“We have a lot of the same classes, and we’re both student tutors,” she said. “I’m not exactly friends with her, but I know she cares about Oliver.”
“Logan didn’t mention her, but since Oliver’s only seen his immediate family, I’m guessing that doesn’t include Madison.” Adrian clasped his hands in his lap. “Anyway, Oliver’s expected to make a full recovery, so everyone’s grateful for that. But as I mentioned, Logan and I had a heart-to-heart this morning. After the scare he had with Oliver—especially in that first week, when the doctors weren’t sure if he was going to make it—he apparently had a ‘revelation.’ He said he was hypocritical in judging my family, especially when Oliver has more troubles than any of you, and apologized for breaking off our partnership.” He paused, glancing at Brett. “Logan said his snapping point was that black eye you gave Oliver before the midnight ribbon cutting—”
“Oliver was being a dick,” Brett said, clenching his fists. “If you knew what happened, you would have wanted to punch him, too.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Adrian chuckled. “But that’s no way to work through a problem, and Rebecca was right to have grounded you for the rest of summer. I’m just glad there haven’t been any reoccurrences of that behavior.”
“It’s the only time I’ve ever punched someone,” Brett said. “I think my hand was as bruised as Oliver’s face.”
“I don’t suppose you want to share why you punched him?”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Courtney jumped in. “It happened months ago. It’s over.”
No way was she telling Adrian about Oliver’s bet to sleep with her and her sisters before the end of summer—and that he’d succeeded with Peyton and had been trying to make moves on Courtney, too.
“Well, I hope you’ll work past your differences with Oliver,” Adrian said. “Or at least be civil with him. Because Logan’s revisiting the idea of us collaborating for the super hotel in Macau. If this goes through—which, judging from the way he was talking about it, it seems like it will—it should be our most successful hotel to date.”
“That’s amazing.” Courtney smiled. She’d felt guilty about what had happened last summer, but she’d figured there was no fixing it, so she’d stopped dwelling on it. Now, relief flooded her veins that she hadn’t messed everything up after all.
“Yes, it is,” Adrian said. “We’ll have two things to celebrate tonight—Savannah’s offer from that agent, and the new hotel in Macau. Anyway, I have some phone calls to make, but I’ll see you at dinner at eight at the Five Diamond.”
“Sounds good,” Courtney said.
“Congrats again,” Brett added. “When you talked about the plans for the hotel last year, it sounded like it’ll be awesome.”
“It certainly will be.” Adrian stood and headed for the door, flashing them one last smile. “Now I’ll let you get back to that studying.”
Once he was gone, Courtney let out a long breath and leaned back on the couch. “That was close,” she said. “What was Peyton thinking, sending Adrian in here without warning us? I’m seriously going to strangle her.” She stomped over to her bag and grabbed her cell, her chest heated.
She immediately saw two missed calls and three texts, all from Peyton.
1: Adrian just came over here and wants to talk to u! I told him ur at Brett’s studying...so be sure ur STUDYING! ;)
2: PICK UP YOUR CELL!! I tried to delay him, but he’s going to Brett’s and I know ur prob NOT studying!
3: If you get caught, this SO isn’t my fault.
“What happened?” Brett asked. “You’re staring at your phone with the same horrified look you get whenever a zombie pops out on The Walking Dead.”
“I am such an idiot!” Courtney threw her phone onto the couch and paced around the room. “I let my guard down, and we almost got caught. What if Adrian had come in here without knocking? Do you know how much trouble we would be in?”
“Relax.” He stood and held her hands in his, steadying her. “Adrian and my mom always knock. It was close, but we were fine. He believed the studying cover-up.”
Courtney glanced guiltily at the flash cards. “It shouldn’t have had to be a cover-up,” she said. “Because we have that quiz in AP history about our winter-break reading, and I’ve barely reviewed for it. I needed to spend the afternoon studying. Instead, you talked me into watching that TV show.”
“I thought we were having fun hanging out,” he said softly. “I wasn’t trying to mess up your studying.”
“Well, we didn’t get any studying done, and now we have that dinner tonight that’ll probably take forever.” She gathered her flash cards and textbook and shoved them into her bag. “You can ace a test by cramming the night before, but I’ve never been able to do that. And we’re about to start second semester junior year. I can’t let my grades drop. Especially since my PSAT scores weren’t as high as I wanted them to be.”
“Courtney.” Brett wrapped his arms around her from behind. “You’re right. If you want to study now, we’ll study, okay? I don’t want to distract you from doing well in school—I know how much your grades matter to you.”
She closed her eyes and relaxed into his arms, wishing they could go back to ten minutes ago—before Adrian had almost busted them, when she wasn’t thinking about anything except wanting to be with Brett. But she couldn’t do that. So she spun to face him, gathering the courage to say what she needed. “It’s more than my grades,” she said, forcing each word out. “You heard Adrian—that big hotel deal with Logan is back on again. I can’t mess it up for him a second time.”
“We won’t mess it up,” Brett said, his gaze steady. “Because this whole thing with Adrian and my mom not wanting us to be together is stupid. We care about each other, and no matter how much they don’t want us to feel that way, we can’t ignore it. We shouldn’t have to pretend anymore.”
“So what do you want to do?” she asked.
“Tell them the truth.”
“Just like that?” She shook her head, amazed by how easy he made it sound. “I know we were planning on telling them eventually, but now that the hotel deal is back on again, it changes everything. And I can’t get distracted this semester and let my grades drop.”
“What are you saying?” He dropped his arms to his sides. “You don’t want us to be together anymore?”
“After trying to keep my distance from you last semester, I know that won’t work,” she said. “But I do need time to think. And to study. Alone.”
“Are you sure?” He reached for her, and before she could process what was happening, he was kissing her again, so softly, as if begging her to stay.
Her heart jumped, and she kissed him back, but only for a few seconds before pulling away. When she looked into his eyes, so full of how much he cared for her, she wished everything wasn’t so complicated. But her family was counting on her—to be responsible, to get good grades, to follow the rules, to be the good example. And more important, she expected those things of herself.
“I’m sure,” she choked out. “But I don’t trust myself to get any studying done if I stay here, and I need to be ready for that quiz. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He traced her cheek with his fingers, and it took all her willpower not to lean into him and kiss him again. “I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
“Okay.”