Her eyes lifted to mine; she was intrigued. “What was bad?”
I moved about in my seat, not sure how to go about this.
“Did you know Lily was pregnant?”
Charlie sat back in her seat. “Yes. She told me the night of the benefit when we saw each other.”
My eyes widened in surprise. “You knew and didn’t say anything to me?”
“It wasn’t my place to say anything. As far as I knew, Lily told you and you hadn’t said anything to me.”
“She told you that night?”
Nodding, she replied, “Yes. She was pretty upset that she hurt Nash. She told me she still loved him, but that Nash …”
Her voice trailed off and she started chewing on her lip.
“But Nash what?”
“Um, I’m not really sure you want to hear this. You being her brother and all.”
Leaning forward I gave her a hard look. “Tell me, Charleston.”
Moving in her seat like she was uncomfortable, she swallowed hard and answered me.
“She said Mark fulfilled her in ways Nash couldn’t.”
Anger raced through my body. “So, it is about the money. My own sister is hung up on fucking money?”
“What?” she asked.
I stood and started to pace. “Nash told me today that if Lily had asked him to forgive her, even with the baby, he would have. He said she didn’t, and he thought it was because he didn’t have the type of money Mark did. I told him he was crazy, that Lily wasn’t like that. I can’t believe this.” Looking at Charlie I asked, “Is that why she never told anyone about them dating? Because she was embarrassed Nash wasn’t rich?”
NOTE TO SELF: Make plans to kill Lily for putting me in this spot.
How could she have not told Tucker all of this?
Standing, I held up my hands to get Tucker to calm down.
“Hold on, that’s not it. Take a deep breath and sit back down.”
“What? My sister is consumed by money!”
I rolled my eyes and walked around the desk, grabbing him by the upper arms. “No, she is not. She’s consumed by sex. Mark is into kinky sex and tying women up, and Lily likes that. I guess Nash is more of a vanilla kind of lover.”
Tucker’s face scrunched up. “Gross. I didn’t need that mental image, Charlie.”
With a grin, I winked. “Sorry, but you left me with no choice.”
He shook his head and asked, “So you’re saying my sister is only with Mark because he likes to get his freak on and so does she?”
“No, I’m saying he’s different, and I truly think Lily has feelings for him. Do I think she loves him? No. In a way, Lily did this to herself. She never allowed herself and Nash to have a chance. She kept their relationship hidden, and I think that put a strain on her. Sneaking around instead of showing affection. Truly being together and not just sneaking off and being dishonest. She doomed their chances before they even really had one.”
“Damn, why in the hell did she hide her relationship with Nash?”
“I can think of two reasons. You being the main one, and probably what happened between us back in college.”
He scrubbed his hands over his face. “So you’re saying she was afraid if they broke up, it would be weird for the rest of us in the group?”