Meant for You (21 page)

In the blink of an eye, James was nose-to-nose with him. “Nice. So you drag her over here and sleep with her all night and then toss her out in the morning?” He grabbed Ethan by the shirtfront and gave him a good shake. “I should kill you right now.”

Maybe if Ethan had put up a fight it would have gone that way. Instead, he hung his head. “You're right. You probably should and do us all a favor,” he said in a low voice.

Some of the anger left James at Ethan's words. He shoved him away with disgust and then began to pace the room. “What the hell, Ethan? How long has this been going on?” Before Ethan could answer, James held up a hand. “Please tell me it was before you got here to Alaska because if I find out you took advantage of her while she was upset over Zach, I really will have to kill you.”

With a sigh, Ethan sat down on the bed and bent forward to place his head in his hands. “It was before Alaska. It was right before we left for the climb.”

James stood still and listened, unsure if that answer were any better. “Did Zach know?”

Ethan shook his head. “Summer had disappeared a couple of days before we were supposed to leave. Zach was freaked out and pissed off, and I knew if he went after her, it wouldn't go well for either of them. I offered to go.”

There were still too many questions for James's liking. “So then…what? You're a couple now? Or are you just screwing around?” His tone was harsh, and the look on Ethan's face spoke volumes.

Standing, Ethan faced James, his hands clenched at his sides. “You want the truth? I don't know what we're doing. And do you want to know why? Because of you. And Ryder. And Zach. And your father. I mean, for crying out loud, I've seen the way all of you have intimidated the men Summer's dated! She's afraid to say anything and so am I! Do you think I want to be in this position? Do you think I like sneaking around?”

“I don't know, Ethan. Do you?”

Ethan took a step forward. “I hate it. I hate it more than you can ever imagine. But right now? With everything that's going on with Zach? Do you honestly think now is the right time to throw this out there?”

James studied him for a minute. “It's a convenient excuse.” Ethan's eyes narrowed at James's words. “Seems to me like you've got quite a nice setup going on. You get to sleep with Summer without having to deal with having any real responsibility. Now I don't know how you view it, but I'm telling you right here, right now, you're treating my sister like some dirty little secret. And I don't like it.”

His words, his stance, they all told Ethan it wouldn't take much to provoke James into a physical confrontation, and that wasn't what he wanted to do. “So what do you suggest we do, huh? You want to hit me? Is that it?” Ethan prepared himself for it. “Go ahead. If that's what's going to make you feel better, then bring it.” It probably wasn't smart to provoke him, but Ethan figured they might as well get it over with.

James studied him for a long moment. His jaw clenched just as tightly as his fists were at his side. “I want more than to just hit you,” he said honestly. “I want to beat the shit out of you. I don't think you're good enough for my sister, and do you know why? Because you're not man enough to come out and admit that you're involved with her. You're hiding like a coward, and I hate cowards.”

The fist hit his face before Ethan knew it was coming. He stumbled back until he hit the wall. On instinct, he immediately straightened and was prepared to return the favor.

Then he thought better of it. One of them had to think clearly.

“So what's the solution to this, James?” he asked, his hands held up in surrender. “Because like it or not, whether it's me or some other guy, your sister is going to get involved with someone. She's going to fall in love, get married, and have kids. It seems to me like everyone is supposed to accept that prospect for you and your brothers but there's a separate set of rules for Summer!”

Even as he said the words, the thought of somebody else falling in love and having a future with Summer filled him with rage. So much so he felt the need to hammer the point home. “You took off for years and had your life. No one even had the opportunity to question your relationships because no one was there to see them! But even when Summer was living in New York, she still had to deal with all of you going and checking on her and trying to run her life. What do you expect? That she was going to stay celibate forever? Become a nun? How is that fair?”

“You don't know what you're talking about,” James said. “Now you're going to try to put the blame on her family? We are only trying to do what's best for Summer! We don't want to see her get hurt—or used—by someone like you!”

“Like me?” Ethan yelled. “You're kidding, right? It seems to me that everyone liked me just fine when Zach and I became friends. I was welcomed into the family and asked to join the company. You think I'm freaking fantastic when I'm closing deals and making money. Hell, I'm even considered a great guy when I travel all over the world with Zach and do these crazy adventures with him. But now suddenly, I'm not good enough? Explain that one to me. Please. I'm dying to know how I'm such a great guy in a thousand different ways except this one.”

“Dammit, Ethan,” James growled as he sat down on the chair by the window, “she's my baby sister.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I know you're an only child and you don't get it, but there's just something about the whole relationship that's not always rational. I look at Summer and I don't see a grown woman. I see the little girl in pigtails I used to have to carry around.”

“But she's not a little girl anymore,” Ethan reminded him.

“I know, I know… Selena was reminding me of that last night when I talked to her, but it doesn't change anything. I don't want to see Summer get hurt. Ever.”

“Everyone gets hurt, James. Sometimes you can't avoid it.”

James glared at him. “Are you
planning
on hurting her?”

“No.” Ethan feared he already had but decided to keep it to himself. “I never wanted to hurt her. I don't ever want to hurt her. This came out of nowhere and took on a life of its own. We didn't plan on it, but we also don't want to stop it.”

“Shit,” he muttered. “I still don't like it, Ethan. I don't like thinking that you're sneaking around and making her feel like you're ashamed of her.”

“That's not what I'm doing!”

“Yeah, you are. You're not willing to fess up and tell anyone what's going on, so to me, that says you know what you're doing is wrong.”

“Dammit, have you been listening to me at all?” Ethan said, unable to hide his frustration. “It's not like that! We're trying not to upset anyone!”

“Anyone? Or you? Because it seems to me you're the one with the most at stake here.”

“Oh, really? Are you telling me if we all went down to lunch and I turned to the group and said, ‘Oh, by the way, Summer and I are sleeping together. We have a relationship and we're looking to see where it goes. Who's ready to go and see Zach now?' that nothing would happen? Do you honestly believe they are only going to direct their anger, opinions, and disappointment at me? No one is going to say a word to Summer? Seriously?”

“I hadn't thought of that,” James ceded miserably.

“Do you really think she needs that right now? Do you know she still feels guilty about Zach's accident? That she's been blaming herself for it?”

“What? Why?”

“Because of her campaign to try to get him not to go. She feels like she distracted him and he fell because of it. Then your father compounded her fears when he called and pretty much accused her of endangering Zach's life.” Now it was Ethan's turn to pace. “You were gone for a long time, James. You have no right to waltz back in now and start being the concerned big brother again. I know she's your sister and you love her, but there were a lot of times when she really needed you and you weren't there.” It was a low blow and Ethan was aware of it, but sometimes you had to play it that way.

“I was the one with her when she got the news about Zach,” Ethan continued. “And I was the one who held her while she cried and struggled with the role she thought she played in the whole thing.”

“I had no idea.”

“Of course you didn't. She's trying to be strong here in front of you and Ryder and her father, but behind closed doors, she's cried. A lot. Before the climb? She was a one-woman force to be reckoned with. She was so passionate about trying to get Zach to see things her way—all the while trying to learn a new job, in a new city—and not once did she ever crack.” He paused. “She's not a child anymore. She's got a lot on her plate. And we won't even go into whatever happened in New York. Do you really want to add to all that?”

“Aren't you?” James snapped. “I may have been gone for a long time, but that doesn't mean I didn't keep in touch. I may not have physically been there, but I did keep up with what was going on. She would call and we would talk. I may not have wanted anything to do with my father, but it had nothing to do with my relationship with my siblings. They knew they could call me anytime. I wasn't the best at initiating those calls, but I always knew what was going on.”

“I don't doubt that, James, I really don't. All I'm saying is you haven't spent a lot of time with her to truly know the woman Summer has grown into.”

“I was hoping to change that once I got settled back in North Carolina. I had no idea she was going to up and move to Portland.”

“No one did. Her arrival came as a bit of a shock to all of us.”

“At the time, my father and uncle thought it was for the best. They felt like maybe she needed a change of scenery and the chance to test the waters with the family business.”

“Zach was not happy about it at all. To be honest, they fought almost daily. I still don't get why he's so hard on her. She wasn't doing anything wrong; she's a hard worker and a fast learner. She did what she was told and never complained. I think he just resented her being there. And then Summer started to get vocal about the climb, and it was hard for them even to be in the same room together.”

“If I know my brother, it's a lot to do with what I was saying earlier. In our eyes, Summer's always going to be our little sister, the baby of the family.”

“But that's not fair,” Ethan said.

“That doesn't change it. Unfortunately.” James stood and looked down at the city below through the window. “Zach likes his independence and running the Portland office with little family interference. By sending Summer there, he had to deal with her—with family—and probably felt like they either sent her in to spy on him or he was going to be stuck babysitting her.”

“When she took off before the climb, and when I found her, she said she just wanted to stop being a distraction to Zach,” Ethan said. “She knew if she stayed, she'd be pestering him right up until he got on the plane. She thought leaving was the better solution.” Ethan thought of the sadness on her face the day he first saw her at the springs. “She so desperately wanted him to listen to her, to take her seriously. I think that's all she wants from all of you.”

“Geez, Ethan… That's not something that's going to happen overnight, if it even happens at all. And in our defense, Summer doesn't have the greatest track record. You can't blame us for acting the way we do when she's always kind of been a little irresponsible and flighty.”

“She's changed,” Ethan said. “Not to say she's not going to wake up one day and decide she wants to take up salsa dancing or wood carving, but it's just who she is and we're supposed to love her for it, not condemn her.”

“Do you?” James asked bluntly.

“Do I what?”

“Love her.”

Shit
. “That's not something I'm going to discuss with you when I haven't even discussed it with her.”

James chuckled. “If you can't admit it to me, then I have my answer. And it leads me to believe that you're just screwing around.”

Ethan rolled his eyes. “You have nothing, dammit! You're not a cop anymore and this isn't a damn interrogation—no matter what you might think. What goes on between me and Summer is between me and Summer. Not you. Not your family.”

“So what are you saying, Ethan? What do you think is going to happen from here?”

That was the million-dollar question. “Honestly?”

James nodded.

“I know I don't have any right to ask, but I am asking you not to say anything to anyone about this right now. You may not agree, but I'm trying to protect your sister from having any more guilt or lectures thrust upon her. I don't want anyone upsetting her. I certainly don't want to see her cry again.”

James huffed and stepped away from the window. “That's asking an awful lot. I don't know if I can just sit back and watch the two of you carrying on behind everyone's backs. It's not right.”

“Why?” Ethan demanded. “Why is this not right? It's none of anyone's business!”

“She's my sister! Geez, it's like we are going around in circles here, man, and I'm getting a little tired of it!”

“Just…just give us a little more time, okay? Let's get through getting Zach settled and figuring out how it's all going to work. At some point, everyone's going to have to go home. Ryder is anxious to get back to Casey and the baby; I know you're anxious to get back to Selena… There are so many other things going on right now that everyone is trying to deal with, why add this?”

James didn't have an answer. “All right. I'm not going to say anything to anyone, but believe me, Ethan, I'm watching you.”

“If you don't mind me asking, how did you even find out? We've been very careful.”