Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
JULIETTE
Iwatched Griffin sleep beside me, shirtless, his bare chest rising and falling with each breath, the sheet riding low on his hips, one leg kicked free.
He was all muscle, no fat, his body a testament to discipline and grit.
A large blob of drool pooled at the corner of his mouth.
I lifted my hand to wipe it away, but his hand came up to scratch his cheek.
Eye to eye with his gold wedding band, I cussed in my head.
What had I done?
You got married. To a complete stranger.
Right. But why? Had this man slipped something into my water bottle on that hike? Was I having some kind of mental break? Maybe I had a Jekyll-and-Hyde thing going on that no one had told me about.
I’d ask Fallon.
When I’d gotten back to town, Fallon had met me at In-N-Out. While Griffin was in the bathroom, she’d slipped in just long enough to trade phones. I crept out of bed and across to the bathroom, where I’d stowed my cell in my zipped-up makeup bag. Then I padded back and climbed in beside Griffin.
I glanced over just as he smiled in his sleep. I let out a sigh.
He was happy.
And he made me happy. Really happy. That’s why I married him.
This might be the best decision you’ve ever made. Peace settled in my chest, seconding that notion.
But it was immediately doused by an incoming text. I squeaked and nearly threw my phone off the bed.
Cecil
Why are you at the Venetian, Juliette? Fallon gave some lame excuse about you being sick. But she lies like she’s reading off cue cards.
Fallon. But it was my fault. That’s what I got for making her lie. I should’ve just ditched my phone and not told her. She couldn’t lie if she didn’t know the truth.
Cecil
Do I need to remind you that the meeting is mandatory? Also, turn on your location. Having it off is against your contract!
I tapped the message, a dozen cutting retorts on the tip of my tongue. Call me strong-willed, but something in me went cold every time he used that tone.
Cecil
Ah, she lives. The read receipts are on, by the way.
Of course, they were on. That was also in my contract.
As I sat there, trying to figure out what to do, I looked down at my hand — the two-carat oval-cut diamond Griffin had given me.
Its thin gold band was dotted with a few carefully placed diamonds.
I’d told him we didn’t need rings—we could get them later.
But he’d insisted. Then he’d dragged me from store to store, insisting we not stop until “you find one that feels like you. You need to be so in love with this ring that it lasts the rest of your life. The rest of forever. Just like our marriage will.”
I watched Griffin again, wishing Cecil and the meeting didn’t exist. And that I wasn’t making it worse for myself every second I didn’t respond.
Griffin smiled and moaned, “Jules.” My name on his lips melted me. He must’ve been dreaming of last night. The best night of his life, he’d said at least twenty times.
It was the best night of mine too. Being with Griffin wasn’t at all what I’d expected.
We hadn’t had sex.
We’d made love.
A lot of it.
My skin tingled at the memory. The words he’d whispered, the gentle kisses, the respect. His promises of a bright future together.
A bright future together? Ha! Girl. By marrying him, you’ve all but guaranteed your future is dark and disastrous.
The phone buzzed with another text from Cecil.
Cecil
Oh, you’re going to play that game, are you? This is your last warning. I’d better see a text or your location moving in the next thirty seconds or else!
I sat up, hands shoved into my hair, looking from my phone to Griff, back to my phone, unable to move.
You’ve done it now. How are you going to get out of this one?
Easy. You’re going to work.
No.
Yes. It’s time to let the fairy tale go. Get up, get dressed, and go. Once you’re in an Uber, send Griffin a text and let him down gently. Tell him you made a mistake. It’s not him. It’s you. Annul the marriage and you can both pretend this never happened.
I squeezed my eyes shut, hating that idea. I’d already built a whole life around him in my head.
But you failed to plan, so now you’ve planned to fail.
Of all the times for my memory to cough up Liam Dupree confidently misquoting Ben Franklin, this was the absolute worst.
Regardless, Liam is right. And by failing to plan, you’re now going to butcher Griffin’s heart. Bravo. It would’ve been better if he’d never met you.
Shame burned my throat. Because it was true.
Another text came through. This was one from Fallon, saved as Fall-guy in my contacts.
Fallon
Where are you? Cecil’s freaking out. Says you won’t respond to his texts. He’s threatening to replace you as the Sunburst if you don’t show up for your meeting.
Do it, I thought. I’d welcome it. But Cecil had threatened this before. No way would he let me go that easily. And he might go after Griffin to get back at me.
I glanced over at my husband again, sleeping soundly. My whole body went weak at how handsome he was. Even with his hair smashed to the side of his head and double the drool from a moment before, he was the most beautiful man I’d ever known.
I couldn’t let Cecil come after him. My chest caved at what that meant. I had to protect Griffin. At all costs. Even at the expense of my own happiness.
My phone vibrated again.
Fallon
Now Cecil’s threatening our jobs if we don’t tell him where you are. Are you alive? Your read receipts are on, but this silence isn’t like you. I’m starting to think Dupree Ted Bundy’d you after all.
My lungs heaved. If I texted her back, she’d either tell Cecil or try to cover for me again—and either way, it would cost her. I couldn’t let her, Briar, or Riley lose their jobs because of me.
But Griffin…
I’d promised him forever. And I meant it. Every word.
He was my dream. Didn’t I deserve to live that with him? Didn’t he deserve it?
I moved closer and rested my head on his shoulder.
Like a knife to the chest, I saw the future we’d planned in the middle of the night, bodies happily exhausted, staring into each other’s eyes.
His arms cradled the babies we would’ve had—all redheads, of course.
His strong fingers tickled me in the kitchen of the home we’d built—a barndominium in the wilds of Montana.
His lungs, breathing in and out, whooped at Weston’s Little League football games.
His legs tangled around mine as we lay under a sky of stars.
His lips kissed me every time he came safely home from fighting a fire.
But the glow of my phone, lighting up again and again from Cecil’s texts—Cecil’s threats—wouldn’t leave me be.
I knew what Cecil could do to a person’s life. I’d watched him do it before, for far lesser crimes than this.
I couldn’t give Cecil a reason to even know Griffin existed.
So I made a decision right then.
What happened in Vegas would stay in Vegas.
Heck, it wouldn’t leave this hotel room.
I peeled myself away from my husband. Silent sobs stole my air as I eased out of bed. I dressed, leaving my ‘wedding gown’ on the chair where Griffin had draped it—and my ring on the table in the corner. Hopefully, he could at least get some of his money back.
I padded to the door, only pausing to text Fallon.
Juliette
Dupree didn’t Ted Bundy me. We hung out last night, but neither of us is really in a place for a relationship—also, no chemistry—so sadly, it didn’t go anywhere. My alarm didn’t go off is all. Tell Cecil I’m on my way.
Betraying my own heart, I hit send.
I glanced at Griffin one last time. My vision blurred over.
“I would’ve loved you with my whole heart,” I whispered.
If only I’d met him in another life.
I pressed two fingers to my lips and held them out to him.
Then I slipped through the door and out of his life.