Chapter 21
TWENTY-ONE
BIANCA
The next few weeks go by in a blur — a good blur, not the kind where I feel like I’m being thrown from one place to another. So far, I haven’t had any more bad news from the press or from Kyler.
I go to work (and actually enjoy it), get prepared to open the business, then have Waylon come by to fix parts of the house. And then we fool around and he gives me lessons on almost everything I’ve ever wanted to know.
I like that part the most, but in the same way I like food I know will give me a stomachache. But I do it anyway then try to shove down the absurd crush I have on him. What if I’m just blinded by these feelings and he turns out to be a dick in the long run? Then again, where can whatever this is even go? Whatever trauma he has from his past relationship isn’t the kind of thing you can get over in however long I have left in town.
I bite my bottom lip, watching Sadie sniff around the grass outside of the Stryker Liquor offices for her pee break. I found a list of realtors in the area who could help sell my house but I haven’t made a move yet. At the rate we’re going, we could have the house done not long after the wedding.
Kaitlyn is thrilled because me moving to New York means we can really make strides on the spa. But the closer that date gets, the more uneasy I get.
Sadie looks up at me, wagging her tail, so I scoop her up and head back inside. Will Sadie be happy in New York? She generally likes to be in my lap or on the closest soft surface, but she’s never been to a place like the city as far as I know.
I sit back down at my desk, placing Sadie in my lap. Rose isn’t there, but she comes back in with a light sigh.
“I know the wedding will be amazing the day of, but I’m fucking tired of all the little bullshit that keeps getting thrown my way,” she says, flopping down into her chair. “Today it’s ribbons. For what? I don’t even know.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “But the wedding is soon, at least.”
“Yeah. By the way, want to come to my bachelorette party? It’s going to be pretty casual with just a few of us — just going to the bar for a drink with the guys, then going back to our place for a sleepover.”
“Oh.” I get a ridiculous rush of happiness. She wants me to go? We’re friendly but I wasn’t sure if she cared enough to invite me to something. “Sure, I’d love that.”
“Awesome, I’ll text you the details.” She grabs her phone and starts tapping out a text. “I’m heading to the bar after work too, if you want to grab a drink. Waylon can come too.”
‘Yeah, I’d love to.”
I shoot him a text to ask. We’ve been texting back and forth more, just day-to-day chat and funny animal memes. Even though his responses are sporadic because of his work, I still like talking. Thankfully he responds with a yes right away so I don’t have to overthink it.
I look forward to drinks throughout the rest of the day, then follow Rose to the bar. It’s not too busy, so we sit closer to the front, near the big floor to ceiling windows.
“I’ve got the first round. What do you want to drink?” Rose asks, putting her purse in her seat. “I can put in an order for some food next door too.”
“Anything as long as it’s not too strong. And fries would be amazing.”
“Gotcha.”
I watch her head to the bar. Wes spots her immediately, his face lighting up. Rose goes on her tiptoes and he leans over the bar to give her a deep kiss. The brightness in his eyes makes my heart ache, and I’m sure Rose’s expression is the same. They’re so cute together.
Duke gets to the table a few moments before Waylon, and I put Sadie down so they can hang out.
“Hey,” Waylon says with a soft smile. My heart flips in my chest and I give him a little wave.
He’s wearing his glasses again, and a dark green t-shirt of a similar color. His hair is damp, a dark curl falling into his forehead.
“Hey,” I finally say. He kisses me on the temple, just for show, and slips into the seat next to me. “Want me to grab us drinks?”
“Rose has the first round.” I nod in her direction.
Waylon stands and catches Wes’s attention over Rose’s shoulder. Wes just nods in understanding and grabs another glass.
“Was your day okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, why?”
“Just wondering. We’ve never grabbed drinks after work so I was worried it was a ‘I need a drink’ kind of day.” He presses his knee to mine, and just that tiny point of contact makes me stupidly giddy.
“Has it been a day like that for you?” I ask.
“It hasn’t been the best day, but it hasn’t been the worst day either.” He rakes his fingers through his hair. “I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
He glances over his shoulder. Wes and Rose are clearly still flirting it up while Wes makes us a pitcher of something.
“I was thinking of going up to this good stargazing spot. If you want to come for your bucket list,” he says. “We’d be camping overnight, though. Wes and Rose can watch Sadie.”
“I’d love that.” Curling up with Waylon in a tent, stargazing, feels romantic as hell, though.
I guess I can delude myself into thinking it’s real, even for a night.
“Okay, we’ve got mango moonshine margaritas,” Rose says, putting a pitcher and glasses on the table. “And food’ll be ready in fifteen-ish.”
“Thanks.” Waylon pours a drink for each of us, sliding one to me first.
I lift the glass to my lips to take a sip, glancing out the window, and nearly choke. Kyler is standing outside, looking around and at his phone. How did he find me here? Then again, Jepsen’s not very big. But one of the few times I come into town, we run into each other?
I freeze, hoping he doesn’t look inside.
“What?” Waylon asks, following my gaze.
“My ex,” I say softly. “Don’t look.”
Waylon turns his head back right as Kyler does. Of course, today is the day we sit right near the window.
“If you need me to scare him off, I will,” Waylon says, resting a hand on my leg.
“Maybe.” I blow out a breath and put my hand on top of Waylon’s. My heart is racing so fast, mostly out of shock, and I need to stay upright.
“Bianca. I found you,” Kyler says, as if we’ve just gotten separated in a crowd.
I finally let myself take him in all the way. He looks so wildly out of place here, so airbrushed even in person. He’s good-looking but I’m not at all attracted to him anymore, especially with Waylon right there. Seeing them in the same space feels like it should break some kind of law of the universe.
“Why are you here?” I ask. Waylon’s hand squeezes mine and I squeeze it back.
“Because I was in Nashville for a few days trying to…” He pauses. “Just having some meetings. And I pulled a few strings to find out where you were so we could talk. You’ve been ignoring my calls.”
“Typically when someone ignores your calls, they don’t want to talk to you,” I say. “What could you possibly have to say?”
Kyler finally acknowledges Waylon and Rose, his eyes flicking over them.
“Can’t we talk in private?” Kyler says. “It won’t take long.”
Kyler isn’t threatening whatsoever, but I don’t want to be alone with him.
“No,” I say. “Whatever you can say, you can say here.”
Kyler sighs heavily, glancing at the spot where Waylon and I’s hands are joined. His eyes narrow.
“C’mon. Literally two minutes of privacy.” His tone is a borderline whine. I forgot how much I hated that. He’s a grown ass man.
“I’ll go if Waylon can come,” I say with a swallow.
“No, of course not.” Kyler laughs. “This is about our relationship. Not whoever he is.”
“Our relationship that doesn’t exist anymore. And Waylon is my boyfriend,” I say. Irritation is making the volume of my voice climb, so I swallow to cool myself down.
“You can’t be serious,” Kyler says.
“She is,” Waylon says. “Get to the point or leave.”
Kyler’s eyes narrow again. “Fine, this is fucking annoying. Bianca, let’s go home. Please. We can sort things out.”
“We absolutely cannot sort things out when you cheated on me then had the balls to plan a proposal like nothing was wrong,” I say, my brows shooting up. I feel Waylon flinch a tiny bit — not so much that others would notice, but I felt it. “Are you kidding me? Get out of here.”
Kyler runs both hands through his hair, his tell for frustration. Which usually happened when I pushed back against him with anything.
“You can’t live here.” Kyler gestures vaguely around here. “You’re really going to stay here with this guy in this random fucking town?”
I press down on Waylon’s thigh when he shifts to get up.
“I can.” I’m absolutely not telling him what my future plans are.
“Bee.” He looks at me with that look , the one that used to get me every time. But now it just pisses me off. What did I ever see in this man?
“Y’know what, come here,” I say, standing up. If I’m going to bitch him out, I don’t want to do it in front of everyone. I don’t need more eyes on us.
“Do you need me?” Waylon asks, gently grabbing my wrist. His deep brown eyes are filled with concern.
“I’ve got it.” I lean in and give him a soft kiss on the cheek. He reluctantly lets me go. “But thank you. We’ll be out front so you can see us.”
I follow Kyler outside and stop in front of the big window. He looks left and right, like he doesn’t want to be noticed.
“We’re 100% done, Kyler. You cheated on me and made it extremely clear that you’re only interested in me because of who my father is,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
“No, I didn’t!” He pauses. “I mean, yes to the cheating part, but that was only physical, babe. It didn’t mean anything.”
I roll my eyes. “Okay, sure.”
“Be honest though, B.” Kyler sighs. “You never came. You always acted like sex was a chore. It just wasn’t your thing. I have needs. And as for your dad…I don’t know. Like, if the cheating was just a physical thing, why does your dad have to blackball me?”
I can’t stop the laugh from bursting from my mouth. He looks genuinely confused. Like he didn’t put in the bare minimum amount of effort into sex. Like going out and banging some other models wasn’t a huge ass deal, regardless of whether there were any emotions involved. Like my protective father wouldn’t want to murder him for what he did. Blackballing is the least of his worries.
“You saying that just shows me how little you know me and how dead our relationship is.” I scoff. I nearly tell him that sex definitely is my thing, especially with Waylon, but I don’t want him to go off on another streak of excuses. I turn to go back inside.
“Bianca, please,” he says, gently grabbing my shoulder. I shake him off. “I’ll do anything. I’ll give you extra money to invest in that spa thing you wanted to do.”
That spa thing . Even the way he phrases it makes it sound dismissive.
“Money won’t fix it,” I say. “Just go home, Kyler. There’s nothing you can say to fix this.”
“Bianca.” He tries to grab my hand again, right as Waylon steps outside.
“Don’t touch her,” Waylon says, taking my hand and gently tugging me back. “I don’t have to hear her say anything to understand she doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“You’re really her boyfriend?” Kyler looks Waylon up and down. As if he can even vaguely compare to Waylon.
“Yes.” Waylon steps up to Kyler, making Kyler take a few steps back. Waylon is usually so gentle that I forget how physically imposing he is. “So you have no reason to talk to her anymore. Leave, or I can make sure you do. Don’t touch my girl, ever.”
“If you touch me, I’ll call my lawyer.” Kyler takes a few more steps back.
Waylon laughs. “I don’t think I’d have to lay a finger on you to get you to leave, man.”
“I’m tired of this shit,” Kyler finally says. “I’m leaving. Voluntarily. You’ll regret this, Bianca.”
“Okay, sure,” Waylon says with a scoff. “Bye.”
Waylon keeps an eye on him until he disappears around the corner.
“I’m sorry,” he says, his body language softening with Kyler out of his sight. “I know you were handling it but when he touched you, I kind of lost it.”
I smile at Waylon’s version of ‘losing it’. Yeah, he was clearly pissed and he definitely isn’t the kind of guy that people mess with, but he stayed as levelheaded as he could possibly be. I liked that — I’d seen Kyler fly off the handle before, mostly at people he assumed were lesser.
God, what did I ever see in Kyler? And how could I think that Waylon would ever turn out to be a dick like he was? Kyler was flinging out little red flags for so long, and I ignored them into they were hitting me in the face. Waylon’s been green flag after green flag.
“It’s fine. Thank you. He wasn’t really leaving me alone so I needed some backup.” I sigh, resisting the urge to lean into him. But he steps forward and I end up leaning against him anyway.
He smells nice and clean, but as always, he isn’t wearing any overpowering scents. His arm goes around my back in a hug and we just stand there for several seconds.
“You want to sit out here and get some air for a while longer?” Waylon asks, gesturing to a bench along the outer wall of the bar.
“Sure, yeah.” I don’t know if I can go back inside and act like everything’s fine with Rose just yet.
We sit down, our thighs pressed against each other, and I lean back into the bench with a sigh. The more distance I get from the incident, the more surreal it feels. How did Kyler find me? I’m sure he still has the means at this point, not that he will forever with the trajectory his career is on. But still, it’s terrifying. Imagine if he were actually threatening? Then what would I do?
I take a deep breath and let it out. It doesn’t really matter - I doubt he’ll come back after seeing Waylon and I together. He’s not the brightest but he’s fully aware he’d get his ass kicked if it came down to it.
“He cheated on you?” Waylon asks, his voice soft.
“Mmhm.” I brush at a bit of dust on my jeans. “Honestly, when I found out, I stayed quiet about it for a long time. I just could not believe he’d do it and barely cover his tracks. It was almost insulting but mostly it just hurt.”
Waylon nods, looking at an undefined point in front of him.
“I know the feeling,” he finally says. “It makes you question everything about yourself.”
“Exactly.” Like how did I even let this happen, and mostly, was there something wrong with me to make him do that?
Now I can see that there wasn’t — Kyler is a douchebag who barely wanted to put in effort in our relationship. But still, at the time, I sobbed my eyes out until I could confront him.
“Did you get…?” I let him fill in the blank, and he nods again. “I’m so sorry, Waylon.”
“It’s in the past,” he says. But he doesn’t say it’s okay now. “I’m over her completely, but the mindfuck of catching her cheating twice still has me questioning my own memories. Like I knew her but there was this whole other her underneath. We’ve known each other for so long but only started dating in college. Then that imploded around the time we graduated because she cheated. My biggest mistake is taking her back years later because she said she’d grown up. The whole second leg of our relationship was a disaster.”
“I can’t imagine how awful that is,” I say, leaning against him. “And it’s not dumb to take her back if she sounded like she was genuinely sorry. It’s on her for being a shitty person and betraying your trust.”
He doesn’t respond, he just puts his hand on my thigh and lightly squeezes it. I rest my hand on top of his. All the little bits and pieces I know about him start to click into place — his insistence on keeping things casual, the icy tension between him and his ex.
I felt like my whole world had been flipped upside down when I found out Kyler was cheating and we had only dated for two years. I can’t imagine the level of betrayal I would feel if I’d known him my whole life and if I’d given him a second chance.
“Sorry, it’s not about my own bullshit,” he finally says, shaking his head. “Ready to head back inside?”
“Sure, yeah.” I stand up and he takes my hand, just as naturally as ever. But after everything he told me, I doubt we’ll ever be more than what we are now.