Terms + Conditions (Strangers #3)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

NOW

THE FRONT DOOR OPENS and closes, followed by a chorus of heeled footsteps through the foyer, around the fireplace, and into the living room. Nina appears and she looks pissed . She steps in front of the TV, blocking the football game.

Nick called me earlier, saying Nina was supposed to be handling some DV Designs business late, he was on baby duty if I wanted to come over for Monday Night Football and steaks. After the weekend I’d just had, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be around anyone, but it was better than going home to an empty house.

Nina’s glare doesn’t waver, her eyes glued to me. “Are you fucking dense?”

When I glance at my cousin, he shakes his head, brows raised. “Don’t look at me.”

Shit.

“I cannot believe you!” Nina hisses, trying to keep her voice down. “I didn’t think either of you could do something dumber than you already have…But you did!”

“Nin, I—”

“What kind of sick game are you playing, Josh?”

“It’s not a game!”

“Then why in the hell did you go this weekend? Do you not understand how—”

“I had to, Nina.”

“You should’ve said no!” Her voice echoes through the house. Nick jumps to check the baby monitor, but Elena remains blissfully unaware, asleep in her crib. Nina pinches the bridge of her nose, trying to recenter herself.

“I couldn’t, Nina.” My head falls in my hands. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“There’s always a choice.”

“Dee,” Nick finally interrupts. “He’s telling the truth.”

“And what do you know about it?” Her words are sharp against her husband. “Oh…You knew.” When I look up, her fury has turned on her husband, but Nick doesn’t back down. “You knew he was going this weekend.”

“Now, look—”

“Don’t you ‘now look,’ me. You knew, and you didn’t tell me? Are you fuc—”

“She invoked the Last Hoorah Clause ,” I say, cutting her off, and she whips her head toward me again. “It was part of the arrangement.”

“Oh, right.” Nina chuckles but forgets to add the humor to it. “The arranged fucking marriage. How could I forget?”

She starts to say something else but stops. Pressing her lips into a hard line, she shakes her head and storms out the back door. Her footsteps retreat down the steps and further into the backyard.

After a moment, Nick pats my back in a way that should be comforting, but it’s not. He starts to stand, to go after her, but I stop him. “No, this is on me. I need to do this.”

“Might want to take a glass of wine as a peace offering,” he says before I reach the door.

Nina sits in one of the chairs surrounding the fire pit, her hands dug deep in her pockets, her gaze locked on the flames. I approach with caution, knowing better than to poke the bear too early. Setting the whiskey glass (I decided this was a whiskey kind of conversation, not wine) next to her, I fall into the chair one away from her, leaving some buffer room. She doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t even move to take the glass as we sit in silence. My leg bounces uncontrollably and my stomach twists in different knots, making the steak from dinner find its way back up into my throat. It’s all too much. This is far worse than if she would just yell at me. The cold shoulder reminds me so much of her father, I feel like I’m back in his office after he discovered the truth.

We never used to be this way. Things used to be easy and fun, but since she discovered the truth, Nina and I have barely spoken. I think she’s been avoiding me. Avoiding confronting the truth about things, avoiding the hurt she must feel. I think she’s taking the whole thing harder than anyone because she was the hardest to fool.

“Please don’t,” she stops me when I attempt conversation.

“Nin—”

“Josh. Don’t. I can’t do this with you.”

“Can’t or won’t?” I ask finally earning her stare. “You have never been one to hold your tongue, Nina. Why are you doing it now?”

Nina doesn’t say anything, staring down into the flames.

“Look, you have every right to be mad at me—at us, but especially me. I lied to you…a lot. I betrayed your trust and took advantage of your family. But the one thing I can honestly say I never lied about is my love for Elizabeth. I hoped it wouldn’t come to this. We wouldn’t have to tell you guys anything because she and I could make it work, but…clearly, that didn’t happen. And, this weekend, I thought—”

Nina scoffs, meeting my gaze again, the fire dancing across her face. “You thought you could go this weekend and win her back, is that it?”

“I don’t know, Nina. I don’t—”

“You were just doing what you had to because of the contract, right? You were playing your part.” She shakes her head. “The problem is, you played it too well, Josh.”

“I wasn’t playing a part.”

“You were always playing a part.” Nina looks away again, this time letting the hurt cross her features. “You both were. It wasn’t just you.”

“Nin—”

“I just...I don’t understand. Either you want a divorce, or you don’t, but you can’t have it both ways.”

“I don’t.”

The confession hangs between us for a brief moment.

“I don’t want a divorce,” I say again. This is the first time I’ve admitted it out loud, and it hurts worse than I thought. “But, I don’t deserve her, Nina. I don’t deserve to be here, to be living the life I have had for the past ten years. I know that. I’ve always known that.”

“What are you talking about?” Nina’s stare is intense. “Josh, why would you say that? You’ve worked your ass off. You—”

“None of that matters anymore. She’s with Ryan.”

“Elizabeth is not with Ryan. They broke up.”

A dry chuckle, I shake my head. “She was last night. He was there when I dropped her off from Palm Valley.”

Nina doesn’t say anything, turning back toward the fire. She bites down on her cheek, thinking, and absentmindedly takes hold of the whiskey glass I set beside her. The amber liquid splashes up and down the walls as she twirls the bottom rip against the armrest. “I don’t understand,” she says, more to herself than me. Her chest rises and falls with a breath before she sits forward, planting her feet on the cement pavers. Her stare locks on me when she says, “You asked me why I haven’t said anything. The truth is, I wanted you two to figure this out on your own. And I thought you would. I never thought we would get to where we are now. When she told me the truth about all of this, I was hurt and I was angry. I felt betrayed, by both of you, but then I realized how I felt didn’t matter. And I firmly believed that regardless of why you got together you’d figure it out because you love each other. You always have.”

“We didn’t always get along.”

“But you stepped up that night at the ball…And you weren’t standing where I was. It was pretty obvious. I always thought there was something there, you guys were just too stubborn to realize it.” Nina reaches out to squeeze my hand. “Josh, I begged her not to file those papers. To talk to you. I thought I had convinced her, but then she filed anyway. She was so set on it. And then she met Ryan at one of our networking events and—”

“You introduced them?” I can’t hide the surprise in my voice.

Nina shrugs. “Inadvertently. And when I tried to warn her about what an asshole he is, it only pushed her further into his radius.”

“Were they together at your wedding?”

“No, as far as I know. But truthfully, I don’t know. I didn’t even know they were together until last month.”

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“I have spent the last year trying to convince her to make it work with you and the whole time…she was talking to him. The night you showed up at her house in Jupiter, she called me earlier that day to tell me the truth about Ryan. She thought things were finally getting serious after a year of secretly seeing each other.” Nina scoffs, shaking her head. “Josh, I don’t know what the truth is anymore. I thought Ryan went with her this weekend, but the next thing I know, I’m seeing a photo of you with them, not him. And when I called her, she told me everything, including the part where she told you she wanted you and then you left her—”

“What was I supposed to do Nina? He was there!”

Her brow lifts at my outburst.

I take a deep breath trying to recollect my thoughts. “He was there and she walked away from me to be with him.”

Nina bites on her bottom lip before swallowing the rest of the whiskey. “You say you don’t want this divorce, Josh, but you’re not fighting to stop it either.” Without waiting for a response, she stands from her chair and leaves.

I don’t watch her walk away, instead I stare into the dying flames of the fire. Scrubbing a hand down my face, I question if she’s right. This isn’t the first time someone has said that…Alex said the same thing at Thanksgiving.

And I think they might be right…I haven’t done anything to stop this divorce from happening. Not really. I’ve been too scared to face the possibility that even if I tell Elizabeth how I feel, she will still turn me down.

Not anymore.

I’m going to do just that, right now.

When I walk back inside, the current conversation between Nick and Nina halts. I can tell by the look on Nina’s face she has been rehashing our conversation outside with her husband. Stepping up to the island, I rap my fist on the marble countertop and suck my lips between my teeth before I clear my throat. “I’m…gonna drive down to Jupiter.”