Seeing Red (39 page)

“You’re scaring me, Alexander. I’m fine. Tell me
whatever it is.” He sat on the coffee table in front of her and
took her hands and looked at her in the eyes.

“Red, why did you tell Oliver about your dad and not
me?”

“Is that what all this is about?”

“No. Well, it’s part of it, but not completely. I
need to know first.”

“Okay, well, Oliver’s always been there for me. When
I saw that note and started reading those journals, I had to tell
someone, and—”

“You couldn’t tell me?”

“Yes, I could’ve, but you get weird . . .
overbearing. I needed a clear head to understand the magnitude of
the situation clearly.”

“Ok—we are going to put the father issue aside, but
you need to tell me the whole story at some point.”

“Okay.”

“At some point
today,
okay, Jillian?”

“Okay.”

“Okay, next question. Well, it’s not a question.
It’s a statement. You need to figure things out with Oliver soon.
Please. Why don’t you two go for a walk around the island or
something?”

“For someone who says he loves me, you sure want me
to kiss Oliver pretty badly.”

“I just want you to see that it’s nothing so you can
move on.”

“Xander, I, um . . . What if we kiss and it isn’t
nothing? What if it’s something? Something wonderful. What then?
You’ll be hurt. I’ll be hurt. It would be a disaster.”

“Do you really feel that there is something there
with Oliver? Something like there is with me. And don’t pretend,
even for a minute, that there isn’t something amazing here between
us.”

“Honestly, Alexander? I think there could be. And
I’m terrified. I don’t want to hurt you guys.”

“Jill, don’t you see? You’re already hurting us. We
can’t keep flirting and fighting with you. You need to decide.
Whichever way you decide, you need to do what’s in your heart, but
you need to do it now.”

“I feel as if we’re always having this
conversation—one way or another. Xander, I love you and I love
Oliver. I have always loved you both. This shift to romantic love
is causing a weird friction between us that I don’t want. Oliver
has always been there for me. He’s the only person that I can count
on always.”

“You can always count on me too, Jillian.”

“Now, maybe, but you were out of it for so many
years, and even now, we are always fighting.”

“Jillian, the reason Oliver and I are in a fight is
because I told him that I love you. You’re mine, babe, and you may
not know it yet, but you will know it sooner or later. I don’t want
to pressure you, but we can’t continue living like this. You need
to make a decision because you’re killing me. And to be fair,
you’re killing Oliver too.”

She took a deep breath, let go of his hands, placed
her elbows on her knees, and put her hands over her eyes. She was
shielding herself and thinking. She was also holding her throbbing
brain from exploding. This was too deep a conversation for the
massive headache overtaking her head.

“Please, talk to me. Just tell me how you feel. I
swear, if you really feel that Oliver is the one, I will back away,
and I would only do that because he’s my brother. If it is someone
else, Paul or whoever, I would fight to the death for you.”

“Alexander, I don’t know. I don’t know how I
feel.”

“You don’t know how you feel, or are you afraid of
hurting us?”

“We can’t hurt Oliver. I’d rather be miserable for
the rest of my life than hurt Oliver.”

“Babe, is that how you feel? Miserable? Because I
gotta tell you you’re all I think about. You’re all I want. The
thought of you with anyone else kills me. The thought of you hurt
kills me. And now this father thing? I can’t even begin to tell you
about feeling miserable. You told Oliver and not me. You have
feelings for him too. I just think they’re not the feelings you
think that they are.”

“No, Alexander. That isn’t all there is to it. There
are so many things that need to be considered: First, I will tell
you again I’m not going to hurt Oliver in any way. Second, I don’t
think you and I will work. We fight all the time. We don’t agree on
a single thing. Third, I can’t be in a relationship with someone
that isn’t faithful to me, and you will never be faithful. I’m not
judging you, Alexander. I promise that I am not judging you. That’s
who you are. Women will always be swooning around you, and you love
that attention. I get it, but I can’t be just another notch on your
belt. You’ll get bored. With Oliver, I know that he would love me
and be completely faithful to me.”

“You wound me by saying that, Jillian! I would never
cheat on you. I love you as I’ve never loved anyone else. All those
women were just filling the void. They were placeholders. I screwed
up. I know that I did. I can’t take back all those years I
abandoned you. I was young and stupid, but I would be loyal to you.
I would cherish you. I would protect you, and most importantly, I
would challenge you. There is a passion and chemistry between us
that you can’t deny. You don’t have that with Oliver or with anyone
else. I love my brother, and I don’t want to hurt him either, but I
can’t deny what I feel, and I am not going to let you go just
because you think I can’t love you the way you love me. Or because
you
think
that you love him. You can’t choose Oliver just
because he’s safe. You have to choose passion. You have to choose
love. You have to choose me, Jillian. You have to because I can’t
live without you.”

“Alexander. I need some time. Please give me a
chance to think this over. I can’t just throw twenty-plus years of
friendship away on a whim. I can’t lose Oliver and I can’t lose
you, and one of you will be gone when I decide.”

Alexander’s phone rang and it brought them both to a
sudden halt.

When life gives you a hundred
reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to
smile.

-Helen

Jillian

“What?” Alexander said into the phone. A few moments
later, “Jesus, I thought you were still sleeping. I’ll be right
down.”

“Was that Oly? What happened?” Jill asked.

“Heather’s in trouble. We shouldn’t have left her
with that guy. She’s been trying to call you for an hour and
finally called Oliver, who’s already downstairs in the lobby
waiting for her. Come on. We’ll finish this conversation
later.”

“What? Wait. What happened to her? Shit my phone
doesn’t have batteries.” She looked at her phone while putting on a
summer dress and flip-flops as quickly as possible. He grabbed her
hand, and they flew out of the suite and ran towards the lobby.

Oliver stood by a big wall of windows, pacing back
and forth when he saw the elevator door open and Jill and Alexander
step out.

“What are you doing?” He asked Jillian. “Go back to
the room.”

“Absolutely not, where is she?” Jillian
demanded.

Oliver shook his head at Alexander, who said, “Sorry
man, I can’t get her to do anything I ask, so good luck trying to
get her to go back up to the suite.” Oliver knew Alexander was
right.

“So, what did she say?” Jill asked.

“She’s okay. She’s at the far end of the resort,
close to where the party was last night. I don’t know anything
else. She just asked for me to meet her in the lobby and said to
please hurry.” Alexander was still holding Jill’s hand as Jill
looked out the windows, nervously waiting for Heather.

It took an eternity, but finally Heather emerged
from the rear doors of the resort, still wearing the red dress and
her makeup smeared. She grabbed Oliver’s hand, “Thanks for coming.
Let’s go. I don’t think he followed me. I thought he would. That’s
why I called you. We gotta go. There’s a big problem.” She was
practically dragging them towards the elevator. “You didn’t have to
bring the whole gang, you know?”

“I know, but they insisted.” Oliver sighed.

Once in the elevator, Heather let out an agonizingly
long breath. “What the hell happened, Heather?” Jill demanded.
Heather looked distraught, but she didn’t look as if she had been
physically hurt. Oliver looked her over. He grabbed her arms and
touched her face, looking for signs of physical contact.

“Did he hurt you? Where is he?” Oliver was
fuming.

“We need to talk, guys.” Heather said, looking
intensely at Jill.

“Heather, did he hurt you?” Xander asked.

“Well, not really. Ugh, men suck!” She said, tears
forming around the corners of her eyes.

“What happened? You want to talk in private,” Jill
asked, embarrassed for her friend.

“No. It’s nothing like that. Well, I’m an idiot,
but, what can I say? I let an asshole charm me, but that isn’t the
big problem. Listen guys, something strange is going on. Jill, it’s
about your father and,” she took a deep breath, “and Paul.”

“What? What does Ben have to do with my father and
Paul?”

She took another deep breath. “He slept with me and
was even planning on seducing me into some sort of relationship in
order to get information about you.”

That got everyone’s attention. Oliver pulled his key
card out of his pocket, and they all walked into the suite and were
about to sit in the living room area, but Heather was still in her
red gown, so instead of sitting down and talking about what had
occurred, she went straight to the bathroom to take a shower.

Jill’s head was still pounding uncontrollably. “You
okay?” asked Oliver through gritted teeth.

“Headache.” Jill pointed to her head.

“Champagne,” Xander said, rolling his eyes and
pointing to Jill’s head.

“If he hurt her, I’ll kill him.” Oliver paced around
the room. That caused Jill and Alexander to trade glances. What was
all that protective jealousy all about? They had known each other
for a few months now, and, yes, Heather was sweet, but Oliver was
really worked up about this.

“Hey, Bro, I think she’s okay. Why don’t you sit?
You’re making me nervous.”

“Damn it. She’s not okay. I shouldn’t have left her
alone with that guy last night. She was my fucking date. In that
dress, she was prey for that guy.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault,” said Heather from the
doorway of the bathroom. “I’m a big girl. You weren’t really my
date. I’m fine. I’m more concerned about Jill, and when you hear
what I have to tell you, I think you are going to want to kill
Paul.”

“Paul?”

“Okay, so here’s what happened,” she dried her hair
with a towel as she spoke. “We hit it off at the party. He was
friendly—really friendly. After flirting and saying all the perfect
things, he asked if I wanted to have a nightcap with him in his
room after the party. I agreed. He told me he was a journalist for
a travel magazine and was there covering the opening of the hotel.
So we had a few drinks, he showed me around the room, and then one
thing led to the other, and, well . . .” Heather’s eyes began to
well again and a stray tear rolled down her cheek.

“Well, what?” Oliver was standing uncomfortably
close to Heather at this point and practically yelled at her.

“Oliver!” Jill yelled. “What is wrong with you?”

“I’m not proud of it. I shouldn’t have gone to a
stranger’s room, and I should have waited . . . gone on a date or
something, but we drank, and he was charming, and I haven’t met
anyone interesting in so long.” Heather was in tears at this point.
“Anyway, he was real sweet and said all the right things, you know?
Looking back, it was almost too perfect.” She was looking at
Jill.

“That’s what I used to say to you about Paul.”

“I know, Jill. In the middle of the night, I got up
to use the bathroom and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I walked
around the suite and saw his wallet lying on the table by the
television. I opened it out of curiosity and saw that his name is
not Ben. It’s Brian Reynolds and he’s from Austin, Texas, too. My
gut was telling me I was played. There was something else.
Something felt off. I started looking around the room and I found
his cell phone. Jill, this is going to sting. I’m sorry, hon’. I
texted these to myself after I read them on his phone, and don’t
worry, I deleted my sent message from his phone so he can’t find
out. She held her phone to them so that they could read.

I see why this was an easy assignment. Man, she’s
hot! She’s with those twins. I don’t think I’ll be able to get to
her. Those twins aren’t going to let me within an inch of her, but
her friend seems easy enough. Real easy, actually. Maybe I can get
info through her. She’s hot too. It won’t be much of a sacrifice.
If she doesn’t talk, I can at least keep dating her until I can get
closer to the target. We need to know what she knows about
Taylor.

The reply said,

Fucking twins. They’re always in the way. I bet she
knows all about her scumbag father. Her aunt must have told her. We
need to find out how he gets all the inside info. I have intel that
he went there looking to meet with her. I did everything other than
propose in order to get her to open up to me. I almost broke my
cover and got fired at the school. I thought that professing my
love would get her talking. Instead, she said some BS about being
psychic. I’m going to try to get her to go out with me again when
she gets back next week. A few more ‘I love yous’ and she’ll start
talking. Don’t approach her. Let me handle her. We may have to get
rid of those brothers.

“Paul.” Jill mumbled.

Heather nodded. “I got super nervous and shut the
cell and got back into bed. I couldn’t sleep, but as soon as he
woke up, I made an excuse and got the hell out of the room. I was
so abrupt that I thought he would follow me, which is why I called
Oliver. He wants to see me again though.”

No one spoke. The silence was deafening.