She couldn’t even bring herself to say it. Already she was crying into her hand and holding the phone away from her so he wouldn’t hear it.

When she brought it back to her ear, she caught the tail end of what he was saying “. . . just talk to me, Addison.”

“I can’t do this anymore. Clair needs me to focus on her and only her. This might not have happened if—”

“It was all me, Addison,” he said firmly. “I knew there was a risk. I just didn’t realize how big a risk—”

“And that’s exactly what I’m talking about,” she said, lifting her chin and trying to regain her composure because she needed to get through this without backing down. Already she was so tempted to just forget what she’d previously sworn she’d do if Clair made it through this. “I shouldn’t be exposing Clair or counting on others to understand how delicate she really is. I did because I got caught up in us.”

“But I know now. Believe me. I’ll never take a risk with her again. This incident will stay with me for the rest of my life. I promise I’ll take every precaution with her just like you do. I’ll do anything. Whatever you say, baby. Because I love you both, but please don’t—”

“If that’s the truth,” she said, her stupid voice giving out on her, so she tried again. “If that’s the truth, then you’ll respect my wishes when it comes to this. Please.”

“Anything but that, Addison. Please don’t shut me out. Give me one more chance to prove to you I can do this.”

“It’s not about you, AJ. This is about me. I don’t trust myself anymore. I can’t believe I let this happen.”

“But you didn’t! Your dad even said it was an honest mistake—my mistake—and I swear to you it’ll never happen again.”

Her mother stepped out of Clair’s room and motioned to her that Clair was awake again. Immediately, she was annoyed with herself. Even this kept her from being there when Clair woke. “Clair’s awake again. You can come see her if you want. We can still be friends but nothing else,” she said with even more determination. “I gotta go.”

Chapter 24

AJ

At least, Addison hadn’t cut him off completely. She was back to answering his calls and returning his texts. Though, she was obviously trying to keep to the topic of Clair. AJ decided as long as she didn’t cut him off he’d go along with this “friends” thing, at least until Clair fully recovered. Thankfully, Clair was improving every day. Addison had informed him she was even speaking now, a word here and there. She tired easily, but the doctors kept assuring Addison these were all good signs.

For someone who’d hardly ever cried in his life, AJ had been a fucking mess from day one. The thought of losing Clair was an unbearable one. So now the idea of losing them both was unacceptable. After what happened, he knew now without a doubt he couldn’t live without either one of his girls. He’d get Addison to agree one way or another, but he knew he needed to give her time. His only consolation now was that it appeared Clair was going to make a full recovery and Addison didn’t blame him for this, even though AJ would forever feel responsible.

Now that he wasn’t spending so much time with Addison or even on the phone with her, he’d dedicated his extra time to arming himself with information about food allergies. He felt like a complete idiot for not having done so sooner. It was beyond frightening to learn just how deadly allergies could be and how many people died or had severe reactions like Clair’s.

Never again.

He was jumping right on board with the overprotectiveness. The way he worried about his own siblings was proof that he’d have no issues being as overprotective about Clair’s allergies and anything else when it came to her and Addison.

Even what he was doing now was another reminder that he’d have no qualms about going above and beyond to make sure everything with his loved ones was okay. Nathan had since informed everyone that things between him and Kelli were over again. That was before AJ had even had a chance to talk to Isaiah about the odd behavior between him and Kelli.

But AJ had still wanted to ask Isaiah about it. He confirmed what AJ and Emi had suspected that, yes, Isaiah had met Kelli before Nathan ever started dating her. Yes, they’d had a “moment,” but Isaiah assured AJ that it was long before she started dating Nathan and she meant nothing to him. Of course, it’d been beyond annoying to know the bitch was clearly trying to play both brothers. Not only had she not broken things off with Nathan the minute she found out whose brother he was, but she was doing sneaky shit like going off with Isaiah at the restaurant in Los Angeles. The fact that Isaiah had lied to Emi about what they’d been discussing the night of the awards hadn’t sat well with AJ either.

Isaiah’s trying to make their moment sound as insignificant as he first had didn’t hold up for long either. After Isaiah admitted her leaving in tears that day in Los Angeles had nothing to do with her mother being in an accident and everything to do with his refusal to give her the time of day now that she was seeing Nathan, he had no choice but to admit the truth. AJ played back the conversation in his head, feeling just as annoyed as he did then.

“Why would she leave in tears if all you two ever had was a moment?”

Isaiah had breathed in a bit exasperated. “It was supposed to be a one-night thing. We didn’t even exchange last names. But it ended up being an entire weekend in a hotel room. By the time the weekend was over, I thought we were onto something, but then she never returned my calls or texts.”

“So what’s the bitch crying about now?”

Infuriatingly, Isaiah had actually come to her defense. “Slow down,” he’d said, sounding uncharacteristically annoyed with AJ. “She’s not a bitch.” Before AJ had been able to pounce back at that, Isaiah had held up a hand. “She’s got issues you wouldn’t understand, but regardless, you know I’d never hook up with any girl either of my brothers had ever been with. So relax; nothing’s happening between her and me. The day after I realized Nathan was seeing her when he brought her to Manny’s, she finally text me. She started to give me some bullshit about how busy she’d been and how she didn’t realize she had feelings for me until she saw me there, but I shot her down immediately, told her there was no way anything between her and me would ever happen again now that she’d dated my brother, and hung up. But she kept calling and texting. She claims she would’ve broken up with Nathan as soon as she found out, but only continued to see him because I wasn’t taking her calls and she really wanted to explain herself. I’ve listened to some of what she’s explained. Still doesn’t change the fact that I wouldn’t do that to Nate. She also claims she never slept with him.”

That snapped AJ out of his ready-to-cuss mood. He’d actually scoffed. Nathan date someone he wasn’t banging? It was absolutely laughable. Ironically, it seemed it was what AJ might be doing for a while now too.

Isaiah had gone on to explain that Kelli claimed she thought it was why Nathan was so infatuated with her. The fact that she wasn’t giving him any sex was a challenge. It was like he was determined to nail her yet. Despite her having broken things off with Nathan, he was still inviting her to go out with him.

Nathan had walked in on AJ and Isaiah’s conversation but didn’t catch any of it, only stared at them both and laughed, asking why they both looked so weird. Isaiah had changed the subject entirely and turned it into something about his broken leg and his meds. With Nathan being done with Kelli, the whole subject should be a moot one now. But AJ knew better. He wasn’t buying that Nathan was done trying to get in this girl’s pants. Moreover, from his reaction to AJ’s comments about her and the fact that he’d brought her around the family, it appeared he was feeling more for her than just something physical. The guy wasn’t going to give up on her so easily, and Isaiah knew better than anyone if Nathan brought her around AJ again, he was not going to keep his mouth shut. She was using Nathan to get to Isaiah, and AJ wasn’t having it.