Chapter 37
brIDGET
The front door opened, then slammed shut with enough force for the dishes to rattle in the cabinets.
“Bridge!” Mallory yelled. “brIDGE!”
I ran out of the kitchen, Lindy hot on my heels. Ever since our little heart-to-heart earlier, things were better between us. Not in any tangible way, but it was… lighter. I didn’t feel like I had to prove myself to her now.
Mallory’s breaths were ragged as if she sprinted from her house. Eyes wide, she looked panicked. Wild.
“What?” I asked, a little panicked. I didn’t remember Mal like this before. “What happened?”
“He’s getting married,” she said.
I glanced at Lindy, who shrugged.
“Who?” I asked.
“Maverick.”
I frowned. He dropped me off two hours earlier. My pussy was still sore from what we did the night before.
“Your Maverick?” Lindy asked.
“How many Maverick’s are there?” Mallory countered, then frowned, considering. “Besides the Top Gun movie, I don’t know of any.”
I hadn’t seen Mallory this freaked since we went prom dress shopping and the one she’d been eyeing for weeks had been sold out in her size.
She crossed the room to me and pressed her cell into my hand. “Remember I did a search for him on Friday when you told me about him?”
I nodded, staring at the article on her phone, trying to process what I was reading.
“I set up an alert and I just got this.” She pointed to the screen.
The title read Denver Socialite Bags A Billionaire.
Beneath it was a photo of Maverick with an exotically beautiful woman.
They were dressed for a black-tie event and she looked insanely good, like a Miss Universe pageant contestant in the evening wear competition.
All she was missing was a sash. I had to admit they looked good together, how his hand rested on her waist in a possessive way.
Perfect. I wasn’t going to linger on how amazing Mav looked in a tuxedo.
It had to be custom to have one in his size and fit so well.
Below the photo was a caption. Farrah Cohen with her fiancé CEO Maverick James at the Children’s Hospital Fundraiser in May.
I skimmed the article.
Farrah Cohen was seen out and about in Denver yesterday with a five-carat diamond ring gracing her left hand.
Word on the street is that her longtime boyfriend, Maverick James, popped the question.
Miss Cohen confirmed that the wedding is to take place this weekend.
This reporter is thrilled to report this match-made-in-heaven love story, but has to wonder as to the haste of the nuptials.
Is there a Baby James on the way? Only time will tell.
Photos and details of the wedding to come next week!
Oh. My. God. Farrah. He’d mentioned that name with his brothers.
I let my hand fall to my side. I stared at Mallory, but not seeing her.
I saw Maverick kissing me goodbye this morning.
Saw him hovering over me as he filled me for the first time last night.
When he flipped me over and told me that while I was his good girl, he was going to fuck me like I was very, very bad.
“He’s getting married,” Mallory repeated, for no apparent reason.
“Married?” Lindy questioned in her what the fuck mom tone, snagging the cell.
“Married,” I replied, completely numb.
“Jesus, this is just like in Sixteen Candles,” Mallory said. “I’m never doing anything movie related ever again.”
Mav was getting married. To a gorgeous woman named Farrah.
Who he’d been dating for months and may have impregnated.
“He’s getting married,” Lindy finally said.
We stood in the living room, all of us silent.
“I was with him last night! This morning. He didn’t say a word.”
“He walked in the pooch parade,” Mallory added, as if that was the clincher.
I ran into the kitchen and grabbed my cell, called him.
It rang and rang, then went to voicemail. I didn’t leave one, because what could I say?
Mallory and Lindy stood in the doorway, watching.
I tried again. Voicemail. “Mav, I–” This time, that was all I got out, then hung up. Still lost.
Then I swiped into my work email, found one from Bradley, Mav’s assistant and grabbed his number from his signature footer. He answered before it rang twice.
“Bradley, this is Bridget Beckett on the Hunter Valley project.” I fiddled with a Montana state magnet on the fridge as I spoke.
“Hello, Bridget.” He was calm and confident for a Sunday.
“Um… I’m trying to get in touch with Mav–Maverick and he’s not answering his phone.”
“He’s on a flight back to Denver right now. I’m sure he’ll be in touch.”
The Chinese menu the magnet held fell to the floor.
“He left?” I asked, my voice weaker than I wanted it to be.
Maverick had dropped me off after having sex with me, then left. Not just me, but the state.
“Yes. This morning. He has personal tasks to see to.”
I had to admit, Bradley was the perfect assistant. Ever the diplomat.
“You mean to get married,” I told him.
“Yes.”
I looked to Mal and Lindy. “He’s getting married.”
If Bradley said it was happening, it was happening.
“Tell Mav…” My lip started to quiver, and I swallowed hard.
“Tell him I… tell him to fuck off.” Saying that, it was like the damn burst on my hurt.
“That I trusted him. That he’s the biggest fucking dick, and I know a number of them.
I’m sure you got all that word for word.
Don’t worry about going to HR with it because I quit. ”
I hung up blindly since tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t see.
I started to cry. Serious, hard-core crying.
“I’m… I… how could I be so stupid. Again?”
Arms circled me, pulled me in for a hug as I sobbed.
I’d let Maverick James in. Trusted him. Believed his words. That I was his good girl. That I was what he wanted. Needed. That he liked me just the way I was. That all he wanted from me was… me.
Yeah, right. All he wanted from me was to get laid. Used and left. Like usual. For being so smart, I was really fucking dumb.