The Wrong Brother's Temptation novel Chapter 76

Sienna

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I hadn’t moved from my bed in six hours which wasn’t an exaggeration because I’d been watching the light change through my curtains, and the whole time I’d stayed horizontal and let the hours just pass by without any improvement to the situation.

My phone was face down on the nightstand.

1 knew without looking that it had definitely gotten worse and 1 left it like that anyway because turning it over required a form of courage I hadn’t mustered yet.

Mom had knocked several times already, trying not to transmit worry through a closed door and not entirely succeeding.

I’d told her I had a headache so I needed to sleep, which was not true, and eventually her footsteps had receded down the hallway until I was left with my thoughts alone.

Jane had dropped several messages and even given me a few calls but I’d told her I needed to be alone and left her at that.

The window rattled out of nowhere like someone on the other side was testing the latch, and I recognized it because there was exactly one person who had come through that window with any regularity over the past decade.

Sadly, it was not the person I’d been thinking about for the last six hours, which became apparent when the latch gave and Aaron swung himself over the sill.

He landed on the floor and looked up to take in the sight of me me on the bed with my hair undone and my eyes that were obviously red and he instantly looked at me with genuine concern.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” I said, which came out more like a sob.

He crossed the room and sat on the edge of my bed, and simply opened his arms without saying anything

else.

Somehow that simple gesture made me sit up and crawl towards him and throw my hands around his neck.

He held me close and I smelled the familiar scent of him as he gently ran a hand down my hair, smoothing it down.

Something in my chest cracked open a little and I let it.

“I saw everything,” he said, quietly, into my hair.

“And yet you are here,” I said.

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15:23 Thu, Jul 23

Chapter 76

“Of course, I am. Sandra took it down already.”

I pulled back slightly surprised. “She did?”

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“We had a fight about it,” he answered. “A significant one at that. She said she didn’t know you were in the background which is…” He stopped mid sentence, his jaw working to put it mildly. “It doesn’t matter what she said. The original post is gone.”

I stared at the genuine anger on his behalf of me that was sitting in his face, at the Aaron I’d known since I was eight years old who had always chased away his latest obsession but when things got bad enough had somehow always come to check on me, except for that one time when he got with Sandra.

“Thank you,” I said.

“What are friends for?” he asked and I felt tears sting at the back of my eyes. I forced them back down through sheer exhaustion.

“When did you last eat?” He asked.

“1…” I thought about it. “I had something at the resort before everything happened I guess”

“That was yesterday,” he said. “Come on.”

“Aaron!”

“Go freshen up a little,” he said, already standing, and moving toward my door.

“I’m going to get food. Don’t go anywhere.”

He came back twenty minutes later with a plate of the pasta my mom made and sat on the edge of my bed.

“Aaron, you don’t have to…”

I began but he handed me the fork instead.

“Eat,” he said.

I ate.

He then got up to start tidying my room while maintaining a running commentary about how his day had been, a story about something that had happened last week that made me almost smile.

I let the sound of his voice make the world feel smaller and more manageable like it always did, and for a while I sat wrapped up in that feeling.

This was exactly what I had been craving for years, dreaming Aaron to give me his full and undivided attention. But now that this moment was real, why did something about it still felt odd like I was missing something?

Aaron’s phone buzzed as he tidied my room, holding a book between the crook of his shoulder and ear while the other hand held the phone.

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Chapter 76

“Yes?” His voice had taken on that clipped and authoritative tone.

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“Of course I want all of them gone from every platform. Find who posted the zoom and pull the account. I don’t care what it costs, get it done and report back in an hour.”

Something loosened in my chest so fast it almost hurt. “Aaron, did you just…”

“Don’t,” he said. “Seriously. Don’t thank me.” He took my empty plate and set it on the nightstand and looked at me. “Why didn’t you call me when it started?”

“I…” I didn’t have a clean answer for that. “I didn’t want to bother you.”

“You’re my best friend,” he said, and those simple words made my throat tighten. “You never bother me. You’re one of the few people who can call me anytime of the day.”

“I didn’t want Sandra to be upset,” I said.

“What about upsetting me?” he said, and his voice was gentle. “Because lately it’s felt like… I don’t know. Like you’ve been managing things on your own instead of sharing it with me.”

I looked at my hands. “I tried telling you that she pushed someone, that she was mean but you kept cutting me off.”

“I know,” he said. “And some of it is my fault. Sandra and I…it’s complicated, and I know I’ve been less present, and I’m sorry for that.” He said it sincerely.

“You should have never thought twice about calling me. But I am not here to discuss the past. Right now, I am here in front of you so tell me everything that you want to. Don’t hold back.”

“Aaron,” I said, and stopped. “I don’t think you will like it”

He shook his head. “Hell, I don’t like losing you. So if you want to slap me again or yell at me, its fine. Just don’t shut me out.”

I bit my lower lip nervously, wondering if I should even bring it up. Not once had he asked who I spent the day with at the resort, whether it was the masseur or somebody else.

He didn’t call me names, he simply didn’t discuss the topic, just assured me he was there for me.

Shit.

He waited for me to start speaking and I formed the words hesitantly.

“At the anniversary party,” I said.

His expression shifted, his brows furrowing slightly. “What about it?”

“I saw you,” I said. “In one of the spare rooms with Lily.”

The silence lasted long enough to tell me he wasn’t going to deny it.

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15:23 Thu, Jul 23

Chapter 76

“Ah,” he said finally,

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