Uncovering You: The Complete Series (Mega Box Set) (235 page)

He looks at me skeptically. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure!” I snap. “I don’t like you always second guessing me! It’s presumptuous and pretentious, Andrew!”

“Sorry,” he winces. “I was just trying to look out for you.”

“Yeah, and look where that’s gotten you.” The news of Andrew and Spencer’s relationship comes as a shock, but my body’s reaction to it was completely disproportionate. So what if they have history? Knowing they’re family is only a minor revelation on the grand scale of things, and it doesn’t explain any of the issues between them.

“I’m not trying to upset you,” Andrew says cautiously. “I only want to explain myself.”

I lower myself onto a kitchen stool. “Okay. Go on.”

“I told you my age so the rest of it makes sense,” Andrew begins. “I’m not like most kids here. And you’re not either, I don’t think. That’s why I was so drawn to you at first.”

“I don’t need your compliments, Andrew,” I say. “Actions speak louder than words.”

He flinches at my accusation. “I guess I deserved that. But I can’t help it. You’re so beautiful and independent. The moment I saw you, I knew I wanted to be with you.”

I make a gagging sound in my throat to let him know what I think of all that.

He presses on. “The point is, I couldn’t start university until much later than everyone else.”

“What does this have to do with anything, Andrew? If I wanted your life story, I could have read your blog or something.” I know I sound bitter, but my patience is wearing thin.

“Please, let me finish,” Andrew urges. “I couldn’t go to university because I had to work and take care of Jordan. You know he’s fifteen years younger than me? That age difference is almost enough for a father and son.”

I give a tiny, inaudible gasp. I know all-too-well about that sort of thing. My mother is exactly fifteen years older than me.

Maybe I’ve been too quick to judge Andrew. All the damn uncertainty that’s been surrounding me is pressing on my nerves.

I squeeze my eyes shut and rub the bridge of my nose. When I look at Andrew again, I give a tight smile. “Okay. Continue.”

He senses my change in mood. His shoulders relax, and he gives a grateful sigh. “Jordan means the world to me. Everything I’ve done for the last seven years has been for him. I’ve made so many sacrifices. But I don’t regret any of them.”

“You must love him very much,” I say.

“I do,” Andrew agrees, smiling. “I’m not going to bore you with the full story. This is the quick version: My parents had an on-again, off-again relationship. They never married. I only found out when I was ten. One morning, after weeks of fighting, my dad just left.

“I asked my mom if it meant they were getting a divorce. She hugged me and told me the truth.”

“That must have been hard on you.”

“It was,” Andrew agrees. “For the longest time, I thought he’d come back. He left without saying goodbye. I made up this fantasy in my mind that he would show up on my birthday, and things would go back to the way they were. I waited and hoped for that for months.

“My birthday came and went. I didn’t even get a phone call.
No problem
, I thought.
Maybe Christmas.
Nope.
New Year’s?
Wrong again. It took me until my
next
birthday to understand he was gone for good.

“That’s when I started hating him for what he did. For the way he left. My mom and I had no money. But we had each other. We braved everything the world threw at us.”

Andrew pauses. “That is, until my dad returned. Almost four years to the day he left, he came back. And my mother welcomed him back as if nothing was wrong.” Andrew sighs. “It made me lose respect for her. How could she? It felt like being stabbed in the back. I grew distant from both of them.

“A few months later, they came to my room with a surprise. My mom was pregnant! I was going to be a brother!

“I resented both of them for expecting me to be happy. How could I, after all the turmoil they put me through? But, my mom talked to me over the next few weeks. She convinced me my dad had changed. She convinced me to give him another chance.

“So, I did. For her. And for the little brother or sister I was going to have. I decided to be the best older brother that I could be.

“Fast forward a few months. My mom gives birth. She and my dad bring Jordan home. I felt, for the first time in a long time, like we were a family again.” He snickers. “Of course, it didn’t last. True to his nature, my dad ditched us again. He claimed the stress of dealing with a baby was too much for him.”

“Jesus, Andrew. I had no idea.”

He gives a sly smile. “We’re not even at the climax yet. It gets better. Three years after the
second
time my dad left, my mom got sick. Some kind of rare bone disease. It took her quickly. She collapsed one night while doing laundry and never recovered.

“I watched her waste away in the hospital for fourteen grueling days. I tried calling my dad, tried searching for him. Nothing. He knew about what happened, I’m sure. But he didn’t even try to help.”

His story tears at my soul. Losing his mother and having an absent father? Nobody should go through that. My heart swells for the brave, terrified young boy that Andrew must have been.

“My mom died. And there I was all alone, suddenly in charge of a three-year-old boy. I had nobody to turn to. I tried to keep up with school, but it was impossible. I was a good student before, but I had to drop out. Jordan needed looking after.”

“And… your dad?” I ask.

Andrew scoffs. “The asshole of all assholes. He had the nerve to come to my mother’s funeral… with his
other family
.”

I gasp.

“It turns out,” Andrew continues, “that the whole time he’d been gone, he’d been living under one roof with another woman and her son.”

“Spencer?”

Andrew nods. “The one and only. The only bright spot in this whole mess is that Spencer wasn’t my dad’s. He was born before my dad met his mom. At the funeral, my dad invited me and Jordan to come live with him and his second family. I mean, what kind of twisted mind can even
think
of something like that after everything he’s put his
real
two sons through?”

Andrew shakes his head. “My gut told me not to go. But I was desperate. Jordan and I moved in. The experiment barely lasted twenty days.

“It was hell. Spencer and I hated each other from our first introduction. I hated my dad and his
girlfriend
. She was dismissive toward me, and cold toward Jordan. We couldn’t stay.

“So, on my eighteenth birthday, I took Jordan and moved out. He’d been through way too much in his young life. I had to get a crappy job at a gas station. There was only so much I could do without a high school diploma. But I protected Jordan through all of it, so he wouldn’t have to grow up the way I did.”

“Andrew… that’s so sad,” I whisper.

He shakes his head. “No, it’s not. Jordan and I are literally best friends now. If a genie gave me three wishes, none of them would be to change my past. It made me into the person I am today.”

I nod without saying anything. It seems Andrew and I are more alike than I ever imagined.

“I knew, eventually, that I would have to go to school,” he continues. “When Jordan became old enough, I promised myself I’d go to university. In the meantime, I got my high school diploma online. Even took a few college courses to ease the workload when I got here.”

“Well, you did it,” I smile. “You got everything you were after.”

Andrew locks eyes with me. “Not everything,” he says softly.

My insides clench up. His story is touching and heartbreaking and so sad, but… it does not change things between us.

Andrew stands up, and turns to the window to look outside. “That’s how I ended up a peer leader. They let me into the program because I was older. And the undergrad credits I got before let me enroll in the graduate school here. Part-time. I study psychology. I want to help people with their problems.” He turns toward me. “That’s how Katy and I met.”

I swallow. Maybe Andrew and I can still be friends. He trusted me enough to pour his soul out. I just need
him
to understand that our relationship cannot go past that. “Okay.”

He sighs and spreads his hands. “That’s all I’ve got, Paige. That’s my best explanation. I know it doesn’t matter what I say, but I promise I did not sleep with Katy. The first night I came here, we talked.
Maybe
I kissed her. But it was wrong. I felt so guilty about it. Then yesterday…”

He trails off and looks into the distance. “Yesterday, I wasn’t thinking straight. Something came over me, I don’t know what. But I am so happy that you were there to stop me.”

“Yeah.” I run a hand through my hair and start splitting the strands. “Thank you for telling me all of that. I imagine it must have been quit hard.”

“Not if it meant that I could repair things with you,” he says in a soft voice.

“Andrew…” I stand up. I walk behind the counter to create a physical barrier between me and him. “Andrew, I appreciate your honesty, but I think you and I are looking for two different things.” I fiddle with a drawer handle. “You think we can go back to where we were a few weeks ago. But I can’t just pretend the interim didn’t happen.”

“Nothing happened, Paige,” Andrew stresses. He takes an aggressive step toward me. “I swear it on both my life and Jordan’s.”

“Some things happened,” I correct. I try to look everywhere except at him. “Some things I can’t forget.”

“Paige.” Andrew walks slowly around the counter and touches my arm. “Kiss me,” he whispers.

I bite my lip as I look up at his beautiful face, so full of sincerity. From the moment he walked into my life,
this
is what I thought I wanted.

Sure, Andrew might have his flaws, but he is safe and wholesome. Deep down, he’s… well, he’s nice. Nice and necessary.

I’m sure he’ll make some girl very happy. I’m sure he’ll settle down and have five kids and teach all of them how to do the right thing, always. They’ll all be beautiful and nice and wholesome and…
dull
.

Katy was right before. Dating Andrew would be like dating your parents. Andrew
will
make some girl happy.

But that girl is not me.

I crave more than nice. I want somebody who challenges me. I want somebody who forces me to grow. To adapt. I want somebody who brings excitement into my life.

Logically, I thought Andrew was the obvious choice at first. But after seeing the
real
Spencer, I’ve come to realize that my mind knows so much less than my heart.

“Kiss me,” Andrew repeats, edging closer. His voice is soft like the hue of a flickering candle.

I close my eyes and look away. I hate doing this to him, but I have to follow my heart.

“I’m sorry, Andrew,” I whisper. “This isn’t what I want anymore.”

He blinks is disbelief. “What do you mean? You said you’d wait until January. You said we would be together.” His finger tilts my chin up so I meet his eyes. “Right?”

My heart aches in my chest. I can hear the
hurt
in his voice. My mind reels for some way to do this better. “Andrew…” I try again.

He looks at me, searching my face… and grimaces. “Oh, I get it.” His jaw tightens. “You want Spencer. After everything I told you… you still want Spencer.”

I can’t tell him
yes
. I don’t want to confirm it. The last thing I want is to cause even more animosity between him and Spencer.

Andrew steps back and starts pacing the kitchen. “So you have a thing for ‘
bad boys’
now, do you, Paige?” He sneers when he says the words.

“No.” I shake my head. “No, that’s not it.” I lean back against the counter. I don’t like the shift in Andrew’s tone. I cross my arms.

“Come on, Paige, don’t lie to me.” He stops and glares, his eyes burning like red embers in his skull. “Be honest. You do. Every girl does!”

I cross my arms. “No—”

“What if I were a bad boy, too?” he suggests, his eyes never leaving mine.

The deep intensity emanating from him frightens me. I cross my arms to shield myself. “That’s not you,” I say.

He takes a deep breath, struggling against something. I wonder absently how we went from that day at the lake—where he seemed so easy to read—to now. I have no idea what he’s thinking.

He takes an aggressive step toward me. “That could be me,” he says. “If that’s what you want.”

“I want you to be yourself, Andrew. You don’t have to—”

I’m cut off as he yanks me into his arms and pushes his lips against mine. My protests come out muffled against his mouth. I keep my lips shut and thrash around in his hold.

His grip weakens, giving me the opportunity to wiggle free. I cower back against the refrigerator door, covering my mouth with my hands and looking at him, wide-eyed.