Page 92 of See You Again

Luke strode a few steps away and shoved his hands in his hair. “I can’t believe this.”

“The crazy thing is, even after what Justin said to me before the gala, I took her anyway. I was that gone over her.” James’s skin crawled to admit to his brother how pathetic he’d been. “Then she made it clear she didn’t want me after all—money or not. Or, at least I thought she did.”

Luke paced across the office. “That night was a shit show.”

“It was.”

His brother spun to face him. “You came to my room the next morning in an awful mood.” James’s surprise must have shown on his face. “I remember because that was the day…”

“I joined the Navy.”

“Because of her?”

“In part, but not entirely. I think it was just the final straw.” James met his twin’s gaze. “An impetuous decision following a horrible night. It felt like everything in my life was already set in stone. Planned out with no input from me. Women who might settle for me for the money, but who always wanted you. I know it’s not true now.” He held up his hands when Luke objected.

But as a twenty-one-year-old, it felt real.

“Also, that night Dad told me what law school he wanted me to go to, not UGA with you, and what position I’d have in the company. That it was fine if I wanted to play around with a woman like Cami, but for the political career he had mapped out for me, I needed to align myself with someone from a powerful family.

“I was trapped. You know how he was. How could I ever break away? So, I joined one of the only organizations he couldn’t control. I was out of his reach with the added bonus of never seeing Cami again. It wouldn’t matter how tempted I was to go back; between basic training and deployment, she was out of reach.”

Luke wiped his hands down his face. “I wish you’d said something.”

James met his brother’s eyes. “It might not have been fair, but I was angry at you, too.”

Luke’s lips parted.

“You never seemed to give a fuck about what Dad wanted. You were going to do what you wanted to do. Make your own way… I was jealous.”

“Fuck.” Luke whispered.

“Fuck.” James agreed.

Luke strode around the desk and yanked James from his chair into a fierce hug.

“What about you and Cami today?”

James shifted. He didn’t want to admit to their fake relationship. Particularly when it wasn’t feeling fake anymore.

“Are you still in love with her?”

“We just started dating.”

“That’s not a no. You loved her once.”

“Luke,” James warned, and his brother put his hands up. But before he had a chance to say anything else, there was a brisk knock at his door, and Loretta poked her head in.

“Two detectives from the Atlanta Police Department are here.”

“Let me handle it.” Luke straightened his jacket and stood next his brother. “At least you were smart enough to let him get a few hits in first,” he muttered, as two detectives entered the office.

James never thought he would be grateful for social media, but fortunately, enough phones had been trained on them it was easy to prove Justin was the aggressor.

“Are you sure you don’t want to press charges?” one of the detectives asked, squinting at the bandage on James’s temple.

“I’m sure.” Fortunately, only part of the conversation had been audible on the tape. James had no interest in his private life being dragged into a courtroom.

As the day wore on, James found it hard to concentrate. He’d love to blame it on the headache, but the fact was, his thoughts returned over and over to Cami. She hadn’t texted him. Had he been too rough last night? He knew he shouldn’t have snuck out the way he did, but he wanted to at least attempt to get his head on straight before talking to her.