Page 19

“I’ll forget it if you tell me what happened. See, I always saw them as friends. I knew they drifted apart when she moved overseas but I thought that was because his career took off,” I ask her.
Harper nibbles her bottom lip, and I can see she is contemplating whether or not to fill me in. “The two of them started off as friends, but those damn teenage hormones kicked in, and one night at a party, your brother kissed her and confessed he had a crush, and that was it, the two of them started dating. They dated all through high school, they were crowned king and queen at prom. Everyone knew the two of them were dating and they were so in love with each other. I’m still sosurprised her father never found out about them when it was all happening under his roof. It was college that broke them. Your brother became a big man on campus as the rising hockey star. He joined a fraternity and started to party heaps with his new friends. Girls started hanging around, even back then, puck bunnies were alive and well. Issy wasn’t a big party girl, but I was and would drag her out with our sorority house, mainly because I didn’t trust your brother,” she says, giving me a pointed look. Guess she was right. It’s funny hearing about this side of him because I never saw it, but I was looking at him through rose-colored glasses. “We arrived at a party late because it took me hours to convince her to go, and when we got to the frat house it was utter chaos. I knew then that something bad was about to go down. I dragged Issy up to Pierre’s room and pushed right in and that’s where we found him getting a blow job from some random girl. Issy was devastated, she couldn’t believe it. I always felt bad about that night because I knew your brother was cheating but never had concrete proof. A week later, Issy transferred to London,” she explains. Fuck. What a dick. “She refused to speak to him for years. Even when he became a big star and her father’s crown jewel, she never interacted with him. Not until her father’s funeral.” I had no idea. “Please, this must stay between us. Don’t tell your brother and never tell Issy.”
“I won’t say anything. Honestly, it puts things into perspective. I moved in with Mr. Alessi while Issy was in London. When Pierre came home for the holidays, I noticed Violetta and Evelina were cold toward him, but I thought they were just being bitches,” I tell her.
Harper bursts out laughing. “They probably were being bitches, but I think mostly they were sticking up for their sister.”
I shake my head. “Wow. I just … never thought my brother would do that.”
Harper rolls her eyes. “Why would you when he portrays this shiny, gorgeous, perfect life on social media?”
“You don’t think it’s real? He seems very happy with his fiancée. I’ve only met her a couple of times, but she always seems pleasant.”
“It’s my job to make people believe what they see on social media.” She says, giving me a wink. “Look, I’m not trying to be a bitch. He's your brother.”
“No. I get it. You’ve had a different experience with him than most other people.”
“And now I’m corrupting his little brother,” she teases.
“Very true.” I grin, giving her a wink as I dig back into my breakfast.
A comfortable silence falls between us as we sit and enjoy this beautiful morning. The sun is shining, I can hear the waves crashing as well as see the blue through the palms.
“I can’t remember the last time I sat at the beach and did nothing.” I shove some fruit into my mouth.
“You’ve hardly been doing nothing.” She grins. True. “Did you never go on any holidays with your ex?”
“She hated the beach unless we went somewhere like the Maldives or Bora Bora. But if we did go anywhere, she spent the entire time getting content.”
“Hard for me to get upset over an influencer creating content but I get it from your side. Maybe she used the content creation as an excuse not to be with you because she was screwing your friend,” Harper states.
“We never stopped having sex,” I tell her.
“Oh,” Harper nods, “I mean, to be fair, if you were in my bed every night, I’d probably screw you, too,” she says, bursting out laughing.
“That can be arranged.”
Harper’s jaw drops for a moment. “Anyway,” she says, trying to move on from that conversation. “Did you not take a lot of time out then if you never traveled much?”
“We do so much travel during the season, honestly, I like coming home and chilling. But if I do travel, I don’t want to be stuck in a pool all day.”
“You’re one of those travelers,” she teases as she sips her mimosa.
“I like to stay active.”
“You certainly do.” She grins, her eyes looking me up and down, letting the innuendo fall between us.
“Guess this place is starting to change my mind about spending the day lazing around.”
“It will do that to you. Honestly, it’s why I come here. It forces me to stop and unwind compared to a normal vacation,” Harper explains.
“Sex is a great distraction.”
“It most certainly is. It’s this island. Must be all the pheromones or something in the air. I don’t have this much sex when I’m back in New York.”
“Really? You’re not some sexual goddess at home? I don’t believe it.” I grin.
“Sexual goddess most of the time but I can be boring as shit back in the city.”