Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(39)

Had everything been a lie?

Had his mother and father begun their marriage with all the good intentions in the world only to see everything crumble? Would that happen to him and Holland?

He took a drink and slumped into one of two chairs that graced the balcony. This had been his quiet place as a child. When he would come home for the summer, he’d often hidden here when he needed to be alone.

He heard a rustling behind him and sighed because he should have remembered even back then, a certain sister of his had rarely left him in peace.

“Hey.” Augustine stepped out. She’d donned pajama bottoms and a tank top, sans bra, her feet bare and her hair all kinds of sexed up. From Maddox Crawford’s hands.

“Shouldn’t you go play with my friends? Gabe looked like he hadn’t fucked anyone today.” Dax was feeling mean.

Gus simply chuckled. “Wow. That was low, especially for you. What happened? Usually that sort of hypocrisy takes time. I at least get a ‘how’s it going, Gus’ before you start in on me.”

What was she talking about? He turned, watching as she sat in the opposite chair. “Hypocrisy?”

“Yes, Scotch-at-nine-in-the-morning guy. I called you a hypocrite. How many of my friends have you slept with? I’m betting given the fact that you’re still in last night’s clothes you slept with one very recently. What’s up with the tear in your slacks? Holland get a little rough with you?”

“It’s not the same. I’m serious about Holland.”

“Were you serious about my sorority sisters? Because you plowed through them.” Her voice dropped. “I’m sorry I called you a hypocrite, Dax. My feelings got hurt and I lashed out. You’re right. I’m not serious about Mad. The only people who should be serious about that boy are doctors who should try to solve the mystery of how he hasn’t contracted a sexually transmitted disease yet. We used protection, by the way. He’s not touching me without a glove. The trouble is, he’s really good in bed. And he doesn’t fall in love with me. All the rest of them do. That’s what I like about your friends. They’re realists.”

God, he hadn’t meant to make his sister feel bad. “I’m sorry, Gus. Though I would like to point out I’ve been way more circumspect about sleeping with your friends. I think Momma knows what you were doing.”

“Of course she does. I told her. She’s my mother, not some dried-up prude. Dax, I’m not married. I have a healthy sex drive. Well, I have a raging sex drive and I like it that way.”

“Just like dear old dad.” The words came out in a bitter huff. He hadn’t meant to say them out loud.

“Whoa, I can’t believe she told you about that.”

“You knew?” He shook his head.

“I figured it out a long time ago. I was here more than you were.” Gus hadn’t gone to boarding school. She’d put her foot down and told their parents she wanted to stay home, so she’d attended a nice private day school instead.

Sometimes he’d envied his sister. Mostly in the beginning because after he’d found his friends, he’d been happy to go back to Creighton every term.

“What gave Dad’s cheating away?” he asked.

“Dad would come home on leave and sometimes he and Mom would fight. He started sleeping in his office more often than not. Oh, he would tell me it was because he was working. That’s how I got used to bringing him his coffee there when I was home.” Her jaw tightened and there was no way she wasn’t remembering that last morning she’d brought their father his coffee.

“Did you know about the woman who wrote Mom?”

“After the fact,” Gus explained. “She told me later about that. And obviously we talked after Dad died.”

“But no one thought to mention it to me?”

“Mom didn’t want you to think poorly of Dad. You worshipped him . . . and you can be a little judgmental, as proven by your very dicklike actions this morning. You really think I’m like Dad? You think that because I like sex I’m hurting everyone around me?”

He turned to her, reaching for her hand. “No, you’re not hurting anyone. I’m being a dick, Gus. I’m sorry. I kind of got gut punched. I know what you’re doing with Mad. I’ve just seen how he can treat women.”

She raised a pale brow. “Quite well. I like Mad because he gives a damn about what a woman wants in bed. He has a reputation as a playboy, but he never lies about it. He’s up-front about what he wants and what he’s willing to give. All of your friends are. It’s what I like about them.”

“All of them?”

She didn’t even blush, simply reached over and poured him another drink. “Not all. Connor turned me down because he couldn’t sleep with his best friend’s sister. He’s a good egg. Do you have any idea how hard it was for a seventeen-year-old boy to turn all of this down?” She gestured vaguely toward her curves. “Gabe is too lean for me. Roman was fun. I actually liked him. We hooked up but that was a lifetime ago.”

“Not Zack, though.” Dax willed it to be true. “Definitely not Zack.”

“How do you think he got the nickname Scooter?”

“Oh, god.” He dropped his face in his hands. “So many things have gone wrong today.”