.

“Fuck you.” Her eyes burned with a raging fire. “You’re one to talk, asshole. You treated Scarlet like shit for the entire beginning of your relationship, and yet, I’m the one being questioned? Why would I lie? Mike would still be with me even if I had slept with Zander. It makes no sense to hide it from him.”

“Because he hates Zander,” I said simply.

“You should just let your lawyer talk for you,” she hissed. “Because you clearly don’t know what to say.”

Mike kept his hand on her arm, holding her in place.

“Cassandra, I’m sorry.” I said it with as much conviction as possible. “My brother has never been happier in his life, and that alone is enough to make me love you. He’s a completely different person, finally finding his place in life. I’m so thankful you’re a part of our family and whipped my brother into becoming a man. Of course I care about you. This just got out of hand.”