Just One Scandal (The Kingston Family #2) -Carly Phillips Page 0,61

right to tell her she didn’t love him or make light of her feelings.

“Rebound, my ass,” she muttered, zipping up her cosmetics case and finishing up her packing.

The last thing she wanted to do was leave Beck and the loft that had become her safe haven. She didn’t want to move in with Jordan and Linc, but she needed to be in the city, not an hour away at her mother’s. So she called Xander, and he’d willingly agreed to let her stay at his apartment uptown. As was typical, Xander was out at the Hamptons house anyway. Still, he promised to meet her at his apartment around ten with a spare key.

She’d called Linc and asked him to do his due diligence on the condo that interested her, but until she had a place of her own, she’d be at Xander’s.

She waited until Beck left for work before coming out of her room. His steps had echoed down the hall, and the beep of him unsetting the alarm sounded throughout the apartment.

Once she was alone, she called for an Uber and headed uptown. At least it was just Xander she’d be dealing with and not Linc. She’d just gotten her oldest brother to ease up on Beck, and when he found out about the end of their friendship/relationship/whatever the hell it had been, he’d lose the restraint he’d promised. Chloe wished she didn’t have to leave, but she had too much pride to stay.

She’d held herself together all last night and this morning. She was okay while her bags were loaded into the trunk of the car and as she climbed into the back seat. But as soon as she shut the door behind her, the tears began to fall.

* * *

Chloe met Xander at his apartment. Without asking questions, he told her to make herself comfortable and helped her drag her bags into the spare bedroom. It had closet space, and she didn’t want to take over her brother’s master bedroom in case he wanted to stay over. He’d left her alone to unpack, and eventually she heard voices in the outer rooms.

She stepped into the hall and headed to the living room, where, sure enough, she found Linc and Jordan with him. “Really?” she asked Xander.

He shrugged. “Linc happened to call while I was on my way to the city.”

“So you just had to tell him.” She glanced at her oldest sibling. “Did you come to gloat? To say I told you so?”

Linc’s compassionate gaze met hers, and she was taken off guard by the kindness in his eyes. “I never wanted you to get hurt.”

She blinked back the tears that threatened to fall again. “Well, it’s not like Beck didn’t warn me, you know? He said he didn’t do relationships, had no intention of falling in love, and would never marry. He was pretty specific, so I have only myself to blame for letting myself fall for him.”

“I’m not sure you can control who you fall in love with,” Jordan said softly, glancing up at Linc.

He nodded, his expression grim.

“But you can go into things with your eyes open and still have the rug ripped out from under you,” Xander muttered.

Sasha Keaton, Chloe thought. The famous actress who graced every red carpet, fashion magazine, and social media outlet these days. She and Xander had met before she’d become the It girl, and her brother had fallen hard and fast.

But Sasha had been younger than him and eager for stardom, and though Xander was in love with her, she’d broken his heart. Despite being a former marine with a tough exterior, Xander had a soft inside, and despite the trying to make it work, her ambition and the transient lifestyle had been too much. The breakup had gutted him. Years had passed and he hadn’t been serious about any woman since.

Unfortunately her brother’s words made a lot of sense. “I know what you mean,” Chloe said. “I can’t blame Beck just because I fell in love with him.” Her eyes filled and she swiped the moisture with the back of her hand.

“Are you sure it was love?” Linc asked. “I mean, you were getting married to someone else a couple of weeks ago. Maybe it’s just–”

“Don’t you dare say rebound,” Chloe said, stepping into her brother’s personal space. “I may have had my head in the sand about Owen, I admit that, but I spent time figuring out that I only wanted to marry him because I