My voice was small when I finally spoke. “Why are you here?” It wasn’t exactly what I’d wanted to say, but there was a point and I was going to get to it.

I hope.

He frowned. “Shouldn’t that be my question?”

“August, you don’t belong here. And I think you know that.”

His jaw hardened and he looked away.

“How long have you been covering for him? Why are you letting him take this away from you?”

He looked bored. “Is that all? Because this could have just been a message left with my assistant.”

I blinked.

No. I don’t offend easily. Not anymore.

“I know how much you love it. And that it probably hurt like hell to give it all up again to Troy.”

His head snapped to me. “What do you mean again?”

“I have a feeling this isn’t the first time you covered for him. You’re the reason he made it there in the first place, isn’t it?”

He stood, turning toward the window and I had my confirmation.

“August, why would you do that? This…” I stretched my arm out across the lavish space, “isn’t you. You’re wasting…”

He came around the desk but didn’t approach me. “Don’t talk to me about wasting away. I’m not the one waiting for someone to come knocking on my door while I swirl lattes. You have a talent that you chose to do nothing with too, so don’t come barging in here pretending to be the wiser of us both.”

His words were cutting—but I pushed through, my voice painfully smaller. “I’m not pretending to know more. I just know you’re letting him take it away.”

“Enough, Harper. This isn’t a joke. This is a place of business. Not a coffee shop. I do real work here. You can’t just burst in demanding answers from me on something you know nothing about.”

My eyes pricked. “You don’t have to be so mean,” I whispered. “I know you’re upset with me for playing along—”

“Exactly. You played along, pretending I was my brother.”

“You have it all wrong,” the words dragged out of me like a broken record. “I just wanted you to be you.”

“This is who I am Harper,” he howled, spreading his arms around his office. “I’m not warm, I’m not gentle. I’m not the man I was with you.”

I stared blankly, lost for words. When my eyes began to prick, I swallowed hard. “So…now you’re—” I was going to say breaking up with me but maybe he already had, and I didn’t realize it? Maybe we were never anything for there to be a breakup?

“Now, I’m waiting for you to leave so I can get back to work with adults. Not children who just can’t seem to move past a five-year-old broken heart.”