His office door slammed closed with so much force the painting on the wall shook. Immediately, Christopher spun his chair around and came to his feet. He wasn't expecting any visitors and his sister wouldn't slam the door with such force.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Hall?” Jake moved toward Christopher’s desk, his jaw clenched tightly. "First you make my sister miserable, then you blow me off." Jake walked around the desk and stopped when they were only a foot apart.
Christopher almost wanted to laugh. He'd made Sara miserable? More like it was the other way around. She'd been the one making the accusations. "I don't think you got the whole story. She told me to leave."
Jake crossed his arms across his chest. "I know all about that. But you haven't even tried to talk to her."
Why should he bother? If she could think he'd used her for his own gains, she didn't trust him at all. How could they have a relationship if she didn't trust him? "It's none of your business, Jake."
"When my sister is miserable and heartbroken because of you, it becomes my business." Jake took a step closer.
"Heartbroken?" Christopher laughed bitterly at the absurd idea. "She'll move on in no time. She admitted to me after your wedding that going from guy to guy is normal for her."
Since the breakup he'd forced himself not to picture her with another man. Now that he mentioned it though, the image filled his mind. His hands balled up into fists as he pictured her lying next to some Washington politician, her silky blonde hair draped across a pillow as she slept.
"She told you what? And you believed her?"
Perhaps her exact words that morning in Hawaii had been more like things like this happen all the time but they were arguing semantics. "Something along those lines."
"She lied to you. You're the first guy she's been with since Phillip Young."
Phillip Young, the name sounded familiar. Christopher searched his memory.
"She broke up with him a few years ago when she learned he started their relationship to dig up dirt on our father during the campaign."
A light bulb went on inside his head. Phillip was the guy giving her a hard time at the fundraiser. He looked like the blackmailing type. "Okay, fine. She doesn't sleep around. That doesn't change a thing. If she wants to talk, she knows how to contact me. And just for the record I didn't use our relationship to get that contract."
"You have no idea the number Phillip did on her." Jake ran a hand through his hair. “She hasn't been herself since. She was finally getting back to normal with you."
The anger he felt toward Jake for calling him out like this shifted to Phillip. The night he'd met him at the fundraiser he wanted to punch him because of the hard time he gave Sara. Now with this new knowledge he longed for the opportunity to do much worse. "I get it Jake, but that doesn't change the facts. She told me to leave." The final conversation was etched in his mind, right down to the expression on her face and the way she stood.
Jake took a step closer, his face a mask of controlled anger. "You're being an ass, you know that?"
Christopher teetered between telling Jake off and punching him in the face. Either move would be bad for their friendship. Instinctively, his hand formed a fist again. "I think you should leave, Sherbrooke." Christopher spoke through clenched teeth.
Jake narrowed his eyes as his jaw worked overtime grinding his teeth to dust. "Whatever. It's your loss."
Before Christopher could respond, Jake marched out of the room and slammed the door behind him. Dammit. What a mess he created. Christopher dropped back down into his chair and swirled around so he faced the window overlooking the garden. How much of what Jake said could he believe? Usually he'd say every word, but not this time. Sara's lack of trust in him cut deep even now, weeks after their argument. No matter how he felt, if any chance of them getting back together existed, she would have to make the first move. He'd attempted to argue his side that night and she refused to listen. He wasn't going to confront her again just so she could make more absurd accusations. Who in their right mind would want to set themselves up for that type of treatment?
Long after the sun disappeared from the sky, Christopher remained looking out the window with a tiny seed of an idea in his head. While he would not confront her again and beg her to take him back, maybe he
could prove to her that he hadn't manipulated her into a relationship for his own benefit.