“She’s a nurse on one of the floors I work on,” Neil said.
Garrett fought every instinct within him and went into attorney mode. No emotion. No reaction. Just let him spill his guts.
“She was bringing me some lab results.”
Garrett remained still.
“How long were you outside the door?”
“Long enough.”
“I know it looks bad, but we were discussing a patient.” When Garrett didn’t respond, he asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Catching you cheating on Blair.” He was surprised he sounded so calm. So rational.
Neil tried to look indignant, but did a very poor job of it. “How could you think that?”
“Don’t insult me, Neil.” His words carried the first note of disgust he’d betrayed.
“I don’t know what—”
“Cut the shit.” He looked over his shoulder at the hospital personnel hurrying down the hall, then back at his cousin. “Would you like to have this conversation out here, or in your office with the door closed? What would happen to your sterling reputation if word got out that you plan to get married on Saturday and keep your girlfriend?”
Two nurses lifted their eyebrows and glanced at them as they passed.
Neil swallowed, his face turning pale. “Let’s go inside and close the door.” But fear filled his eyes as he ducked into his office. Neil was scared of him . . . or maybe scared of what the others would think of him if they knew the truth.
Good. He should be.
Garrett walked in and shut the door. Neil backed up, moving behind his desk without ever turning away from his cousin. “What difference does it make to you what I do?”
“I couldn’t give a flying fuck what you do, but this affects Blair.”
“Blair? Why would you care about Blair? You have no reason to care about her.” Neil bumped into the bookshelf behind him and jumped with fright.
Garrett clenched and unclenched his fists at his sides. “Wrong. Blair and I dated in law school.” God, what had he done? He was so caught up in the horror of the moment that he’d played his one ace in the hole.
Neil’s mouth tipped into a satisfied grin. “You’re the asshole that dumped her and then slept with half of law school.”
Garrett didn’t answer.
Neil’s shoulders relaxed. “What are you so pissed about? You did the exact same thing.”
“Not even close, you dickhead,” Garrett seethed, moving closer. “I never cheated on her.”
“You think breaking up with her to become the law school slut was any better? Between you and her father, she’s messed up in the head. But she’s such a cold fish in the bedroom, I can’t say I blame you. Why do you think I’m sleeping with Layla?”
Cold fish? God, he really knew nothing about her at all. But his anger quickly turned to guilt and horror. He knew how much her father’s philandering had affected her ability to trust men, but could he really have played a part in her unhappiness?
Encouraged by Garrett’s silence, Neil continued, “I’ve convinced Blair that I need to keep my condo so I can be close to the hospital when I’m on call.”
“So you can screw your girlfriend.”
“Hell, Blair’s at the office so long most nights, she’ll barely notice that I’m not around.”
“Why in God’s name are you marrying her?” he asked in dismay.
Neil looked at him like he was insane. “The prestige. The stability. The money.”
“The money? You’re a doctor!”
Neil shook his head. “I’m an infectious disease physician. I’m employed by the hospital. By the time I’ve paid my bills and my student loans each month, I barely have anything left. But Blair’s a hotshot lawyer on the rise. Do you have any idea how much money she’ll make off those cases once she makes partner?” He grinned and sat on the edge of the desk, then waved his hand at Garrett. “You know. You do what she does.”
Garrett stared at him in shock.
“Look, I’m not cut out to be faithful. If I’m with a woman for more than six months, I get bored. Hell—” he waved a hand toward Garrett, “—you know what I’m talking about. You move from woman to woman. Maybe it’s a genetic trait.” Mistaking Garrett’s silence for approval, he continued. “Blair won’t have a shot at partnership if she’s not married, and I’ll be taken more seriously here if I’m married. I’m doing her a favor. She demands little of my time, and I let her work her crazy hours without complaint. She doesn’t really want kids, and neither do I. We’ll live our mostly separate lives, and everyone will be happy.”
“Except for the part where you’re cheating on her.”
Neil rolled his eyes in exasperation. “She’s too busy to notice, Garrett. And she doesn’t want to know. It’s not like I’m depriving her of anything. She doesn’t have much of a sex drive.”
Garrett sucked in several breaths, fighting the rising urge to beat the shit out of his cousin. He was using Blair, and he wasn’t even trying to hide it from him, him of all people. He’d heard enough. “Let me tell you what’s going to happen.”
Neil’s eyes widened in surprise, then turned to amusement. “Okay.”
“You’re going to go to Blair tonight and tell her that you have changed your mind. That you aren’t worthy of her or you don’t love her. Or both. I don’t care. But you will not tell her that you are cheating on her, or it will kill her.”
Neil eyed him with disbelief. “Did you just listen to what I said? Why would I do that?”
“Because it’s the decent thing to do.”
“Why do you even care?” He gasped. “Oh! This is about the ring. You want me to break my engagement so you can get the ring.”
“I don’t give ten shits about that damn ring!” Garrett shouted. “Keep the stupid thing!”
A smile of understanding spread across Neil’s face, and maliciousness filled his eyes. “Oh, my God. You still love her.”
Garrett swallowed his rising nausea. He’d just screwed up big time. Now Neil would use this against him. “Don’t do this to her.”
“You do.”
“At least one of us does.”
Neil started laughing, and Garrett’s anger grew. “I’m not going to break up with her. This is exactly what she wants. What she needs.”
Garrett shook his head. “She needs someone to love her.”
“And that person is you?” Neil laughed again. “You showed her how much you cared about her in law school, when you broke up with her and slept around. Besides, she’s already told me that she doesn’t love me. Not in the matrimonial sense. We care about each other in our own way. This is the perfect solution for both of us.”
“You’re crazy if you believe that.”
Neil crossed his arms. “I really don’t care what you think. I’m not breaking up with Blair days before her wedding. That would kill her just as much as finding out I’m sleeping with Layla. And if you don’t know that, then you don’t know her very well after all.” Neil hunched over his computer and tapped a few keys, then straightened up. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to visit a couple patients before I leave for the day. As you know, I have plans.” Then he winked.