Page 56 of The Risk Taker

The keys rattle in her hands as she darts to the driver’s side, and climbs into the vehicle.

I look back at Sara, my heart a million broken pieces. “You were having an affair with my brother, and you were having his baby. I guess I’m smart enough to know what you were doing in that car to make him go off the road.”

Her eyes narrow to slit, anger now at the forefront. “You want to know the truth Jamie?” she spits out. “Your whole life you’ve been in love with her.” She points her finger at the SUV. “It was always Fallon this, Fallon that. You even have her name tattooed on her back. Maybe I got tired of it. Maybe I fucked Ethan to get back at you. Maybe this really is all your fault.”

Fallon backs out of the driveway, and as I stand there under the floodlight with Sara, disgusted as all the pieces are falling into place, I press my palms to my eyes until I see stars.

“I want you gone. Out of here tonight. But since you can’t drive, I’ll call you a cab. I’ll put your car in the driveway, and don’t even think about coming to my door tomorrow when you pick it up.” Sara pounds on my chest as I pull my phone from my back pocket. I call a cab, and set her on the front steps as I drive her car out of the garage. Then I grab her arm and march her to the end of the driveway until the cab comes. I put Sara into the back seat, and send her away with it.

Feeling a little lost, and a whole lot angry, I head inside and bang around as I make my way to the kitchen. I take a beer from the fridge, swallow half the contents in one gulp, and pull my phone out again as I stalk into the living room.

I call Cole at his beachside cottage, he answers on the second ring. “Did you fucking know?” I ask, getting right to the point.

“Know what?” he asks. A door slams and I’m guessing he’s gone into another room for privacy. “What’s going on?”

“Did you know Sara was fucking Ethan and the baby was his?”

A beat of silence, and then, “Jesus fuck, I’m sorry to hear that Jamie, and I’m also sorry to say it doesn’t surprise me. But if I knew something like that, don’t you think I’d tell you?” he shoots back.

“Exactly. Just like Fallon should have told me.”

I hear a rustling sound in the background, and Huxley barking. “Back it up, tell me what’s going on.”

“That night by the fire, you said there were things I didn’t know. If you didn’t know my brother and my fiancée were fucking around, what things were you talking about?”

“Oh, fuck.” I grip my phone and Cole takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Ethan was your brother, and he’s gone. I don’t want to talk badly about him, but Jamie, as his big brother, his protector, there are so many things you overlooked, or didn’t really see at all.”

I lean forward, brace my elbows on my legs. “What are you talking about?”

“You and Fallon. You two always belonged together. If everyone else saw it, Ethan had to have seen it too. He wanted her because you wanted her.”

A storm roils through me as I mull that over. “I backed off because…because he was my kid brother and I would have done anything in the world for him.”

“I know this is going to hurt, but that didn’t go both ways. Ethan always wanted to outshine you. I don’t know why. I wasn’t there to see the dynamics when you two were growing up.”

I think back to all Ethan’s antics, all the risks he’d took, stunts he pulled, to get the adoration and approval of everyone around him. Was that to outshine me?

“Maybe he didn’t like that you were better at hockey, that you were adored by so many.”

“Ethan never liked hockey. He never went to a single game of mine. Never even put Chase in skates.”

“But you watched him race, right?”

The knot in my stomach tightens. “Whenever I could.”

Ethan was jealous of me? Wanted to outshine me?

“I can’t say where the envy comes from. Maybe he was just hardwired that way.” A beat of silence, and then, “That’s why I’m not surprised to hear he went after Sara.”

My heart aches in my constricted tight chest as my thoughts go to Fallon’s betrayal. Trust is important to me, she of all people knows that. “Fallon knew everything.”

“Yeah.”

“She kept it from me. Said she was sorry I found out.”

“Why would she keep that from you?”

“Sara said it was payback. Tit for tat.” A humorless laugh escapes my throat. “She slept with Ethan so Fallon was getting even by sleeping with me.”