Chapter 12 #2
“Finally.” Trevor tipped his head back and exhaled his own puff of smoke that wafted my way. “I’ve been working on this deal for way too long.”
Deal?
“One step closer to getting the stupid people in this stupid little town to trust me enough to stop dicking around with their approvals, and we can move forward.”
A trail of ice slid down my spine.
“You’ve really been playing the long game with this one, huh?” Trevor’s buddy elbowed him in the ribs, chuckling. “But it’ll be worth it.”
“Fucking right, it’ll be worth it,” Trevor agreed. “This is the biggest deal of my life. I’m set to make millions.”
“And you’ll get a pretty little wife in the process. Nicely done.”
“You know it. She’ll be perfect on my arm for investor dinners. Think of the deals we’ll close.”
My hands clenched into fists at my sides. I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard. This asshole was marrying Jess because of what she could do for him. Not because he loved her. She deserved better.
So much better.
I took a step toward the men, ready to tell Trevor exactly what I thought of him and show him exactly what I thought of his perfectly polished persona. I hadn’t been in a fistfight since I was a hot-headed teenager, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t throw a punch if the situation warranted.
I took another step, Summit happily trotting along next to me. The gravel crunched beneath my boots, and both men turned.
Trevor squinted into the evening light. “Can I help you?”
“Couldn’t help but overhear what you were talking about.”
Trevor’s lips pressed into a thin line. “Is that right?”
“Sure is.” I didn’t raise my voice or puff out my chest as I closed the distance between us.
“Aren’t you the trail guy?”
I exhaled slowly, ignoring the question. “Don’t talk about her like that,” I said instead, coming to stand in front of him. “Like she’s just some line on your balance sheet.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He snorted, unconcerned, lifting his cigar to his lips again. “This doesn’t concern you.”
“It does,” I said. “Because she’s my friend and you’re out here bragging about how you’re going to benefit from marrying her when what you should be doing is talking about how much you love her.”
His expression sharpened, and my fist twitched with the need to hit him. “You think that’s how this works?”
Something in his voice stilled my hand. “I know enough.”
“You don’t know anything.” He shook his head with a chuckle, dismissing me.
“I know you can’t possibly love her if you’re talking about her like that.”
He turned back to me, a smug smile on his face. “Love?” He sneered. “This isn’t a movie, buddy.”
His friend laughed awkwardly and took a step back, suddenly very interested in his cigar.
“Jess isn’t an idiot,” Trevor continued. “She understands the arrangement.”
His word choice hit hard.
Arrangement.
“You’re marrying her tomorrow,” I said, as if he didn’t already know. “She deserves better.”
Trevor stepped closer, just enough to invade my space. Cigar smoke curled up between us, choking me. “Jess is a big girl. She knows what she’s doing.”
I opened my mouth to object, but something stopped me.
Did she know? Did she understand the arrangement or whatever it was, the way Trevor said?
“Go home, trail guy,” he said before I could protest. “Like it or not, I don’t care. Because we’re getting married tomorrow.” He snorted and turned away, dismissing me again.
For one final moment, I considered the shock on his face if I punched him. Ultimately, I tucked my hand into my pocket and turned away.
Summit padded along next to me as I walked away. The sounds of laughter and music from the restaurant carried through the night as I turned down into the alley behind the plaza, eager to put as much distance as I could between the asshole and myself before I changed my mind about decking him.
She understands the arrangement.
Did she? I couldn’t believe it. Jess was smarter than that. She wouldn’t marry such an asshole as part of a business deal. Would she?
No.
I didn’t believe it.
But what I did believe was that she deserved better than that asshole. She deserved more than a man who spoke about her as if she were just a deal he needed to sign off on.
She deserved—
Jess
“Jess?”
My head snapped up at the sound of my name. I’d slipped out the back door of the restaurant, desperately needing some fresh air and a break from everyone talking about how radiant I looked or how I was going to be a beautiful bride.
The whole thing was making me claustrophobic, but even outside, it seemed I couldn’t get away from my life.
I squinted into the shadows, trying to see who was there.
“It’s me.” Preston stepped out from around a dumpster, and something inside me relaxed at the sight of him. “Sorry.” He came closer. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You didn’t.” I shook my head. “I was just…” I dropped to a crouch and scratched the puppy’s ears to avoid finishing the sentence. “He’s getting so big already.”
“He is,” Preston said when I finally stood and looked at him. “Glad to see your ankle is all better.” He gestured to my foot and the strappy sandals I wore.
“You were right. It was just a little sprain,” I said. “Nothing a bit of ice and ibuprofen couldn’t handle.”
He nodded once. “What’s going on, Jess?”
His question was blunt, but Preston always did have a way of seeing right through bullshit.
I folded my arms across my chest, suddenly aware of how cool the night air was against my bare skin. I tipped my head up for a moment and inhaled deeply before answering him. “It’s just…a lot.” It wasn’t a lie. But it wasn’t the full truth either. “I mean, everyone’s here and tomorrow is…”
“The happiest day of your life?”
I didn’t miss the challenge in his voice or the echo of my own words. I straightened and leveled my gaze at him. “Is there something you need to say?”
“I overheard Trevor,” he said plainly. “A few minutes ago,” he continued, gesturing toward the plaza. “He was talking to a friend about the wedding and the arrangement.” He used his fingers to make air quotes.
My breath caught, but only for a moment.
My gut reaction was to be mortified that Preston knew the truth. But I was tired. It had already been a long night, and tomorrow was only going to get longer. I didn’t have it in me to pretend anymore.
Not with him.
“Okay,” I said simply.
“Okay?” He shook his head. “That’s all you have to say about it? Your fiancé was just over there talking about you like you were just another deal the night before your wedding, and all you can say is okay?”
I exhaled hard and blinked back the tears that burned the back of my eyes. I wouldn’t cry. It would just make everything so much worse than it already was, and it was bad. So bad.
“I don’t know what else to say, Preston.” To my horror, my voice caught.
“Say that you’re upset.” He took a step toward me. “Say that you’re horrified. Say that you’re going to call it off.”
My shoulders sagged, and the tears I’d tried so hard to avoid slipped down my cheeks.
“Jess.” His voice softened now. Preston moved closer until he was only inches away. “What’s going on? He said that you understood the arrangement.”
I nodded, unable to meet his eyes. I couldn’t bear seeing the look on his face now that he knew the truth. What he must think of me, knowing I was about to marry a man I didn’t love because of business. For money.
“What’s he talking about, Jess?”
Preston was still giving me an out. A way to explain myself that made some kind of sense to him. But I couldn’t do it, because there was no way to explain it.
Finally, I looked up and met his gaze. Confusion and concern were written all over his face, and it struck me in the chest.
This man cared about me. Somewhere and somehow over the last few months, we’d moved past our stupid childish rivalry and into something more.
A lot more.
And somehow that made the truth of the whole situation even worse.
“I don’t know how it happened,” I admitted. “It didn’t start out this way.”
Preston reached out and gently wiped a tear from my cheek. “What didn’t, Jess? Talk to me.”
I let out a shaky breath and dragged my hands down my face. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” I said quietly. “I even loved him once.”
“You said the other night…but you were drinking.”
“I remember exactly what I said.” He raised a brow in question, and I nodded.
“And I meant it. But it wasn’t always that way.
” I continued quickly. “In the beginning, he was so attentive. Always calling and texting and saying nice things to me. He said and did all the right things. He was…well, he was perfect.”
“There’s no such thing as perfect.”
“I know that now.” I nodded. “But at the time, it felt good to be loved, and I just thought that’s what it was supposed to be like.” I laughed, but it was a hollow sound. “Turns out none of it was real.”
“He was love bombing,” Preston said, the words clipped.
“I guess that’s what it’s called,” I agreed. “But by the time I realized it, everything had snowballed. The development, my investment, the wedding. It was just…it’s all…well, I feel like a big idiot.”
“You’re not,” he said quickly as he reached for my hand.
“I am,” I insisted. “I think I just wanted it all so bad that I ignored all the signs. Even the ones that were right in my face and impossible to miss. And now, I’m standing here the night before my wedding, trying to pretend that I’m not about to make the biggest mistake of my life.”
“You can say no.” He squeezed my hand, and the touch of his skin on mine felt like a lifeline. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I do.”
“No, Jess.” He squeezed again, but this time it felt restrictive. “You don’t.”
“It’s gone too far.” I shook my head. “My parents…the money…the development, it’s all—”
“Are you serious?” He pulled his hand from mine. “Is that what this is about? The development?”
The question was like a punch in the chest. “It’s complicated.” My shoulders sagged. “It’s not just the development.”
He stilled.
“I put a lot into it,” I said quietly. “More than I should have. And when it started to stretch beyond what I could handle on my own…my parents stepped in.” I swallowed hard. “They didn’t do it because of Trevor. Or even because of the project. They did it because they trust me.”
Preston swore under his breath.
“If I walk away now,” I said, my voice tight, “I don’t just lose the project. I risk taking other people down with me.”
“Damn, Jess. That’s—”
“So you see,” I cut him off with a weak laugh, “I don’t get to be the girl who follows her heart. Not now. Instead, I get to be the one who doesn’t blow up everyone else’s life.”
He reached for me again, but I crossed my arms around my chest, afraid his touch would totally break me. “I guess there are worse reasons to marry someone,” I said, even as the words tasted wrong on my tongue. “At least this way no one gets hurt.”
“You do.”
I ignored him, squeezing my eyes against his words. “Besides, you said once that love wasn’t practical for most people,” I said quietly. “I guess I decided I was one of those people.”
That hit him. I could see it in the way his shoulders shifted and how he clenched his jaw. He looked like he wanted to argue with me.
“It’s not right, Jess,” he said after a moment. “You deserve more than being someone’s business deal. You deserve the fairy tale. Fuck practical. Walk away from this. There’s still time.”
Behind us, the door to the restaurant opened, and my mom stuck her head outside. “Jess?”
I wiped at my eyes and forced my voice to sound as normal as possible. “I’ll be right there, Mom.”
“Jess, are you—”
“I’m fine, Mom.” I forced a smile into my voice. “I’ll just be a minute.”
I waited until I heard the door close before I turned back to Preston. “I have to go.” I didn’t wait for his response before I turned to walk away.
His hand grabbed mine and twirled me around to face him once more. “Jess. Don’t do this.”
I searched his face—for what, I wasn’t sure. But when he didn’t say anything else, I pulled away.
I tugged the door to the restaurant open and slipped inside. Moments before the door slammed shut, I heard Preston say, “You deserve better, Jess. You deserve everything.”
And that was the problem.
Because wanting everything had already cost me too much.