“I feel so stupid. I shouldn’t have given him another chance.”
“You had your debt wiped out because of it. Not to mention this place.” He looked around the room.
“I would rather have an unbroken heart.” I extended my hand to take the bottle back.
He leaned forward and handed it to me. “Not all hope is lost. Maybe he’ll change his mind.”
“The only reason he changed his mind last time was because he saw me with another guy. A handsome, wealthy guy. It pissed him off so much that he showed up at my work.”
“And you don’t mean anything to him…” He shook his head and chuckled. “No one’s buying it, Slate.”
“I am…” He wouldn’t treat me like this if he really cared about me. I felt like a prostitute he picked up whenever he felt like it. I shouldn’t have allowed him to do this to me. I should have been firmer about what I wanted. “So, you came here to check on me?”
“Yeah.”
“Did he ask you to?”
“No. He doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Did you move out?”
“No. Simone gave up my penthouse, but I thought I would stay a little longer. He’s been drinking a lot, and I’m worried about him. Not to mention, I’m depressed too. The idea of being alone in the penthouse I used to share with her…doesn’t sound appealing. At least not right now.”
“I know what you mean.”
“I wonder if he would be jealous if he knew I were here…that asshole.”
Slate was definitely the jealous type. “Probably.”
Coen took the bottle back and took a few drinks. He fell quiet as he became lost in his thoughts.
I did the same thing, thinking about the crummy air mattress I would have to sleep on tonight. The worst part of it was—it wasn’t Slate. I preferred sleeping on his hard chest over that air-inflated mattress. It was cold, uncomfortable, and lonely.
“You know…I have an idea. It’s a bad idea. Terrible, actually. But…I can almost guarantee it will work.”
“A terrible idea that will work?” I asked. “That sounds interesting.”
“Nothing would make Slate angrier than seeing the two of us together. And not just because of what happened with Simone.”
I couldn’t believe what he was suggesting. “You’re just starting to get along with your brother again. You really want to piss him off?”
“Yes, actually. I do want to piss him off. Because pissing him off will make him take action. If he thinks there’s a chance something is going on between us, it’ll drive him so crazy that he won’t be able to see straight. He’ll come running back.”
“He came running back last time he was jealous, but it didn’t get me anywhere.”
“This time, it’ll be different. This time, you’ll tell him you want it all or nothing at all.”
“I don’t know…”
“I’m telling you, it’ll work so well.”
“You’re really willing to risk your relationship with him?” I was prepared to do anything to get Slate to think logically, but not to ruin his newly restored relationship with his brother.
“When I tell him the truth later, he’ll understand.”
“It’s still risky. You’re just going to hope he catches us together? That’ll infuriate him, especially after what happened with Simone. It’ll just be tactless.”
“No. This time, I’ll talk to him about it. He always said he never cared that I wanted to be with Simone. If I’d just asked, he would have bowed out. He said it pissed him off that I snuck around behind his back. So if I I’m upfront about it, he can’t get upset.”
“But he will get upset.”
“Good. Maybe that’ll be enough to get him fired up.”
“At you—not me.”
“Not when I tell him we have a connection. We’ve been spending time together, and there’s chemistry. He’ll be extremely threatened. And if he gets angry, I’ll tell him he should be with you. If it really bothers him that much, then it doesn’t make sense for you not to be together.”
It made perfect sense, but it could also blow up in our faces. “I really have no idea what his reaction will be. He’ll definitely be pissed, but I don’t know if that will get him to do anything.”
“Since it’s me, I think it will. I really do.” He handed the bottle back to me. “So, you want to give it a try?”
I kept my mouth shut, unsure if I could go through with it.
“All I know is, that asshole is gonna sit around and drink and do nothing. Unless we do something, nothing will get done. Maybe he’ll realize what he wants eventually, but by then, it might be too late. So, it’s your call.”
I wanted to at least try to make this work. If it didn’t go anywhere and just pissed Slate off, we could tell him it was all a ploy to get us back together. Then I could move on…knowing we would never get back together. “Yeah…let’s do it.”