Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,46

lied to me,” I said.

His eyes widened and he sat up, and in that instant I knew what he thought I was referring to. Knew he was thinking about his cancer, about what went down yesterday when he was puking and saying he’d had six beers. But that’s for another day. Right then, I was too enraged about him driving Landon out of town.

“Uh, what?”

“You always told me you didn’t know why Landon left town. You lied.”

He sat back, his brow furrowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Three years ago,” I snapped. “You knew he’d been with me in my room, and you hit him. You insulted him. Don’t you think I deserved to know, instead of always wondering why he just took off without a word to me?”

Matt glanced at the front door and then back at me, taking in the clothing I’d been wearing yesterday when I left. “Jesus Christ, Taryn, are you sleeping with him?”

“Tell me the truth about three years ago,” I said. “Tell me what you said to him.”

“I told him he wasn’t good enough for you. He’ still not.”

“He calls you his best friend, Matt. How can you think so little of him?”

“He is my best friend. I would trust him with my life,” he said rubbing at his eyes before looking at up at me. “But not with yours.”

“You lied to me, Matt. You made me believe he didn’t care about me.”

“Oh he cared. He thought he was falling in love with you.”

I was temporarily unable to form my next thought, some of the anger fizzing out. “What?”

“He told me he thought he loved you.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. Landon certainly hadn’t mentioned that tidbit. “And?”

“And I took a swing at him.”

“What the hell, Matt?”

Matt sighed, as if explaining simple addition to a child. “If he told you he was falling in love, I knew it would be game over. You’d believe every promise he made. But that’s the thing about Landon. He makes a lot of promises he can’t keep.” He glanced over at me again. “Don’t you remember? You’d gotten your UW acceptance letter that week. You were going places and he would’ve derailed all of that. I couldn’t let him do that to you.”

“You are such an asshole,” I said. “You had no right.”

“Oh really?” He said, standing up and walking over to me. “Tell me, Taryn, why are you home at 7AM, looking like you’ve been crying?”

Some of the anger I wanted to direct at my brother fizzled out, and I looked down at the floor. My eyes were probably red-rimmed and bloodshot. There was no denying it. “It’s none of your business.”

“Tell me, since we’re being so honest with one another suddenly,” he said.

I swallowed. Did my brother know that Landon had gotten married? “Something happened and I’m a little upset,” I said. “But it’s not your business.”

“Something always happens between Landon and women. That’s what I’ve spent years trying to spare you from.”

I hated that he was right, and I hated that I trusted Landon, and I hated this whole fucking day. Anger spiraled into fury.

“Stay out of my life, Matt,” I said, and then turned away, bounding up the steps to my room. Like a petulant child, I slammed my door, and then went to my closet and yanked out my suitcase. I threw it down on my bed, and then pulled my cell phone out of my pocket.

He answered in one ring.

“Professor Valdez?” I asked, my voice strong with certainty. “You’re right. About everything. I want to take the internship.”

Chapter 3

Dallas was muggy. I’d expected to feel dry, desert-like heat, but the moisture in the air stuck to my skin, weighing me down.

I rolled my suitcase down the sidewalk, wondering if I’d packed the right clothes. The furthest I’d ever traveled was Southern Oregon, but Summer in Texas was so much hotter. Hopefully the lab was air conditioned.

I grabbed the first cab in line, and the driver helped me shove my oversized suit case into the trunk. Moments later we were barreling down the road, the car’s pathetic air-conditioning vent doing all it could to keep my thighs from sticking to the seat. I expected him to go all the way downtown, to where the skyscrapers and the glossy buildings beckoned. That’s where the lab was, nestled between two skyscrapers.

Instead, he slowed on the outskirts of the city, taking an exit and turning right. I wanted to tell him he must have it wrong,