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James shrugged and blew out another breath and stood up. “Have it your way, Sawyer. You’d have to talk to Charlotte to know why she did what she did. I’ve said what I came here to say, the rest is your decision. I’d do anything to help move us forward. I know the trust isn’t there, but it never has been.” I mulled over the facts and he was right. I had Billie and this had to end now.
“Okay, this ends today. If what you say is true and you want to begin to earn my trust again, I want you to set Charlotte up, but until she confirms what you’ve said, I can’t call you my brother.”
“Anytime. How do you want to do this?”
“Your place. You can ask her over.”
“Done.” When I stood staring at him, his jaw dropped and he shook his head, startled. “You mean now?”
“Unless you have something better to do. Don’t you think enough time has been wasted, or do you need to think about what you’re alleging some more?”
“No … no, okay, I’m not sure she’ll come, but I’ll try.”
Glancing at me with uncertainty in his eyes, he pulled out his cell phone and called her number.
“Hey, it’s me,” he said, quietly.
I heard Charlotte’s shrill tone ask, “What do you want?” She wasn’t on speakerphone but spoke loud enough for me to hear.
“Listen, can we meet up?”
“You think, after the way your mom humiliated me, and your family let that happen? Where were you, anyway?”
“Honestly, I had no idea all that was about to go down.”
“Why did you tell her, of all people?”
“Tell what, to whom?”
“That old hag, Billie, why did you tell her about the baby?”
James winked at me and I thought, What the fuck? Until I heard him fall into her line of thinking.
“Breaking them up is partly what I want to talk to you about,” he replied, ignoring her question. “Meet me … give me an hour here,” he coaxed.
“Why would I do that?”
“If you want Sawyer back, you’ll come. They’ve set a date for the wedding and you’re running out of time. If you’re serious about stopping it, you’ll meet me today, Charlotte.”
“Where? And you better have a plan,” she remarked.
“I do have a plan. Come to my place, two hours from now?”
“Thirty minutes, I want to go get a manicure later.”
“I can’t I’m in the city, but I’ll leave now. Forget the manicure. Meet me at the house in a couple of hours.” The line went dead and James held his phone up and shrugged. “She said …”
“I heard, I’ll meet you out there.” Not waiting for a reply, I headed back to my bike for the ride to the coast, my head full of revelations about the two people I thought I knew. I hated feeling the way I did about my brother, and I knew people would think I was crazy if I forgave him, but he was still my flesh and blood.
The vibe between us at the penthouse felt different and I realized despite our past, I had missed him being around. People had forgiven worse and if it had happened the way he said it had, there was room for some forgiveness at least.
Traveling by bike meant I made it to his place before James and I parked my motorcycle one block down from his house. Walking back, I felt strangely buzzed that the truth of what went on between Charlotte and my brother would perhaps set my mind free from the ordeal I’d experienced at their hands.
About ten minutes later James pulled into the driveway of his pricey, but gorgeous, two-bedroom two-bath single storey property. I had stayed out of sight and watched him go inside. Once I’d ensured Charlotte hadn’t arrived, I knocked on his kitchen window and went inside.
“You may want to hang in the guest room,” he told me, seconds before we both heard a key slide into the metal lock on his front door.
“You have twenty minutes, James. Get on with it,” Charlotte barked in her super-confident bossy tone as I stood with the bedroom door ajar. “You think Sawyer is having second thoughts?”
