If We Were Perfect - Ana Huang Page 0,59
chuckled nervously. “Be right back.”
The twins hauled ass out of the hot tub and disappeared into the house. Lydia, who hated confrontation, murmured something about checking on Amy and slipped out as well, leaving Kevin, Edison, and Olivia behind.
“Dude, not cool.” Kevin glared at Edison.
“What? It’s the truth. Besides, Sammy knows I didn’t mean anything by it.” Edison smirked at Sammy. “Right?”
“Right. But hey, you didn’t go to New York to visit me, remember?” Sammy lifted his shoulder in a casual shrug. “You went to meet with the dean of Columbia Law.”
Edison’s face clouded.
“Shame you never convinced him to let you in,” Sammy continued. “Not many people would’ve gone to the extra effort to show up in person to dispute an admissions decision.”
“Fuck you,” Edison snarled. “I got into Harvard. I fucking made partner before I’m forty. Who cares about Columbia?”
Updated “partner” word tally: fourteen. Sammy was definitely winning the bet.
“Weren’t you on the waitlist for Harvard?” Kevin draped his arms along the edge of the tub. “And didn’t you get in after banging the dean’s daughter? Funny how that works.”
“Shut up, Kevin. You didn’t even attend an Ivy League.”
“Where you go to school isn’t the be-all-end-all,” Olivia spoke up. She glared daggers at Edison, and damn if the sight didn’t send satisfaction curling through Sammy’s stomach. “I know plenty of Ivy League graduates who are jerks or miserable in their job, and plenty of non-Ivy League graduates who are happy and thriving. And I think being your own boss and building a business empire from scratch—the way Sammy did—is way more impressive than being a run-of-the-mill lawyer.”
Warmth glowed in Sammy’s chest.
“Really?” Edison’s eyes glittered with danger. “That’s not what you said when you called and asked me to come over after you and Sammy broke up in New York.” He flicked a triumphant glance in Sammy’s direction. “Oops. You didn’t know that, did ya? But you two were already kaput, so there was no reason for you to know.”
Just like that, the warmth died, and Sammy’s skin iced over. Olivia had called Edison? He’d assumed this cousin had come looking for him and they ran into each other. What the fuck was Edison insinuating? Had they done more than kiss? Had they slept together?
Sammy wanted to throw up.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kevin’s jaw drop and Olivia’s face turn bone-white.
“You’re a real fucking asshole, you know that?” Kevin shot a death glare at Edison.
“Aw, so sweet that big bro is coming to little bro’s defense. Maybe if Sammy wasn’t such a pussy—” The rest of Edison’s words came out as a strangle when Sammy closed the distance between them and slammed the asshole against the side of the tub. He closed his hand around his cousin’s throat—not enough to kill the guy, but enough to make him think he might kill him.
The smugness melted from Edison’s face, replaced with fear.
“Don’t mistake my tolerance for weakness,” Sammy said quietly. “I put up with you because we’re family, but if you say another nasty word toward me or anyone else I care about—if you so much as look at us the wrong way—I will rearrange your face until you’re unrecognizable to your own mother. And guess what? Other than your parents, no one will care.”
Everyone liked Sammy better, and they both knew it.
“Are we clear?”
Edison didn’t answer, his features a mask of angry defiance.
Sammy’s grip tightened. “I said, are we clear?”
“Yes,” Edison finally choked out.
Sammy released him, and the other man sagged, clutching his throat.
“You’re a crazy son of a bitch,” Edison gasped. “I’ll fucking sue you for assault.”
No, he wouldn’t. Edison was too vain and image-conscious to let other people know that Sammy—whom he’d always considered his “weaker” cousin because Sammy had a conscience—got one up on him.
Sammy didn’t bother responding. He splashed out of the tub and walked into the house, ignoring Olivia and Kevin’s calls.
Thank God he had his own room in the annex so he could stew by himself. There was an uneven number of guests, and they’d drawn straws to see who would get the single. Sammy had lucked out.
He stopped for a quick shower in the annex’s shared bathroom and wrapped a towel around his waist before heading to his room. He felt numb, and the events of the past hour floated through his head like scenes from a movie instead of his messed-up life.
What Edison and Olivia did or didn’t do that summer shouldn’t bother him, but dammit, it did.