Chapter 17
Adriana
“Landon, I—” The look on his face silenced me quickly. I knew I wasn’t going to explain my way out of this one, and I had no idea what to do about it.
I should have seen this coming. I’d known that things couldn’t go on the way they had been forever, but this was too fast.
“The pool needs to be prepared for the bridal shower,” Landon said coldly, before he turned and walked away.
His posture was stiff and precise, more so than usual. I had expected him to be more furious, maybe even to yell at me. This silence was heavier, and made me feel far worse than an all-out confrontation would have.
I glanced at Nolan, but his jaw was tight and there was betrayal in his eyes. Those two words had been enough to tell him that he wasn’t the only man I’d been sleeping with.
All I wanted was to sink into the earth and disappear, but I still had a job to do. And at some point, I would have to truly face all of this.
“I should go,” I said to Nolan, who didn’t answer.
The sous chef’s gaze followed me as I left the pantry, and the rest of the kitchen staff were all watching me with wide eyes. I knew the rumor mill would have a field day with this, but there was nothing I could do about that.
All I could really do was keep my head down and get the bridal shower up and running successfully. Doing my job would also win me a bit of time to think of something. That’s what I hoped for, anyway.
I made my way out to the pool where people were busy setting up the decor that Dahlia had requested. It was neon-bright, with all kinds of random things that didn’t seem like they should go together, but did. It felt like walking into a music video she was shooting rather than a bridal shower.
But I figured she wanted to do something that would truly anger her mother-in-law, and after having met Celeste, this was perfect for that goal.
“Okay, this is supposed to be the cocktail bar,” I said, walking up to a guy building what looked like a giant flamingo. “It can’t be this close to the wall. You need to leave enough space to work behind it.”
He grumbled something under his breath, but nodded. I walked on to the next thing; the angle of the bubble machines that were supposed to create foam for the party.
I noticed Bryant from the corner of my eye. He was standing at one end of the pool, watching everything going on as he sipped on a drink. I caught him looking my way a few times, but I did my best not to pay any attention to it. I was already in a tough enough spot as it was.
“You can let the bride-to-be know we’ll be ready to get started in the ballroom shortly,” I told one of the porters that passed by, and they disappeared quickly.
I caught glances from several people. The rumors had probably spread like wildfire.
But I couldn’t let it get to me. This party could not fail.
The press was already outside, and I’d noticed Dahlia’s PR people hurrying to talk to them.
If Dahlia’s shower was overshadowed by my scandal, I would never live it down.
And I’d have the whole world’s eyes on me for all the wrong reasons.
I noticed Landon walk down one of the hallways inside the hotel as he passed by a window. I needed to talk to him. Maybe if I explained myself, he’d understand. It was a stupid idea and a long shot, but it was better than avoiding the conflict altogether.
“Okay, get the hors d’oeuvres out, and have the guests in the ballroom for the starting speeches,” I said to the closest person, before rushing after Landon.
I caught up with him around the corner of a fairly quiet hallway, and grabbed his arm when it looked like he was going to keep walking and ignoring me. He turned, but his face was cold, and I felt my heart drop.
“Landon, please, will you listen to me?” I begged, hoping that I could still salvage the whole thing. “Please, I’m just asking for two minutes.”
“What is there to say?” he asked bluntly, pulling his arm free from my grip. “We had nothing exclusive. I couldn’t stop you from doing whatever it is you wanted to do.”
“It’s not like that!” I snapped, even though I was trying to keep my voice down.
“Then what is it?” Landon was clearly not in the mood to listen to me, but I had to try. “Are you doing this to advance your career? Just finding whoever has some power so you can gain more influence?”
I hadn’t thought about it, but I realized how easily this could look like that. I shook my head firmly, feeling the emotion and hurt bubbling up in my chest. That Landon would think of me that way… I didn’t have any evidence to prove him wrong, but I needed to hope that he’d believe me.
“No!” I insisted, balling my hands into fists at my sides. “I just— I fell for both of you, okay? Hard. You’re equal in my eyes, and I… I couldn’t choose.”
“That’s too bad,” Landon answered with a dismissive shrug. “Because it’s either him, or me. I’m not going to argue about it. You make your choice, and let me know. That’s it.”
He turned away from me without letting me reply, and walked away tightly, as if he didn’t care what I did next. It made my heart feel as if it was shattered, and I knew this was all my fault. But I wanted to fix it. With both of them. I couldn’t imagine letting one of them go.
I managed to make it to the start of the pool party without losing my mind, but it was getting more and more difficult.
I tried to talk to Nolan, but he avoided me like the plague. Even when he was supposed to be working with me, he’d send the sous chef in his stead. She looked at me and talked to me like I had committed murder. Everyone else spoke in hushed whispers that stopped when I walked past.
All of it was exhausting, humiliating, and hurtful, but I kept pushing through, even though work only barely kept me distracted.
At least the party seemed to be a roaring success. Every employee moved like a part of a well-oiled machine, and guests were laughing, dancing, and swimming the night away. Dahlia herself seemed especially happy, which was a small relief.
I ran around making sure that everything was perfectly coordinated, trying my best to ignore the off-hand comments from the sous chef and the sheer silence from Nolan. Landon only made an appearance to wish Dahlia well and smile for a few pictures before he was gone.
He probably wouldn’t even let me into his office afterward for the daily debriefing. Maybe that would change if I told him that I chose him over Nolan, but I didn’t know if I could do that.
But would I actually be happy if I could get neither of them?
Wasn’t it better to at least have one? I didn’t know.
I knew that I wouldn’t be able to choose between them.
I didn’t want to. The whole thing was a mess, and there was no way for me to have my cake and eat it too.
Maybe it was just time for me to accept the consequences of my actions.
I didn’t want to do that, either, but it seemed like I didn’t really have much of a choice.
During the party, I spotted Nolan working on plating desserts beside the pool, and I took my opportunity. This time, I wouldn’t let him send the sous chef instead. I rushed toward him, reaching him just before he finished what he was doing.
“Nolan,” I said urgently. “I need to talk to you. Please. Don’t shut me out like this.”
He glanced over his shoulder at me, his eyes cold and distant. Without saying anything, he placed the last dessert on the table, and turned away.
The message was clear; Nolan was not going to speak to me.
At least not tonight. There was the tiniest of possibilities that he’d calm down enough by the next day, but I wasn’t going to get my hopes up.
I watched him walk away with his shoulders pulled tight and his entire body closed off to me, and I rubbed at my temples in frustration.
There was nothing I could do about this. I had to wait for them to come to me. Or I had to make a choice, and I simply couldn’t.
I spent the rest of the party running up and down, making sure that everything ran smoothly.
I tried my best to ignore my own predicament, keeping my professional smile on my face the whole time.
Around midnight, things began to wind down, and I oversaw things being cleaned and packed up.
This took another hour, but finally, everything was done.
Now, I only had to do a few last checks before I could go to my room and collapse on my bed.
As I walked around the edges of the pool, I noticed someone in my periphery and looked up. It was Mr. Thatcher, sitting in one of the cabanas, pretending that he wasn’t watching me. I turned to head in his direction, wondering how long he had been there.
“Mr. Thatcher,” I said when I reached him and noticed the wide smile on his face. “Unfortunately, I need to ask you to leave the pool area. It’s closed.”
“Don’t you want to take a seat?” he answered, completely ignoring my request. “You’ve been running around all night. You must be exhausted.”
I glanced around, even though I knew the rest of the area was completely empty. Most people had gone home, and the night crew were inside. They never came out there. Almost all of the guests had long since headed to their rooms. It was only me and Mr. Thatcher out here.
“Just a few minutes,” I finally said, sitting down beside him on the outdoor couch.
I kept my posture proper, one leg over the other, fully professional. I didn’t need to get myself in even deeper trouble than I already was.
“Heard you had a bit of a rough one today,” Mr. Thatcher said sympathetically, reaching out to pat me on the knee. His hand lingered a moment longer than it probably should have, but I didn’t say anything. It was nice to have a bit of comfort in all of the chaos.
“Rumors reached the guests too, huh?” I sighed, putting one leg down so that I could lean forward and run my hands over my hair. “Guess nothing stays secret around here.”
“Relax, I’m not judging you.” I could see in his expression that he was telling the truth.
That was another relief. I’d had so many people staring at me when they thought I wasn’t looking that it had been driving me up the wall.
“I don’t know how it happened,” I admitted, leaning back against the couch now and taking a few deep breaths before I continued. “I’m not that kind of woman, you know? Who sleeps with everyone. I mean, it’s not like I was asking for any of this. It… just happened, somehow.”
It felt like I was sharing way too much, but he didn’t stop me, and I needed to get all of this off my chest.
“I know I should have stopped. I know that, and I should never have let things get that far with Nolan after they’d already gone that far with Landon. But I fell so hard for both of them that I didn’t listen to the rational side of my mind.”
“Ah, being in love is a funny thing,” Mr. Thatcher shrugged, sitting slightly closer to me now. “It makes you do things you never normally would. Makes you crazy. Doesn’t make you the villain. Unless you also told them about our little secret, in which case you’re downright evil.”
That made me laugh despite everything going on in my head. “I didn’t tell either of them anything, I promise.”
“Good,” he said, before things went quiet.
Then, he leaned in and used one hand to turn my face toward him. I didn’t resist when he pulled me closer, and I kissed him back without any hesitation.