Jilted

Chapter 1

ERIC

I need to see you before the wedding.

A text like that would’ve stopped me in my tracks no matter what.

If it had come from one of our vendors, I’d have instantly worried that something had gone horribly wrong.

Had my rental tux been lost or destroyed or something?

Had the catering company been condemned by the health department?

Had the venue burned to the ground? And if it had come from a friend or a relative, I could only imagine what would’ve gone through my mind.

Those words on my screen were the panic-inducing grandaddy of we need to talk.

When they came from the guy my fiancée and I’d had a threesome with a year ago?

Yeah. I had questions.

I glanced at Selena, who was on the other and of the couch, deep in a group chat with her bridesmaids. My first instinct was to ask her if she knew what the message was about. Had Jesse contacted her, too? What was going on?

But her stress level had been at about a twelve lately, and with less than two weeks to go before our big day, that was only getting worse.

I didn’t need to pile on her. Not about this.

Not until I had some idea of why he needed to see me.

If his text had me this edgy and nervous, it would probably drive her to tears.

So I quietly responded to him without saying a word to her.

What’s this about?

The three gray dots appeared as he started typing, and my heart jumped into my throat. What was this about?

He stopped and started a few times before a message finally came through.

Probably best face-to-face. I know that sounds cryptic and ominous, but some conversations are better in person.

Cryptic and ominous were understatements. So was describing myself as both irritated and uneasy. I was torn between wanting to demand he just fucking spill it already, and… and I didn’t know what else to do.

Before I could respond at all, Jesse started typing again. Gnawing my lip, I stared at the screen and waited until more words appeared.

Can you meet me somewhere? Tell me when and where, and I’ll be there.

There was a pause, then one more message:

ONLY you.

My anxiety ratcheted up by several notches. I glanced at Selena, who was laughing softly at something on her screen. Even as she laughed, the stress of the past few months—especially the last week or two—showed in her eyes and the creases in her forehead.

I was instantly pissed at Jesse for wanting me to hide something from her, but really—even if he’d wanted to see both of us, I didn’t think I’d have said anything.

She was already hanging by a fraying thread; whatever was on his mind, she didn’t need to be looped in until I at least had a bead on the situation.

She must’ve sensed me watching her because she turned to me, and she smiled, some of the anxiety smoothing out of her expression. Some. Not all.

I returned the smile, and then we both shifted our focus back to our phones. Hopefully her bridesmaids were sharing silly memes and chatting about her upcoming bachelorette, which was happening this weekend. They were good at keeping her calm and relaxed.

I usually was too, but right now, I was anything but calm or relaxed myself.

I gritted my teeth as I thumbed out a text to Jesse.

I need some kind of hint from you. Do you have any idea how stressed we are this close to the wedding?

I know. And I’m sorry. Really. If I could think of any other way, I would. I promise.

Any other way to WHAT?

Like I said, I need to see you face to face. Any time, any place.

If Selena hadn’t been here, I’d have thrown my phone across the room, then snatched it up, FaceTimed him, and demanded he spell it out.

But she was here. And though it was tempting to just block him and not bother tugging at this thread, I wouldn’t be able to relax until I knew what this was about.

Not that I could imagine anything he’d need to tell us.

We’d fooled around with him one time because while Selena had had threesomes before, she’d never experienced one with a couple of bisexual guys.

She’d wanted to know what it was like to be with two men who were as into each other as we were into her.

So, I’d set it up for her birthday. I’d found a willing participant on a hookup app, we’d all met up beforehand to see if there was chemistry, and then we’d taken him into our bed. It was fun, too. I had no regrets.

I just couldn’t imagine why he would suddenly need to talk to me, alone, face-to-face, before the wedding. It wasn’t like anyone had gotten pregnant or contracted something; Selena definitely wasn’t pregnant and we’d all had STI tests before the threesome. So what the hell was going on?

I fought back an exasperated sigh and texted him back.

Fine. Can you meet me tomorrow on my lunch break? 1pm?

I included the address of a coffee shop near my office.

He responded almost immediately that he’d see me there, and that again, he was sorry.

I replied with a thumbs-up.

And I doubted I’d be able to relax at all between now and then.

I didn’t usually come to this coffee shop. It was closer to my office than the one I preferred, but it wasn’t nearly as good. That was exactly why I’d picked it—my gut said this conversation was going to be unpleasant somehow, and I didn’t want it tainting a place I frequented.

I had to give Jesse credit, too—he didn’t keep me waiting.

I’d barely sat down at a table by the back wall with a mediocre cup of coffee and a stale pastry when he walked in.

My heart skipped. I briefly registered that he was still as sexy as he’d been a year ago, and some very hot, naked memories flashed through my mind.

Otherwise, my focus snapped to wondering again why we were doing this.

Especially when I saw how clearly nervous he was as he crossed the room.

Jesse was a little taller than me—around six foot, maybe six-one—with broad shoulders that had made my mouth water after his shirt had come off.

He wasn’t a huge guy, but the way he was folded in on himself—as if both cringing and bracing for something—made him seem a lot smaller than he was.

He was fair-skinned to begin with, and the lack of color in his face had alarm bells clanging in my head.

That got even worse when he took the chair across from me and met my gaze, his pallor emphasizing the dark shadows under his hazel-leaning-green eyes.

He wrung his hands beneath the table as he studied me. Then he cut his eyes away from mine and swallowed hard. “I, uh… Thanks for—”

“Yeah, yeah.” I waved a hand and let some irritation slip into my voice. “Any chance we can cut to the chase? Because I’m stressed as hell about this wedding, and now I’ve got a sleepless night on top of it all.”

He winced, lips pulling tight as he avoided my gaze. I felt a little guilty for the bitchy comment, but what could I say? This was weird and I was bitchy about it. Did he have any idea how much his texts had—

“Selena told me you guys split up.” The words came out evenly and so quietly they barely carried across the table.

I blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

Jesse gulped. Then he took a deep breath and looked at me across the table. “About a month after—after we all met, she texted me. Told me you two had broken up.”

I stared at him. What the fuck was he…

He dug into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and tapped the screen a few times. Then he slid it across the table.

Blood pounded in my ears as I picked it up.

“There’s about a dozen screenshots,” he murmured, gesturing for me to swipe through them.

My mouth went dry. Somewhere deep in the pit of my stomach was the realization of what he was getting at and where this was going, but shock and denial held fast. With my heart slamming into my ribs, I read the screenshots.

Selena

Just wanted to let you know Eric and I broke up. (crying emoji)

What? That sucks!

I know. He couldn’t handle the threesome.

Oh shit. It was because of that?

Yeah. He said watching me with another guy was too much. (crying emoji)

I slid the phone away as acid rose in my throat. I didn’t need to read any more. I couldn’t. Between the texts and this whole weird meeting, I could put the pieces together. I’d probably puke if I did read them, and that had nothing to do with the crap coffee I’d been drinking.

Jesse picked up the phone and turned it between his fingers as if he needed something to do with his hands. “I swear to God, I had no idea you two were still together. I definitely had no idea you were getting married.”

Closing my eyes, I pushed out a long breath. This was so much. So, so damn much. I didn’t want to believe it, but… I mean, what if he was telling the truth?

Then again, what if he was lying?

I met his gaze again. “Texts can be fabricated.”

His expression didn’t even twitch. With a soft sigh, he focused on his phone again. A few taps, and he showed me the screen.

And God, I wished I’d just taken him at his word.

The selfie he’d taken with her was just so… her. Those eyes, that smile—that was Selena, through and through. And there he was, kissing her on the cheek.

He thumbed away from that photo, and what appeared this time was a video. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’t not watch.

They were in the crowd at a concert. She was filming, focusing on herself, then him, then the stage, before coming back to them. He grinned at the camera, wrapped an arm around her waist, and—

This time I did look away, because while it had been hot as fuck to watch them make out in our bed while he was railing her, I couldn’t stomach watching them kiss on that screen.

Not while they were in the crowd at that concert she’d told me she was going to with “some girls from work.” Not while she had on that sexy black blouse she’d been wearing when she’d left.

“So when you get home,” I’d murmured to her between kisses, “I get to take this thing off, right?”

She’d grinned against my lips. “If you’re still awake, I’m all yours.”