The Billionaire's Final Stand (19 page)

              He’d abused it too badly.

              “Katherine, I’m here to beg for forgiveness.”

              “Really? Do you and Joseph have another bet. Which of you will I forgive first? The lover or the friend?”

              George leaned close to her, and took her uninjured hand in his. When she tugged, he refused to release it. Reluctantly, she finally looked up and met his pain filled eyes.

              “I was a fool. You truly were my friend, really my best friend. I was arrogant and immature, and now Joseph and I barely speak. Everything’s changed,” he said, his voice filled with so much emotion, she couldn’t pull away from him. Was he actually speaking the truth?

              Katherine was silent as her gaze raked over him. Even though, he and Joseph were twin brothers, they weren’t identical. Both men were superbly good-looking, but she’d never once felt desire toward George.

              She’d felt love, the kind of love one would feel toward a sibling. He’d become her best friend, and the betrayal of the two men had wounded her to her very center. She’d not only lost the love of her life, but also the best friend she’d needed so badly to help her make it through.

              Usually when you went through heartbreak, you at least had your friend to turn to. In her case she’d been doubly devastated because she’d lost both in one day.

              “I don’t deserve it, and if I was a better man, I’d stay out of your life, but I can’t. I’ve missed you and I need you to know what happened,” he said.

              She hated to admit it, even to herself, but she’d missed him, too. Missed him so much it hurt to sit there with him in her tiny apartment and try to hold onto her resentment. Her fragile emotions were about to splinter into a million pieces. She had to let him say what he needed to so he’d leave and she could have a breakdown.

              “Fine, George, go ahead and speak, but I’m telling you now that if I detect even the tiniest piece of deception in your story, I’m going to find something a lot stronger than my fist to hit you over the head with,” Katherine warned.

              George laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. She had to remind herself how he’d deceived her, because it would be too easy to fall back into her old routine with him. He’d always brought laughter and joy to the forefront, wherever they happened to be.

              “I deserve your anger, Katherine. It took me a while, but I finally figured out that you somehow found out about the bet,” he stated, cringing as he said the last word.

              Katherine glared at him, not even bothering to respond to his statement. Of course she knew about the bet. It had nearly destroyed her.

              “I’d like to explain…”

              Katherine held up her hand, stopping him mid-sentence. It felt like she was back at that day, finding out all over again how little they thought of her. She didn’t think she could listen to him, resurrecting those old feelings of hurt and betrayal. Her chest hurt as she looked at him, anger and humiliation seeping from every pore.

              “Don’t try and tell me you didn’t have a bet. Don’t even try and insult my intelligence like that, George.”

              “Sadly, I can’t deny that. But, please listen. You promised to give me a few minutes. Let me explain what happened, though it will never excuse what I did,” he pled.

              Katherine sat back, her arms folded across her chest. She was on the verge of tears, only her shear will was keeping her from releasing them. It hurt so much worse to silently listen as he explained how little he’d thought of her. He needed to relieve his conscious, though, even if it meant tearing her apart.

              “I was resentful of Joseph. There were a few years that I actually hated him. He made everything look so easy. He just seemed to have the Midas touch. If he decided he wanted to do something, then it was almost done before he even finished the thought. He was better at sports, academics, and women. Every single thing he set out to conquer, he conquered.”

              “What does any of that have to do with this?” she interrupted.

              “I’m getting there. But to fully understand, you need to know the history. When we were young, I adored Joseph. He grew faster than me, and instead of looking at him like a twin, it was almost as if he was an older sibling. Even at a young age, Joseph was taking the world by storm. I was content to follow behind in his shadow. At least for a while,” George said as he sat back. Katherine wasn’t sure if he even realized she was in the room anymore.

              “All siblings’ fight, that’s nothing new.”

              “Yes, all siblings fight, but then they make up. I remember the moment I stopped idolizing Joseph and started to resent him. We were in the seventh grade. A new girl moved into our school, and I fell hard for her. Yes, I know, I was only a kid, but to me it was true love. She was shy, and sweet, and so pretty. A Valentine’s dance was coming up and it took me a week to work up the courage, but I finally decided to ask her to be my date. I picked her out a nice necklace, and decided to wait until after school. I’d told Joseph I had a crush on her, but I hadn’t gone into many details. At lunch that day, he asked her to the dance, and she said, yes. I was devastated. Looking back, I had barely said anything about her to Joseph, so he didn’t really know, but to me he’d just stolen the only thing I’d asked to keep for myself.”

              Some of the tension left Katherine’s body as George talked. She could hear the confusion and hurt from so many years ago, and she found herself wanting to comfort him. She had to make herself keep her defenses up, but it was becoming increasingly more difficult.

              “He took her to the dance, and they decided they wanted to be friends and nothing more, but she was tainted to me after that. I didn’t see her the same way. She tried to talk to me the following Monday during lunch as we’d been doing for months, and I snubbed her. I don’t think she ever realized why I suddenly stopped being her friend. She ended up moving two years later and I never did explain it to her.”

              Kinsey felt bad for the shy teenager. She’d been the exact same way, too afraid of rejection to put herself out there. It was silly when she thought about it, but one thing she hadn’t figured out how to do was go back in time and slap herself upside the head.

              After that, I pulled away from Joseph. He was so popular and always busy so he didn’t notice until the bond was severed beyond repair. In high school he asked me if we had a problem, and I acted like there wasn’t one. I told him I was busy with school and different activities. He believed me, but he started pulling from me as well. We continued drifting apart. To this day, we hardly ever talk. I miss my brother. He was my best friend and I let jealousy tear us in two.”

              George choked as he spoke the last sentence. Katherine couldn’t hold the tears off any longer, and one fell from her eye, slowly sliding down her cheek. He looked at her and gave her a semblance of a smile before carefully lifting his hand and wiping the lone tear with the soft pad of his thumb.

              “I didn’t mean to upset you, or wallow in self-pity. It’s just that sometimes it really gets to me,” he apologized.

              “I also cry during those sappy coffee commercials so don’t be too hard on yourself,” Katherine told him with a depreciating laugh.

              “The years continued slipping away from us, one right after the other and all of a sudden we were adults and still had this strange distance between us, but added to that was a new competition. I was determined to beat him at anything. I wanted to watch him fall on his face, to see the
all perfect
Joseph Anderson fail. We saw you at the dance, and I overheard some of the girls talking about you, calling you the
ice queen
.”

              At least he had the decency to cringe as he said it. Katherine still felt hurt about those days. Her shyness was taken as condescending. Her choosiness in men as snobbery. She hadn’t wanted to make the mistakes she’d watched her mother make.

              “Before I thought about your feelings, I goaded Joseph. I bet him there was at least one girl at the dance he wouldn’t be able to make fall all over him. Since he’d never had that happen, he felt pretty sure in accepting the challenge. He hadn’t heard the girls talking. I pointed you out, and his eyes widened when he took you in for the first time. I think he was instantly smitten. As he approached you and asked for a dance, I had a smirk on my face, expecting you to snub him and walk away. When you accepted with a pure, sweet smile, I realized my mistake. No girl can fake that innocence. I instantly regretted the bet, knowing it was all going to go south. When you danced straight through the next three songs, and I saw the way you looked at him, I felt like the lowest of the low.”

              Katherine didn’t even realize her cheeks were wet from her tears. As he talked about that night five years ago, it was as if she was living it all over again. She remembered it like yesterday, how she felt when the most eligible bachelor in the room had walked up and asked her to dance. How his laughter had brightened her world. By the end of the night she was half-way in love with him, by the end of the month, she was over the moon in love.

              “When the two of you became a couple and you were at our home all the time, I got to know you, see why Joseph was spending every moment with you. I truly did love you as a friend. The bet was long forgotten, and you were starting to bridge that gap between my brother and me. Your insistence we do things together, your pureness, everything about you drew me in.”

              George paused long enough that Katherine asked her own question. “Why didn’t you tell me about the bet?”

              “I was afraid you would hate me. How did you find out about it, anyway? I never brought it up again.”

              Katherine thought about making him suffer, letting his life-changing bet haunt him the rest of his life as it did her, but then she wasn’t that kind of person.

              “You did bring it up, at least one more time. I overheard you and Joseph talking one day. After that, well, you know the rest…”

              George’s eyes rounded as he thought back and remembered. “I’m sorry, Katherine, more than I could ever express. I know it doesn’t take anything back, but I truly am sorry,” he said.

              “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore, George. It was years ago and I’ve moved on with my life.
You
may have regretted the bet, but a bet’s all I was to Joseph – a foolish prize to be won.”

              “No, Katherine. I never before, and have never since, seen him look at someone the way he gazed at you that night and the months that followed,” George insisted.

              She wanted to believe his words, but how could she trust him. She was scared to open that door again. Afraid to be hurt any more than she already had been.

              “Why did it take you so many years to talk to me?”

              Her question wasn’t asked in anger or even resentment. She was perplexed as she began to believe his words.

              “I was a fool. I was so embarrassed about my behavior, I figured you were better off without me.”

              “Then why come back now? Why not just continue staying away?”

              “I moved to Chicago, fled was more like it. I was trying to outrun my demons. After a couple years, I realized they were within me and no matter where I went, they’d continue to be my constant shadow. Then, last year, I got married to a wonderful woman, who’s brought joy back into my life, and loves me enough to want all of me – not the shell of a man I’d become. She’s been helping me heal. I came home to make amends. I need to try to clear past wrongs and I needed to tell you the truth.”

              Katherine looked at him, saw the truth in his eyes, and she knew she had her friend back.

              “I’ve missed you, George.” She let it go. Continuing to hold a grudge against him for making a stupid bet before he knew who she was made her no better than the fool he was when he made it. His true colors had shown when he’d befriended her, spent hours talking to her and brought excitement into her life. He’d never been anything but respectful to her. She’d missed him.

              “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, nor your friendship, but I’m not going to refuse it. I’ve missed you, too, Katherine,” he said as he moved over and engulfed her in a bear hug. She returned the hug, glad to have one wrong in her life fixed.

              “Katherine, you always have been too forgiving,” George admonished, bringing Katherine back to the present, reality hitting her hard.

              She looked at the bed where her husband was lying so still. He looked as if he was doing nothing more than taking a nap. If it wasn’t for all the monitors hooked up to him, she may be able to actually believe that’s all it was.

              “Hi, George, I didn’t hear you come in,” Katherine said with a fond smile.

              “I had to sneak so I could listen in. I think you’re making me out too well, actually. I was so horrible back then,” he said with remembered pain in his eyes.

              “I forgave you from that moment, George Anderson, and I’ve never regretted it. You’re a great man and you haven’t deserved the moments of unhappiness in your life. I’m so glad you and Joseph finally came around,” she told him.