IOU Sex Read Online Free Page B

to explain to him and, by the tense look that crossed his face, I wouldn’t be positioning myself better for this favor if I did.
    As it was, he demanded in an angry tone, “Why the hell are you going?”
    “Michael.” My heart sunk. Perhaps I was wrong. Quite possibly, this was one favor he wouldn’t grant me.
    He drove that point home with an unexpected outburst. “The guy cheated on you. With your sister!”
    “I am all too aware of that fact,” I said, my own temper now sparked. “Thank you very much for reminding me.”
    He pinned me with a serious look. “Now who’s lost their mind?”
    “Damn it.” I threw my hands up in the air. Thankfully, I wasn’t holding my wine at the time. “This isn’t easy for me, and you’re making it even harder. I have to go to this party. It would be really helpful to have someone with me who’s—”
    I lost my breath as those stupid tears filled my eyes again.
    Michael sighed. His look softened as he lifted a hand to my face and brushed away the drops rolling down my flushed cheeks.
    In a quiet voice, I continued. “It’d help if I had someone with me who’s on my side.”
    “Oh, Jesus.” He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me to him.
    I didn’t fight the tears this time. I let them all out, crying on Michael’s shoulder the way I had a year ago. He’d never hold my hurt feelings against me, whether my bruised pride was Seth or my family’s doing. He’d always been sympathetic and understanding of my sensitivity to these particular slights. One of the many things I adored about him.
    I had no idea how long I sobbed. In fact, I truly had no idea what I was so upset about. Because Seth was happier with Lizzie? That my little sister was getting married before me? Or was it because I felt trapped in my own life, unable to escape my family obligations even when they tore me apart?
    I’d proven I was strong enough to move on after the affair. That I was strong enough to forge my own path by starting a business outside the legal profession, the customary field for Carlisles.
    Why wasn’t I strong enough to stand up to my family and just say no when it came to this engagement party?
    Because they’re your family. A catch-22 I couldn’t escape.
    When I was doing little more than sniffling and hiccupping, I pulled away from Michael. “I’m sorry.”
    He shook his head. “Don’t be.”
    “I know I’m asking a lot, but—”
    “You’re not,” he said as he wiped away more tears with a cocktail napkin. “You know I’ll go. Of course, I’ll go. It’s just that your family…” He shook his head again, in obvious angst.
    “I know.”
    Yet, he felt compelled to say, “They don’t get you.”
    “No, they don’t.”
    It was an uphill battle I’d fought my entire life. Everyone expecting me to be just like them. Me wanting to stand on my own and be the person I wanted to be. I was fairly certain that was why my mother always took Lizzie’s side over mine. Even with the glaring facts of my sister’s twisted, immoral nature staring her in the face.
    As though he knew the direction in which my thoughts ran—and I’m sure he did because he was that perceptive—he said, “My guess is, your sister wanted Seth from the beginning. She was jealous you got into Harvard and she didn’t. She hated that you were dating someone from a more prestigious family than her boyfriend’s. And…you were happier than she was. Of course, she had to make a play for Seth.”
    I rolled my eyes at how shallow my sister could be. “I never threw any of that in her face.”
    “I’d never take you for the type to do that. No one would. Regardless, she couldn’t escape it.”
    “Yeah, well,” I said as I went for the wine again. “It takes two to tango, as they say.”
    “Lizzie is a looker.”
    “Michael.” I slammed my glass down, surprisingly not breaking the stem.
    He speared me with an honest look. “I didn’t say she’s as hot as you, but come on.