I’m In Love With My Brother’s Best Friend?! – Episode 43
The upperclassman party overflowed through a large house near campus. Ryan enjoyed introducing Kaitlyn to friends who remembered her only as his kid sister. Cole stayed close without touching her.
Kaitlyn felt the distance as deliberate punishment. After promising himself he would confess, Cole still waited for the perfect moment. Fear kept moving that moment farther away.
Ryan noticed a man staring at her. Before Kaitlyn could respond, Mikey approached, resentful from their encounter at the bar.
He accused Kaitlyn of accepting free drinks all night and then leaving with Cole. His wounded pride transformed rejection into public cruelty.
Mikey claimed she was only one of hundreds of women Cole used. The campus rumors Amber created became ammunition again.
Ryan immediately stepped between them. He demanded to know what Mikey had said to his sister.
Certain of Cole’s innocence, Ryan insisted his best friend had not slept with Kaitlyn. Cole had probably been protecting her from men exactly like Mikey.
The defense made Kaitlyn wince. Her brother trusted Cole so completely that the truth would feel like deliberate betrayal.
Ryan announced that anyone who touched Kaitlyn would be removed from the party. His protective authority drew the attention of nearby guests.
Mikey challenged him. He boasted that his hand had been on Kaitlyn throughout the night at the bar and dared Ryan to throw him out.
Ryan seized him. Cole moved at the same moment, not to stop the fight but to ensure Mikey could not retaliate.
Mikey cursed them and insulted Kaitlyn as they dragged him toward the exit. Cole’s restraint broke at the degrading word.
He warned Mikey never to speak about Kaitlyn that way again. The pain he felt now would be nothing compared with what happened if he returned.
Ryan congratulated Cole. “Anything for Kaitlyn,” Cole replied, the depth of the statement invisible to everyone except her.
The two men left for a drink, bonded by protecting the same woman for profoundly different reasons. Kaitlyn felt trapped between gratitude and frustration.
Cole checked whether she was all right. She said she needed a moment alone and intended to go to the bathroom.
He offered to walk with her. The gesture might once have comforted her; tonight it felt like another substitute for honesty.
Kaitlyn refused. She told Cole she did not need him, though both knew the words were aimed at his earlier hesitation.
She walked away before he could answer. A voice inside her insisted she deserved someone who loved her more than he feared her brother.
Kaitlyn entered the bathroom expecting solitude. Instead, Amber stepped from beside the mirror and blocked the door, smiling as if she had been waiting for exactly this opportunity.