“I tried asking her. She wouldn’t say a damn thing about it.”
When Jacob moved closer, I could see he was still in the same clothes from last night. They weren’t as fresh and pressed-looking as they’d been, and I didn’t want to think why that was. I didn’t want to consider why it looked like he’d gotten no sleep either. There was only so much a man could take, and my limit had been reached last night when I’d watched her run into his arms again, for the millionth damn time, when my arms were just as open and willing.
“Too busy making up?” My voice took on a sharp edge as I sat up a little higher, propping the pillow behind me.
“Maybe,” Jacob answered instantly, but then he turned to look out the window. Thank god it was overcast, because sunlight would not be my friend at the moment.
“Maybe you made up?” I asked, unable to help it. There were two ways a couple could make up, and I knew there was only one way where Jacob was concerned. I needed to know what, if anything, had been said last night before . . . the other making up happened.
“Barely,” he admitted, his arms bracing against the wall as he stared out the window absently. I wasn’t used to seeing Jacob like this—lost, unsure. That was more the look I carried around. “She barely let me touch her, couldn’t stand to have me close. Which is a first.” His head turned, accusation darkening his eyes. “So something’s up. You said something. Or you did something.” He was quiet a moment, like he was giving me a chance to speak up, but it didn’t last long. “I know you’ve had a thing for her forever. Finally made your move—by pretending to be me. Genius plan there, Matt. But you’re the brains in the family, right?”
Forcing myself to take a breath, my hands curling into the sheets. “Let me remind you, MIA Groom, that the whole reason I did what I did was to save your ass.”
“More like you were trying to get the piece of ass you’ve been wanting since puberty.”
My jaw ground together. “That’s Cora you’re talking about. Watch it.”
Jacob pushed off the wall, turning from the window. “Yeah, and she’s mine to defend. Not yours.”
“Thanks for the brotherly reminder.” My hand ran through my hair. It felt like half of it was plastered to my head from how I’d been sleeping.
Something on my hand caught Jacob’s eye. “That’s my ring. I want it.” His eyes narrowed further the longer he looked at it on my finger.
“And you can have it once you tell Cora what you were doing that kept you detained from your wedding.” My left hand curled into a fist. The ring had only been there a couple of days, and already it felt like it belonged there. Even though I knew it wasn’t mine.
Jacob’s face changed color, but he stayed where he was. I’d expected him to charge me, to try to rip the damn ring from my finger when I didn’t willingly give it back, but he wasn’t moving. Which was lucky for me, since I wasn’t in the best condition to hold my own against my brother—not that he looked much better.
“I want it, Matt.”
“And I will happily hand it over once you explain to her why you missed your own damn wedding, Jacob.”
His arms folded over his chest as he paced. He was still managing to hold back, which had never been a characteristic my brother was known for. “I need to know. I need to know if you slept with her. No more of this ‘ask her’ bullshit. You’re my brother. You look me in the eye and tell me either way.”
Well at least he’d moved on from the wedding ring—not that this subject was any less dangerous.
“And she needs to know what you were doing that night before and the day of the wedding.” I reached for a glass of water on the nightstand, guessing Maggie was responsible for it. I didn’t remember much from last night—half a bottle of vodka would do that to a person—but she must have gotten my drunk ass back here somehow and left a glass of water for me for when I eventually woke up and realized I wanted to die.
Jacob was pacing, looking like a wild animal who’d just been caged. This was when he was most dangerous—when he felt trapped, cornered, and didn’t have the upper hand.
Instead of backing off as I had before, I kept pressing on. “Tell her. You be honest with her, and she’ll be honest with you.”
His head shook. “I was hungover off my ass that next morning. You remember. We were drinking like crazy that night, my last one as a bachelor. I was lucky I woke up at all with all the booze you let me down.” He didn’t look at me; he just kept pacing. He didn’t look at me because he knew better—I wasn’t the person to blame for his excessive drinking.
“Don’t lie to me. Don’t lie to her. I know, Jacob. I know.” I finished the whole cup of water, hoping it might dull the anger coursing through me. It only seemed to make it worse.
“You know jack shit.”
“You know jack shit if you chose that girl from the bar, any girl from any fucking place in the world, over the one you already had.” My hands were squeezing the glass so hard, I was surprised it didn’t break. “You know jack shit, because you had it all. You had everything, and you threw it all away for nothing.”
He stopped moving, his head turning toward me. “I still have everything. I still have her. I didn’t lose anything. I didn’t throw away anything. Cora still belongs to me.” He drove his fist into his chest, the vein running down his forehead bursting through his skin.
“I didn’t realize she was something to own.” My voice was a stark contrast to his—tamed where his was wild. “Who were you with that night?”
“None of your damn business.”
My brow lifted at him. “Maybe not, but it is hers.”
Jacob picked up his pacing. He was acting erratic, unsure, not at all how I was used to seeing my brother. This whole thing had undone him as much as it had me. Turned him into someone else.
“You better not tell her. You better not say a fucking word.”
“Then you’d better tell her. Soon.” My gaze wandered out the window now that my eyes had semi-adjusted. The sky was every shade of gray in the spectrum, the ocean so dark it looked black. The palm leaves were shuddering in the wind, and I couldn’t see a single soul on the beach. The storm didn’t seem to be moving in another direction or dissolving. “Where is she?”
“Who?”
I exhaled, guessing that was a question my brother needed clarified. “Cora. Where is she?”
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t answer her phone. Wasn’t in her hotel room when I stopped by earlier.”
I was in the middle of coaxing my body out of bed when I froze. “Her hotel room? As in, you had a different one?”