BEST FRIEND’S BROTHER

Humiliation coursed through her. He was right. She’d put up absolutely no fight whatsoever. What was she doing? This wasn’t the kind of thing she’d normally do. This was Kaleb, Tilly’s brother…. And he had a girlfriend. Yet she’d slept with him!

“Look, I have an apartment in Rome. Come along and stay with me for the weekend.”

His abrupt change of subject caught her unawares. “What?” Sasha automatically shook her head and quailed slightly under the harsh light in his eyes. “No, I can’t,”

“Why not?” he asked softly, softly enough to disarm her for a second.

Sasha looked up. Caught between two worlds, she found herself instinctively clinging on to something in Kaleb’s eyes.

“I will have my plane at your disposal,” he added.

“But that’s crazy.”

He shushed her. “At your disposal. It will be at the airport on Friday evening, ready to take you to Rome to meet me. I would like you to use it, Sasha. I would like you to stay with me. I won’t force you into anything you’re not comfortable with. Or ready for.”

She would have laughed, but the intensity in his face stopped her. He was holding out a card. She took it warily.

“I know you have my number already but my assistant’s numbers are here. If you’re going to come on Friday, just call her and give her your passport details and she’ll give you all the information and arrange for a pick-up to deliver you to the plane.”

To deliver her to him like a gift-wrapped parcel. Everything in Sasha rebelled at the thought of being so easy, so compliant. But another part of her was beating hard at the thought of how easy it would be to just…do this. Had she really envisaged living her entire life celibate? Doubts crowded her mind again. How could she even be seriously contemplating this? He already had someone in his life… And when did she become the woman men cheated with?

And now he really was leaving, opening the door, ducking his head to go out through the front door. She forced her stricken limbs to move, and followed him. When he turned around, she was on her step. Before she could move, he’d pulled her into him and pressed his mouth to hers, sliding his tongue between her lips, making her heart beat fast and her blood turn to treacle in seconds. She could already feel herself melting. And then he pulled away and set her back.

“See?” was all he said, was all he had to say. He backed away and then turned to walk away. As if by magic a sleek, dark car pulled up and then he was getting into the back and was gone. Sasha’s hands curled into fists at her sides, her emotions and hormones in chaotic turmoil. Every carefully erected piece of defense was crashing and burning. There was no way she would take him up on his offer. No way.

Right? She wasn’t sure.

———–

Friday night came, and Kaleb waited for the call to confirm that Sasha had been picked up…. That she had decided to come and be with him. He waited till he couldn’t hold back anymore, so he called his assistant.

“I’m sorry, Mr Luthor, but I didn’t get any call from Miss Sullivan” Grace, his assistant, told him.

Kaleb nodded and hung up. He got the message. She didn’t want him…. To hell with her, he told himself.

He didn’t need her anyway.

———-

Sasha could barely think straight or focus on anything during the weekend. It had taken a lot of control on her part not to call Kaleb’s assistant.

The truth was that she wanted to go with him. Running off to Rome with the man she’d always wanted since childhood sounded like a dream come true. It would have been romantic, she was damn sure of that l. Like a fairytale. She’d even packed up a suitcase for the weekend, but when it was finally time to make that call, she couldn’t. Because something about it just felt…. Wrong.

It wasn’t just the idea of keeping her affair with her brother from Tilly, it was also the fact that Kaleb was in a relationship with someone…. and yet she’d slept with him. Going on a trip with him just showed that she was a horrible person without a conscience. Sleeping with him was horrible enough and she couldn’t bring herself to do more.

She felt dirty. Like a hypocrite. She’d always been someone who condemned people who cheated on their partners and now here she was, doing the exact same thing. How ironic!

The weekend went by slowly, mostly because she was so anxious and counting every minute and when Monday finally came, she drove to classes with her mind occupied. She had to try very hard to listen to the professor, and when she met up with Tilly after school, she couldn’t barely listen to anything Tilly was saying.Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Tilly was going on and on about some drama that happened during her lecture and when Sasha said ‘hmmm’ for the 100th time, Tilly had to ask her what the hell was going on with her.

“Nothing!” Sasha lied, “I’m not absent minded. I was just wondering about some customer orders.”

“Do you need me to come over and give you a helping hand?” Tilly asked.

Sasha shook her head. She really couldn’t be alone for long with Tilly at the moment because she was so used to telling Tilly everything, that she was scared that she would tell her about Kaleb by mistake. Or worse… Tilly would figure it out on her own.

“There’s no need for that,” she told Tilly, “I’m sure that I can manage.” There was a pause, then before she could help it she blurted out, “How’s Kaleb? Is he back from Rome?”

When Tilly lifted an eyebrow questioningly, she hurriedly added, “He mentioned that he’d be traveling at his house party, so it just crossed my mind. That’s why I asked,”

Tilly gave her a weird look and said, “No, he’s not back yet. Which is good because I can’t deal with him most times. He’s been back for only weeks and sometimes I can’t stand him.”