62. Jenny
JENNY
I texted Audrey and told her I was heading back to Boston. I lied and said I was sick. I usually hated lying to the people in my real life, even white lies. But at this point? It was just another sin to add to the growing pile.
She knocked on my door a little while later. “Jenny?” she called. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll live,” I croaked.
She knocked again. “Can I come in for a minute?”
“Nah, I think I’m contagious.”
“Jenny, open the door. I know Cole left. Please let me come in for a second,” Audrey pleaded.
Seeing my friend was the last thing I wanted. “Now isn’t a good time.”
“Then I’ll wait,” she snapped.
I knew Audrey—she would camp out in the hall outside my room. I begrudgingly opened the door. “I don’t want to talk about it,” I pleaded.
“Fine.” Audrey sailed past me and looked around the suite, which was a total mess. I’d started and stopped packing three times. My clothes and toiletries were strewn all over the bed. “What’s going on in here?”
“Every time I start packing, I start crying.” I sank onto the edge of the bed. “Everything’s just a mess.”
“What happened?” Audrey asked. “Cole texted James and told him he was flying back to Boston alone. He didn’t answer when James called.”
I shrugged. I couldn’t bring myself to say anything.
Audrey put her hands on her hips. “I’m your best friend, Jenny. This is the second time you guys have broken up, so I think you should tell me what’s going on. You two seem happy together, so this doesn’t make sense to me.”
I sighed. “We were happy together, but it’s complicated. I don’t think it’s meant to be.”
“Why not?”
“Because we’re from two different worlds,” I said lamely.
“Please stop with this!” Audrey exclaimed. “We’ve been over and over the same thing. Just because you grew up poor doesn’t mean you can’t have a relationship with someone wealthy.”
“It’s not just that?—”
“I know,” Audrey said firmly, “and I’m getting to the point. You can have a relationship with someone wealthy, and you can have a good relationship. You can, Jenny. You deserve one. No matter what happened in your past.”
I twisted one of my curls around my finger. “What if that’s not true, huh? I keep getting signs.”
“Signs?” Audrey asked. “What on earth do you mean?”
“Every time I think I’m supposed to be with Cole, something bad happens.” I blew my nose with a loud honk. “It’s like the Universe is trying to stop us from being together.”
Audrey sank onto the chaise lounge and eyed me. She looked concerned, with a little V forming in between her eyebrows. “So you broke up with Cole because you thought the Universe wanted you to?”
I shrugged. “Not exactly. And technically, he broke up with me.”
“Why did he break up with you?” Audrey asked. “Can you please just tell me what happened?”
“I really can’t,” I admitted. “You’ve got enough problems, dealing with your crazy-ass mother-in-law and your wedding coming up and everything. You do not need the Jenny Drama in your life, trust me. Frankly, I don’t need it in mine, and I’m Jenny.”
Audrey blew out a deep breath. “Okay, you have got to stop talking in circles. Just tell me what happened. What did you two fight about? Why did he leave?”
I picked up one of my shirts, listlessly folding and re-folding it. “I think Cole caught me on his phone. He didn’t say so, but I think that’s what it was.”
“What?” Audrey looked confused. “What do you mean?”
I shrugged. “I got on his phone last night when he was asleep. I was on his messages.”
“Doing what?” Audrey asked. “Snooping?”
“Not exactly.” I looked at my friend. She looked too pretty and pulled together in her pink cashmere sweater and jeans to be listening to my soap opera drama. Sighing, I continued anyway. “Cole’s father asked me to send a text message to one of Cole’s business associates, so that’s what I was doing.”
Audrey arched an eyebrow. “How and why is Cole’s father asking you to do something like that?”
“How is easy. He called me and told me to. He threatened me.” Giving up, I threw the shirt down in a wrinkled ball. “And the why is easy, too. He wants me to do his dirty work. And then he wants me to ghost Cole and never look back.”
“Rich people are seriously f’d up.” Audrey shook her head. “So… I’m guessing that Cole’s father didn’t want Cole to know about this? He made you keep it a secret?”
“Correct,” I said, “which was why he had me do it in the middle of the night.”
“And you did it because he threatened you?” Audrey waited for me to answer, her eyes wide in her pretty face.
I nodded. “He’s blackmailing me,” I admitted. It felt good to have it off my chest. Cole had already guessed the truth, so there was little harm in sharing it with my friend. With one caveat: “You can’t say anything about this to anyone, I swear to God. Cole’s dad is dangerous. If he’s coming after me, I’m sure he’d happily come after you, too. He already threatened that. So this stays between us. You have to swear on it.”
“I swear.” Audrey held up her pinkie. “I’m so sorry, Jenny. How was he blackmailing you? Why didn’t you just tell Cole what was going on?”
“Because I couldn’t,” I said immediately. “Cole’s father told me if I talked, I’d only make it worse.”
“I can’t believe it,” Audrey said.
“I can.” I snorted. “This isn’t exactly my first rodeo, Dre. Where I’m coming from, blackmail and threats are like a dime a dozen, you know? So when Cole’s father first threatened me, that was rough. But I thought I had it handled.”
“What did he threaten you with?” Audrey asked.
“To bring back some stuff from my past. Some bad stuff.” I shook my head. “I was so ashamed I agreed to do what he wanted, just to tell him stuff about Cole’s conversations. But then he asked me to send messages from Cole’s phone, and I said no.”
I looked up and met her eyes. “But then he threatened to hurt Cole. And he threatened to hurt him if I told anybody what was going on. So I did it. I got on his phone last night and posed as Cole. I offered some guy from the state a bribe so his father’s deal could go through.”
“Jenny.” Audrey’s shoulders slumped. “I wish you would have told us. We could have helped you.”
I blew my nose again. “You say that, and I know you mean it. But I also know that Cole’s father meant it—he meant he would do something bad to Cole. So what’s going to happen now, huh? What’s going to happen now that Cole knows?”
I started crying again. “I don’t care anymore about what his father will do to me. As far as I see it, my life is over. I got nothing left.”
“Jenny!” Audrey sprang up and wrapped her arms around me, pulling me in for a tight embrace. “Please don’t talk like that! You’re my best friend, and I love you. Cole loves you.”
“No, he doesn’t. Not anymore.” I started crying harder, and I pulled away. “Don’t let me get snot in your nice, clean hair.”
“I don’t care about my hair.” Audrey hugged me tighter. “But I do care about you . And I know that Cole loves you, and if he’s a good guy like I think he is, he’ll understand what you did. He’ll forgive you.”
“No, he won’t.” I roughly wiped my eyes. “He said this morning that he never should have trusted me, and he was right. I lied to him. And I hid things from him. You don’t do that when you love a person.”
“You do if you’re trying to protect them,” Audrey said gently.
I pulled back and blew my nose again. “Back when this first started, I was only protecting myself. I didn’t want Cole to know the truth about me.”
“Jenny, we’ve all done things we aren’t proud of.”
“Nah, it’s worse than just hooking.” I shook my head. “I did some bad shit when I was younger, Dre. Real bad. Shit I didn’t want anyone to ever find out about.”
Audrey sighed. “You’re a good person, Jenny. Even if you did something bad, I’m sure it was for a good reason.”
“Oh, it was, sure.” I felt like I might throw up.
The room got quiet for a moment. The air felt heavy.
Never had I ever told anyone my secret.
“You can tell me, you know,” Audrey said gently. “You can tell me anything.”
I took a deep breath. “You know what?”
“What?”
“I want to, and I will tell you the truth,” I said. But I need to tell Cole first. Do you understand that?”
Audrey nodded, eyes wide. “I do. I would be the same way with James. I’m your best friend, but he’s your… person.”
I nodded. “He’s my person.”
And even if he never wanted to see me again and no longer wanted to be mine, I owed him the truth.
I wiped my face again. “Thanks, Audrey. It’s nice to have a friend. To have someone to talk to—someone who understands. I never had that before, you know?”
Audrey hugged me hard. And did I imagine it, or were her tears leaking into my curls?
“I do know, Jenny,” she said, “I sure do.”
Two hours later, I was at the airport waiting for my flight.
I’m waiting for my update , Lewis Bryson texted me.
I don’t have one for you, I furiously typed back. So you can go die in a hole. I hit send before I chickened out.
Cole’s father responded immediately. By the time I’m through with you, you will know what being sorry really feels like.
They called my flight. Relieved, I shut my phone off.
The devil had my number, but the one person I wanted to hear from would never call me again.