Chapter 3 #2
I reacted without thinking, and in what could have been considered a gross invasion. I slid my arm around her shoulders and tucked her neatly into my side. “You guys know each other?”
The smile on my face was brutally pleasant, but I allowed my teeth to show in a way that could be read as feral instead of friendly.
Preston stilled his hand halfway to Bella’s shoulder and gave me a calculating look. When he dropped his hand, there was an iciness in his gaze. “And you are?”
“Nathan Cooper,” I replied without hesitation, extending my right hand as if this were the most normal introduction in the world. “Bella’s boyfriend.”
It was an overstep to the nth degree. If Bella shut me down, I would apologize. It felt like the right move, though. This guy needed to take a step back.
Preston blinked then blinked again. “I see.” He smiled again, but there was no warmth to it. Clearly not because he had a broken heart or anything but because I’d outmaneuvered him. “And how did you guys meet?”
He was doing his best to pretend I hadn’t sucker punched him, but his act wasn’t convincing.
“We’re both authors,” I replied, never moving my arm from around Bella’s shoulders. “If you’re hosting the author events this summer, then I guess I’ll be seeing you there.”
“Oh, you’re going?”
“Yup.” I used one of my patented smiles on him. It wasn’t meant to be friendly.
He definitely took it the way I intended but kept up the facade. “Well, that sounds great.” He stared at me a beat longer then switched his gaze to Bella. “It’s been a long time. Hopefully, we can catch up at the retreat.” With that, he walked away.
I remained with my arm around Bella until he rounded the corner, then I dropped it. “I’m sorry,” I said just as she began to speak.
“Thank you.” Her voice was small.
I arched an eyebrow and waited.
“You didn’t need to do that,” she said hurriedly. “He wasn’t going to do anything.”
I didn’t necessarily believe that, but I nodded. “Either way, it was good to take him down a notch or two.”
“Yeah.” She rubbed her forehead then caught herself.
“What are we going to do about the retreat? I’m not even sure I understand the setup.
I know there’s a month at this campground place where we can work during the week, like a retreat with other writers, and then there are events with readers on the weekend. ”
She knew more about what was coming than I did. “I haven’t even looked at the itinerary yet. It will be fine though. We’ll just pretend we’re still together whenever he’s around. If he lives in Boston, I doubt that will be very often.”
She gave me a sad look. “He’ll come around.”
“Because he wants you back?”
“He doesn’t.” She shook her head. “He doesn’t even really care about me. He just cares that I broke up with him. If I were stupid enough to take him back, I wouldn’t be surprised if he kept me around just long enough so he could break up with me.”
“He sounds like an idiot.”
Her barking laugh was a surprise. How could such a little thing make so much noise?
“It took me a long time to realize exactly how idiotic he was,” she acknowledged. “I met him when I was in college, my senior year. He seemed big and impressive then, mostly because he told me he was impressive thanks to his father’s wealth. I didn’t know any better.
“Then, later, I did know better, but I kept telling myself it would get better,” she continued. “I made excuses for him.”
I had never done anything similar, but I understood what she was saying. “Don’t worry about the retreat. When we’re out and about, we can go a few places together. That should be enough to keep him away. I mean, if that’s what you want.”
“Oh, that’s what I want.” She blew out a heavy sigh. “I wish he would just move on, because that’s all I want to do. I was never me with him. He doesn’t even like the real me.”
“Have you considered that this retreat is a chance for him to see the real you? Between that and me pretending to be head over heels in love with you, that should be enough to keep him at a distance, shouldn’t it?”
“Maybe. I guess I’m just braced for it to go badly. He’s been a real shit since I broke up with him. He keeps calling and calling. Then I change my number, and a few months later someone gives it to him. He’s obnoxious on the phone but doesn’t do anything that could get him in trouble.”
“You realize that’s stalking, right?” I was offended on her behalf.
“Not according to the cops Rose talked to.”
“Rose talked to them?”
Now she hesitated. “I didn’t want to make a thing out of it. Rose didn’t have that problem.”
I managed a smile. “No, she’s good that way.” I gestured forward. “Come on. He’s gone. You really should get to know us if we’re going to be hanging out at the retreat together. Plus, we’re not all that bad. I’m the best of all of us, so you lucked out there, but the others are worth knowing too.”
A giggle escaped, and she looked five times lighter than she had only moments before. “I guess I could eat. I saw a steak on the menu that looked good.”
“Ah, a fellow beef lover.” I gave her a sage nod. “A woman after my own heart. We’re going to get along fine.”
She paused with her hand halfway to the door. “You really did me a favor when you stepped in that way. I was kind of frozen. I appreciate it.”
“It’s no big deal. It was honestly just instinct. I didn’t like him from the moment I saw him.”
“You have good instincts, then. It takes most people a lot longer than that to figure out who he really is.”
I wanted to ask her who he really was, but she was just beginning to settle down. Roiling her up again seemed like a mistake. “Well, it will be fine. You can tell everybody at the table I’m already your favorite, and we’ll go from there.”
Her lips swished back and forth. “You’re kind of full of yourself,” she said finally.
“You’re just figuring that out? I’m way full of myself.”
“I like a man who admits his faults.”
“Then you’re going to love me. I have nothing but faults.”