Faked (Ward Family #2)(59)

"I promised my sister I'd give you a chance," Lia said. "Because she's never ..." she shook her head. "This is new, for Claire. Being in a relationship like this."

Her candor eased an admission from my lips. "For me too."

Lia smiled. "I know. I've heard." When I lifted an eyebrow, she held up her hands. "Sorry. I have almost ten years of thinking about you a certain way, and your brother lectured me about that on the way here. That you and Claire have nothing to do with whatever it is between you and your parents."

The idea that Golden Boy was defending me at all had me rocking back on my heels slightly. "Did he?"

"Yeah. Finn isn't like his mom, you know. He doesn't hold any of that against you. The distance between you and them."

I nodded slowly. "Finn is a more forgiving person than I am. I guess I should be grateful for that right now."

"Yeah, you owe me and him pretty big, if you think about it."

"I suppose I do," I conceded.

"Not like I can take credit for Finn getting sick." Lia shrugged. "Though, if he'd warned me, Claire would've bailed in a hot second."

I tilted my head. "You think?"

"I mean, you guys talked about why she went, right?"

"We did," I hedged. Because we had, just ... not a lot.

"They're too much alike, you know. That's probably why I never worried about it." Lia glanced into the kitchen. "She probably doesn't even realize I knew she liked him."

Following the line of her gaze was impossible to resist, and even though it should have been a tiny thing, to realize that she'd gone because of Finn, to spend time with Finn, it suddenly felt really, really big.

Standing on the edge of the mountain big.

If I'd felt like a lost cause before what Lia had said, it was nothing in comparison to how I felt now. If she'd dropped the proverbial anvil on my head, it would have had less of an effect.

Of course, Claire went because of Finn. Everyone, including the woman I was trying so hard for, would've preferred him.

The nice brother. The smart brother. The one who wouldn't embarrass her or himself.

"But you wanted to make sure I knew," I said in a quiet, dangerous tone.

Lia's eyes jerked back to me, wide and shocked in her face. "Umm, given the giant heart-eyed, lady boner you've turned my sister into, I assumed she told you that's why she agreed, considering you guys had nothing but time to talk for days."

I folded my arms over my chest and tried to stop looking at Finn standing next to Claire in the kitchen. He was pouring her a glass of wine, laughing in a friendly way at something she said.

Lia grabbed my arm, and I pried my gaze away from the scene in the kitchen.

"She didn't tell me."

Her eyes widened even further. "Bauer, I'm so sorry. I didn't ..." She shook her head. "This is not a big deal, I swear."

My harsh, low laughter had her tightening her grip on my arm.

"Hey, I'm serious. The reason this is not a big deal is because I knew Claire would meet someone who was a better fit for her than Finn. They're basically the same person, and she needs someone who will push her when she needs to be pushed." Her fingers tightened. "Her crush was harmless, okay? Finn has never looked at her like that."

My silence was starting to freak her out, but my teeth were clenched too tightly for me to try to say anything.

I chose a hell of a way to dive into the dating pool, hadn't I?

With a woman, who was already too good for me, but now I had to come to terms with the fact that I'd only gotten my shot because she'd been pining for my little brother for years. My eyes drifted back to them, a golden couple, with dark hair and big brains and kind hearts.

"Bauer," Lia snapped. "Look at me."

I did, and she immediately started shaking her head at what she saw.

"No, don't you shut down on her because of this. I will tell her this is my fault, and she will forgive me." Her voice got wobbly. "She's my twin, and that's how I knew, because sometimes we know things about each other that we don't even want to know, but simply because we feel it, okay? But please, please don't break her heart right now because of whatever weird dynamic you have with Finn. Please."

It was the wobble in her voice that had me pausing.

My inner skeptic was roaring that Lia did this on purpose, but I didn't think she'd be able to fake the panic stamped over her face or the emotion in her voice.

"You have five minutes to tell her before I pull her aside," I told Lia. "Because there's no way I can sit through a dinner, staring at them, and pretend I'm okay with what you just told me."

"What are you two doing back here?" Claire asked. She was approaching us with a smile, but I could see the cautious curiosity.

Lia shared a panicked, begging look with me. "I'm just running my mouth, and Bauer is ..."

Claire's face started falling, and as her blue, blue eyes studied me, I saw her shoulders tense up. "Bauer is what?"

"I told her I'd give you five minutes," I said flatly. "I'll wait outside. I can't go in there right now."

"Bauer, wait," Claire begged, reaching out to grab my arm. I stopped because yeah, my mind was racing, and there was no way in hell I could fake anything in front of her family, not the first night I was meeting them, but if I ripped my arm out her grasp right now ...