Chapter 11
Dean
Shit. I just so happened to have a cousin named Noah. Who lived on the East Coast. Whose mom was my mother’s sister, and therefore our families owned the same real estate development company. What were the odds that they were the same person?
“What company did you work for?” I needed to ensure we weren’t talking about the same guy.
“Frederick Developers. Why?” Addison picked her head up off my shoulder to look at me, but kept hold of my hand.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. That was my mother’s family’s company. Her ex was definitely my cousin. God, he was always such a shithead, so what he did to her tracks. Now what was I supposed to do?
“Just curious if I had heard of it, since my mother’s family owns a company in the same industry,” I lied.
I felt like an asshole lying to her, but tonight was definitely not the night, and I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with this information.
There was more to it than Noah simply being my cousin.
A year or so ago, Noah texted me begging me to act like a buddy named Trent on the phone when he planned to call me with his fiancée in the car.
He had me say over speakerphone that I was meeting him at the Cape for a guy’s weekend.
I didn’t find out until later that I unknowingly helped him cover up the fact that he was cheating.
There was no guy’s weekend. He was meeting up with another girl, which didn’t shock me, because I’d never known Noah to be a faithful guy.
When I confronted him about it because it pissed me off that he used me to cheat on his fiancée, he claimed she had cheated on him before, and that their upcoming nuptials were more of a business arrangement than anything.
Now that I knew his ex-fiancée, it was abundantly clear that he lied to me too.
Noah and I weren’t close. I couldn’t stand him most of the time, but he had never done anything bad to me, so when he randomly called me asking for a quick favor, I helped him out. He was family after all.
Twenty years ago, our families moved to opposite coasts, so we rarely saw each other, if at all.
I knew that Noah had a longtime girlfriend, but we never crossed paths, and Archer and I stayed far away from social media for obvious reasons.
We were in the media enough, thanks to our father and his business.
Noah didn’t have that issue, since our mothers’ family business wasn’t tied to the entertainment industry.
I didn’t even know he was engaged until he told me that day on the phone.
I didn’t know shit about his fiancée and didn’t really care at the time.
The phone call took up all of ten minutes of my day, no harm, no foul.
Or so I thought. None of it was my business, so I helped my cousin out.
Now my stupid mistake was coming back to haunt me.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. You mentioned that.
” Addison laid her head back against my shoulder.
I should be honest and just tell her. What did it matter anyway?
I didn’t know her then, and I didn’t know what Noah was up to.
He lied to me too. But then again, the fact that I agreed to do something like that, I didn’t know that Addison would look at me the same or even believe me that I didn’t know what he was doing.
And for whatever reason, I couldn’t lose this woman.
As if Cash were here to save me from this conversation, he stood up. Addison got up, and I stood up with her. “Do you think I should walk him around now and see if he wants some grass?” She looked over at me.
“Yeah, let’s get him out and see what he does.” Addison grabbed the lead rope and attached it to his halter, leading Cash out of his stall and into the chilly night. I walked alongside her while Coal followed closely behind.
Addison turned to me, her green eyes shining in the moonlight. “So, now it’s your turn for the hard questions. Why don’t you do relationships? Something must have happened.”
I nodded and sighed because I hated talking about it, but I made her share her tough story. It was only fair. “You’re right. Something did happen that I didn't mention on our trail ride the other day.”
She bumped me with her shoulder. “Come on, Adler, spill it. We’re friends, remember? Friends tell each other things.”
That was the thing. I didn’t want to be friends with her. I was pretty sure I wanted more, needed more. However, that was a conversation for another day. Tonight was not the night.
“Several years ago, when I was still back in California, I dated a woman named Margot for about a year. We ran in the same circles, but her family wasn’t wealthy.
Her best friend’s family was, which gave her access to the world I was in.
I saw her at the polo fields a few times, and we started talking, which then led to hanging out, and eventually to dating.
We got pretty serious, and at one point, I thought I was in love with her. ”
Addison stopped when Cash lowered his head to graze, and I could see the relief that spread across her face. She patted his neck while whispering, “Thank God.” She looked back up at me and smiled. “Sorry, continue.”
“So yeah, things were good. We went to a gala together. I was hanging out with Archer at the bar for a bit and then decided to go find her. I ended up finding her in a hallway talking to her best friend, and I heard my name, so I stayed back a bit to listen. Not the most mature thing to do, I’m aware, but I was curious what they were saying about me.
She proceeded to tell her friend in so many words how she wasn’t really into me, but it was worth it to stay with me because of my money and my name.
That if she stuck it out a little longer, I would for sure propose to her, and her life would be set.
She could have guys on the side if she wanted because I would be so focused on running my own practice that I wouldn’t notice anyway. ”
Addison placed her hand on my arm, empathy in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Dean. That is so messed up.”
I scoffed. “I’m not done. It gets worse.”
Her eyes widened. “Seriously? Shit. Continue.”
“So, I walked up and took her aside, told her everything I heard, and broke up with her. She tried to backtrack, but she knew she was caught. About a month went by, and she showed up at my place, telling me she was pregnant. I was shocked, to say the least. We were always careful.”
“Wow, what did you do?”
“After the initial shock wore off, I was actually excited. I always wanted to have kids, be a dad. I figured that she and I could try to make it work, or at the very least, we would figure out a way to co-parent. I was determined to be a more hands-on father than my own. Margot asked me to go to the appointment to hear the heartbeat for the first time and confirm that everything was good. I couldn’t wait. ”
I stopped and took a breath. Talking about everything was like reliving it again. It was painful. I remembered it all vividly because it was the last time I trusted a woman.
“We go to the doctor’s appointment, and the doctor does the ultrasound.
She can’t find the heartbeat. I was devastated.
But what’s worse is that the doctor reviewed Margot’s bloodwork and said she was never pregnant.
Margot tried to say she must have miscarried, but the doctor told her that if she miscarried, she would still have trace levels of the hCG hormone, and her levels were zero.
The doctor asked if she experienced any other symptoms that led her to believe she was pregnant because those symptoms could be a sign of an underlying health condition.
At that point, I couldn’t hear anything that either one of them was saying.
I was in shock. I stood up and walked out of the doctor’s office without saying a word.
Margot ran after me, trying to explain.”
I chuckled sarcastically.
“We fought in the parking lot until she finally broke down and admitted she faked the whole thing. She figured we would bond over a lost pregnancy and get back together. That was her plan. It would get us back to where we were.” I shook my head.
“I should have known. I should have had her show me a pregnancy test.”
“She could have easily figured out a way to fake that too, Dean. Her lying and deceiving you says a lot about her, not you.” She grabbed my hand, and I loved the feel of it in mine. In every aspect, Addison fit me perfectly.
“Anyway, so that’s my sob story as to why I don’t do relationships.
After that, I kept all things with women casual, hence the photos that your sister has seen.
I couldn’t trust anyone who had a connection to that world, regardless of whether they had money or not.
It’s another reason why I left California as soon as I could and took this job.
No one knows me here, no one knows my family or where I come from.
” I rubbed the pad of my thumb along the outside of hers.
Addison sighed. “Honestly, I don’t blame you, Dean. How could you trust women after that or even want to go there with someone again?” She looked up at me and smiled. “Thanks for sharing that with me. I can tell it’s hard for you to talk about.”
I nodded and then noticed Cash lift his tail and, sure enough, take a nice massive shit on the grass. I laughed because the timing was impeccable. “Looks like the big man is feeling back to normal.”
Addison looked over at Cash and then beamed up at me. My chest tightened at seeing how happy and relieved she was, as well as the love she had for her horse. “Finally. What time is it?”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check the time. “Just after midnight. I think he can go back to his stall, and we can call it a night. He needs to rest, and I can check on him first thing in the morning.”