Chapter 6 It’s Just a Casual Fling #2
If Triston hadn't been her cousin, Stella might have found his imposing presence intimidating. But she had grown up with him, and his size had never been enough to scare her.
She simply crossed her arms, meeting his irritated stare with one of her own.
“Are you going to say something, or are you going to keep staring at me like you want to eat me alive and throw my bones to the dogs?”
Triston exhaled sharply through his nose, his patience visibly thinning.
“I heard a rumor, and I want to know if it’s true.”
Stella’s expression changed immediately.
Her eyes widened.
“A rumor?”
The question came out in a single breath.
“Is it true that you’ve gotten together with Lucius?”
Stella’s mouth immediately clamped shut.
Her lips pressed into a tight line as her brows drew together. She turned her face away and let out a long, frustrated breath.
“Oh my God. Is there anything that stays secret around here?”
Triston's expression hardened.
Before she could say anything else, he reached out and gently but firmly caught her face in one hand, turning her back toward him so she couldn't avoid his gaze.
“Stop talking to yourself.”
His eyes held hers, his voice low and impatient.
“You know I was going to find out eventually. Nothing stays secret, and now everyone knows. I want to know what the fuck is going on.”
His fingers remained against her jaw as his expression grew more serious.
“Why are you back with him?”
Stella released Triston’s wrist and immediately folded her arms across her chest. She lifted her chin, straightened her shoulders, and put on a brave, indifferent expression, as though none of his questions had managed to get beneath her skin.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I just needed someone to play with. We were together for so many years, and I let that bastard control me. When I got the chance, of course I took advantage of it. It’s just a casual fling, nothing more.”
Triston stared at her.
He did not answer immediately. Instead, he tilted his head to the side, his eyes narrowing as he studied her face with the kind of look that made it obvious he knew she was hiding something.
“Stella Gibson, don’t forget that I’m not stupid.”
His voice was low, but the warning in it was unmistakable.
“You’re not the woman who does casual things. You’re not the woman who does one-night stands. You’re not the woman who even falls for another fucking man.”
His jaw tightened as he stepped closer, his gaze locked on hers.
“Ever since you fell for Lucius, you haven’t been with another fucking man. And before Lucius, there wasn’t anyone either.” His gaze remained fixed on her. “So don’t expect me to believe this was just some casual fling.”
His voice hardened as he shook his head.
“I know you, Stella. The only man you’ve ever truly fallen in love with is Lucius Frost.”
His patience was wearing thin now, his voice rising with each word.
“So how the hell do you expect me to believe that you’re just playing a casual game with that man?” His eyes narrowed, frustration flashing across his face. “Have you already forgotten why you broke up with him in the first place?”
Stella’s arms remained folded, but her fingers curled tightly against her upper arms.
“Wasn’t it because you called him to come to the entire proposal setup you had made to propose to him?” Triston continued, his eyes fixed on hers. “And instead, a woman picked up his goddamn phone and told you that Lucius was swimming and couldn’t come to the phone?”
His expression hardened.
“You were ready to propose to him, Stella. You had already made the decision to spend your life with him.” Triston’s voice softened only slightly, but his eyes remained fixed on hers. “You had chosen Lucius Frost. You were ready to build your entire future around that man.”
The words struck harder than she expected.
Stella’s face fell.
For a moment, the crowded café around her seemed to disappear. The voices of the customers, the clatter of cups, the hiss of the coffee machine, all of it faded beneath the memory she had spent so long trying to bury.
She remembered that day with painful clarity.
She had not believed the woman on the phone.
Not at first.
She had gone home, desperately searching for another explanation, convincing herself that there had to be one. Lucius was not that man. He could not be.
And then Lucius had come home.
He had walked through the door with the same effortless authority he carried everywhere, looking as composed and untouchable as ever. His expensive coat had been draped perfectly over his broad shoulders, his expression controlled, his movements calm.
He had walked straight to her and kissed her on the lips, just as he always did.
Stella had watched him remove his coat and toss it onto the couch before he headed toward the bathroom to freshen up.
That was when she saw it.
The lipstick stain on his white shirt.
It had been there in plain sight, impossible to miss against the crisp white fabric.
The sight had stopped her heart.
The pain that followed had been so intense that she had felt as though something inside her had been ripped apart.
She had already fallen so deeply in love with Lucius that she had been ready to propose to him.
She had been ready to place her entire future in his hands.
She had believed that the man standing in front of her was the man who loved her, the man who belonged to her, the man she could trust with every part of herself.
Lucius had always been that kind of man.
Powerful. Controlled. Wealthy enough to have anything he desired. A billionaire accustomed to getting his way and never having to explain himself to anyone.
And Stella had believed she was the one person he would never betray.
But that lipstick stain had made one thing painfully clear.
The man she had been sleeping with was not the man who was in love with her.
He was a man who had been sleeping with another woman.
That realization had destroyed every feeling she had ever had for him and broken her completely.
That was the reason she had broken up with Lucius.
She had walked away because she knew that if she stayed, she would destroy herself for him.
If it had not been for Shane asking for her help to move to London, where she could stay with him while they put up a front of being husband and wife, she would have remained in Manhattan.
And staying there would have devastated her even more.
Leaving Manhattan had not simply been about starting over somewhere else. She had been too broken to continue living in the same city as Lucius. Every street, every building, every familiar place seemed to carry a memory of Lucius.
He was everywhere.
Like a shadow she could not escape.
She could not walk through the city without remembering him.
She could not return to the places they had shared without feeling the weight of everything she had lost. The life she had once imagined with him followed her through every corner of Manhattan, reminding her of the man she had loved and the future she had believed they would have.
That was another reason she had been so devastated.
Her friends knew why she had truly been unable to remain in Manhattan, why she had needed to put an ocean between herself and Lucius before the memories consumed her completely.
She had buried pain, pretending that she had moved on, pretending that Lucius no longer had the power to hurt her.
But even after everything, even after a year apart, even after forcing herself to build a completely different life, there was one truth she could never escape.
She had never forgotten Lucius.
Stella looked at Triston for a long moment before finally drawing in a deep breath. She held it for a second, trying to force down the anger building inside her, then slowly exhaled and met his eyes again.
“I know what I’m doing, okay?” she said, her voice tight with frustration. “Stop interfering in my life. Don’t treat me like I’m a child. I know what you did, and I know exactly what I’m doing. I’m not a fool, Triston. Do you really think I will be fooled twice?”
Her arms remained folded across her chest, but her fingers tightened against her sleeves.
“I know that I fell in love with him, but I’m not in love with him right now. And the only thing I want from him is not what you’re thinking.”
Triston stared at her, his expression still impatient and unconvinced.
For several seconds, neither of them said anything.
Finally, he let out a frustrated breath, shook his head, and turned away. Without another word, he walked out of the café.
Stella watched him disappear through the door before releasing another deep breath. Her shoulders dropped slightly as some of the tension left her body.
Convincing Triston was much more difficult than convincing anyone else that she was only playing this game with Lucius now. He knew her too well. He knew what she had been like when she had loved Lucius, and he knew exactly how badly she had been hurt when that relationship had ended.
Stella turned away from the door and went back behind the counter, forcing herself to focus on the café. She moved through the remaining hours of the day, serving customers and keeping herself occupied until evening began to settle over the city.