Cade rubs at the back of his neck, then tosses my phone onto the bed.
“I don’t understand why you’re so upset.”
“Because Aaron is my brother.”
I drop onto the bed behind me because it feels like the floor was ripped out from underneath me.
How is that even possible? They’re so different. There’s nothing about them that’s similar. No shared physical features, certainly no similar personality traits. Cade is raw and real, while Aaron is so polished and shiny he sometimes reminded me of a robot. Always saying and doing the right thing. Right until I found him balls deep in my maid of honor. I take some deep breaths to try to prevent myself from vomiting.
“He’s coming here,” Cade continues. “Evidently he tracked your phone. When you turned yours on earlier, he was able to ping yours. The sound is what woke me up.” He nods to the bed. “There are a string of texts, from both him and your mother.”
“What did you tell him?”
“I didn’t know what the fuck to tell him, Summer. He wants to know what his bride is doing with his older brother.”
“You didn’t tell them we slept together, did you?”
Cade’s brows shoot up. “Why? Because you don’t want them to know you’d be with a guy like me? Well, guess what Sugar, I’m not going to be another dirty little secret you hide.”
I shake my head. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Really? Well, how did you mean it?”
I open my mouth to respond, but I don’t know what to say.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. I told him the truth; that we met at the church parking lot and that you were here with me because there weren’t any other rooms.”
I look away from him because of the intensity of his gaze.
“We can tell him about last night together. I won’t make you do that alone. Be forewarned, he isn’t my biggest fan. But frankly I’m not his either.”
“Do you know it wasn’t until we were doing the invitation list that I even knew he had a brother.”
“We’re not close. And things got worse when my mom died. Fucker never told me she was sick. I could have gotten emergency leave. I could’ve come home and at least said goodbye. But he didn’t tell me anything until she’d died.” He scrubs a hand down his face. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this.”
He walks over to his suitcase and pulls out some sweatpants and a pair of boxers, and tosses them to me. “You’ll probably want to be wearing more clothes when he gets here. I’m going to take a shower.”
I stare at the floor as he closes himself up in the bathroom. How is it possible that my heart is more broken now than when I found my fiancé with another woman? I never loved Aaron.
I know it doesn’t make any sense, but I think I love Cade—or at least I could if given the time. But that’s not meant to be. I finally found the perfect man and I can’t have him.
Chapter 7
Cade
* * *
I tried not to think about the whole fucking mess while I was in the shower. In a perfect world I’d tell my idiot brother that he had his shot with Summer and he screwed it up and now I was going to be the man to take care of her. The man to give her everything she’d ever wanted. The man to put babies in her.
One look at my damn leg though and I quickly remembered this world was anything but perfect. Though Summer was pretty close.
And they’d been together for more than a year and he’d never slept with her. What a moron.
I dried off and quickly dressed then stepped out to find Summer still sitting in the same spot. She had her phone in her hand and was scrolling through all of the messages she’d missed.
Her phone buzzed, then mine did as well from the desk across the room where it was currently charging.
“They’re here,” she said.
“They?”
“My mother is with him.”
I nodded because fuck if I knew what to say. I knew what I wanted to say, but that wouldn’t help matters.
“Ready?” I ask.
“Not particularly, but I suppose that’s irrelevant.” She turns towards the door, then stops and faces me. “Thank you for coming to my rescue yesterday.” She opens her mouth as if she has more to say, but she just shakes her head and opens the door.
I watch her round hips swing in my sweats and all I can think about is the fact that I could look at that for the rest of my life. Her. She’s the one.
But she doesn’t belong to me. She belongs to my brother.
Fuck!
As soon as we hit the lobby, a perfectly poised older woman clucks her tongue and grabs Summer by the arm and pulls her off to the side. I continue until I’m in front of my brother.
“Cade,” he says with a nod.
“Aaron.” I rub the back of my neck.
“No, mother, I’m not going to marry him. We don’t love each other.” My ears are so attuned to Summer’s voice that I can’t help but listen to her talk to her mother.
Her mother eyes me from the sofa where they’re sitting a few feet away. She inspects me thoroughly, then nods. “Yes, I can see the appeal. But a war-torn hero, I can work with that. Aaron told me about his injury. Wounded warrior. It would be perfect for a campaign.”
I’m speechless as I listen to a woman I’ve never met plan a life for me. One I would never agree to.
“No, Mother! I’m not going to let you use Cade to try to create political sympathy. He deserves better.”
I force my attention away from the women then because it will kill me to hear Summer tell her mother that she doesn’t want me.
I look at my brother. He’s still the same Aaron. Slight of frame and perfectly polished.
“So listen, you should know that I slept with your bride.”
His brows raise.
“We didn’t know who each other were. But she caught you with her friend before the ceremony and then we got caught in the rain and one thing led to another.”
“Are you going to apologize?” Aaron asks.
“I wasn’t planning on it. As far as Summer was concerned—and I can’t speak for how she feels right now—y’all were done. She walked in on you with the maid of honor, man. At the church.” I shake my head. “That is fucked up, Aaron.”
I see Summer sitting on that cheap hotel couch and she looks like a shadow of the woman I’ve spent the last two days with. She nods solemnly at her mother, keeps her head down. Something twists inside me. This isn’t what she wants. She may not want me, but she doesn’t want him either. And, damn it, Summer deserves to have the life she wants, even if it’s not with me.
I look back at my brother and I’m seized with anger on her behalf.
“That woman over there is amazing. She’s passionate and smart, and you’ve just thrown her away. Treated her as dispensable. You need to get your shit together and beg for her forgiveness because that is not a woman you walk away from.”
My younger brother, so very different from myself. He’s shorter, leaner, with fair coloring. But he grins at me, then tosses his head back and laughs.