He could lay that at Oliver's feet, too. His older brother had taken the limo, leaving the rest of them to find their own ride. Luckily, a friend had dropped them home after the nasty row with Thea. She'd accused him of sleeping with whores. Had she been talking about Tori? What did she know about their relationship? The last thing he needed was Thea confronting Tori, though after seeing Tori's fierce anger, Callum wasn't quite as worried. Unfortunately, her fury had been aimed at him and Rory-the wrong brothers.
"You should go with her." Oliver nodded. "She needs you. I don't like the thought of her out in the world on her own. Trouble seems to follow her."
"Both of you are idiots, and I'm only going to have the rest of this conversation because she deserves to get what she wants. Though I have my worries that she no longer wants any of us." Rory set his glass down.
"What are you talking about?" The truth was, Callum didn't want to leave England. This was his home, but he couldn't see a way out of it now. He certainly couldn't see them being one big happy family.
"She won't run off with you, Cal. I know you think she will but she won't separate or hurt this family. She's got too much integrity. It's exactly why she hadn't given in to any one of us until tonight. Callum, how did you get her alone? I seriously doubt she jumped you in the conference room."
He felt himself flush. He wasn't proud of what he'd done. He'd thought she simply needed a little push to give into her desire. Once she had, she'd responded beautifully. "I might have told her I would exchange my silence about the false engagement for a kiss, and things might have escalated from there."
"You blackmailed her." Oliver's lips thinned to a judgmental line.
"It was only supposed to be a kiss. I was giving her the nudge she needed."
"To fuck you? At least I didn't blackmail her," Oliver snapped.
"So how did it happen?" Rory asked.
Oliver's eyes tightened, a sure sign he was feeling guilty. "I told you, trouble follows her. She was attacked as she walked into the building. We're lucky I have a key card."
Callum's gut knotted. "Attacked?"
"Well, she was walking around wearing ridiculously expensive jewelry, thanks to you," Oliver pointed out. "Though she had nearly been attacked recently, too."
"Are you serious?" Rory demanded.
"Like I said, trouble finds her. She must look like an easy target." Oliver shrugged. "Tonight, like last time, I fought the man off. When we reached her flat, the adrenaline kicked in. We ended up in bed. Everything was fine until … "
"You found out she was a virgin," Rory stated flatly.
"How did you know?" Oliver asked.
"She was really a virgin?" Callum could scarcely believe it. She was so beautiful, so sensual. How had she remained untouched all these years? Were American men idiots? Had he known her as a teen, he would have spent all his time trying to get into her knickers.
"Do you two know her at all?" Rory shook his head as though tired of the lot of them. "She was obviously inexperienced. I wasn't sure she was a virgin, but I knew she hadn't had more than one or two men in her life. After her parents died, she tried not to be a burden or create problems for her sister. She never got into the kinds of trouble other teenagers do. She went to school and she worked a job to help out Piper financially."
"How do you know this?" Callum demanded. He and Tori had talked about a lot of things, but mostly current events and things like movies she enjoyed.
"Because I asked her. I like her. That's a foolish thing to say. I love her." Rory looked as resolved as he sounded. "I wanted to know everything about her."
Another brother he had to compete with. "Yet you're willing to give her up for Oliver?"
Rory shook his head. "Not anymore."
"So you two will battle it out?" Oliver's shoulders drooped wearily.
How long had it been since he'd managed a decent night's sleep? Years, Callum would bet.
Before he or Rory could answer, Oliver sighed. "I told you she would tear us apart. It's why I tried to stay away from her."
"That's not the reason, and you know it." He was sick of his older brother's denial. "You stayed away from her because you're convinced every woman is Yasmin. I bet she wasn't a virgin when you took her the first time."
"No, she wasn't and she was also a liar. She claimed she'd had one lover, though now I'm sure it was many more. I didn't care. I don't care about virginity. It isn't some prize to be claimed. Though I think in Tori's case it was a gift she gave. I fear I rejected it quite harshly."