25. Keris
K eris~
Rejection wasn’t fun, but I’d been expecting it when I’d made the decision to show up here tonight.
After refusing to take my calls, return any of them, see me, and even one embarrassing incident of being asked to leave the Kingston offices, when this event had shown up on Faron’s calendar, he had insisted that I show up, then confront Brantley face-to-face.
Knowing that Dylan and Huntley would be here had also helped to instill some bravery, but they were also attending with their husbands, so refusing to be a fifth wheel, I had come alone.
Though Brantley hadn’t.
I wasn’t sure why I’d been surprised to see that woman walking up to him, but I’d had.
Even though he’d made it clear that we were married in name only now, and even though he’d been clear about opening up his bed to other women, I’d still been surprised.
Maybe it was because I had expected to see him with Rochelle.
I had expected him to run back to her, but I guess he hadn’t been lying when he’d said that she hadn’t been the only woman in his phone contacts.
I’d made that statement about other men in the heat of the moment, but it was obvious that Brantley hadn’t said anything in the heat of the moment that night.
Suddenly, there was no question about if Beau had been lying or not. Brantley was going to divorce me, wipe his hands of these past couple of months, then move on like a closed chapter in his life’s book.
It was also clear why he was giving me back the mines.
With my parents out of debt, it’d be easy to secure a loan to start mining, the efforts providing enough to pay for all of Linsey’s medical costs.
Sure, I’d probably have to take a leave of absence from the gallery until I got everything situated, but I knew that Faron would be fine with that.
For years, decades even, the mines had been untouched, but now I was going to mine them, and the very idea felt rather overwhelming.
I knew nothing about how to mine caves or whatever.
As soon as I reached the bar, I signaled for the bartender, asking for two shots of tequila.
After these, I was going to find Dylan and Huntley, say my goodbyes, then go home and pack my stuff.
I didn’t care if I had to sleep in the streets, though I knew that sounded super dramatic.
I’d be crashing on the couch at my sister’s until the rooms were situated to accommodate me.
After taking the first shot, a voice that reminded me of smooth bourbon hit my ears. “We have to stop meeting like this.” I looked up into Ares Cormac’s golden gaze. “I’m starting to worry about you.”
“Two shots of tequila aren’t going to put me under,” I assured him right before throwing back my second shot.”
“I guess that depends on if you’re throwing tequila back every night or not,” he retorted.
“Did you just call me an alcoholic?” I asked, letting out a hollow chuckle because I very well might turn into one at this rate.
“Keris?”
My eyes found his again. “Yeah?”
“Go home with me,” he said, and my head jerked a bit with his unexpected directness. For some reason, this felt different from the last time, and I didn’t like it.
“I am not going home with you, Ares,” I finally replied. “I already told you that once.”
“Why not?” he asked candidly, and I could feel a hysterical laugh bubbling in my chest.
Why not, indeed.
Looking up at the gorgeous man, apart from the sliminess of our first encounter, there really was no reason not to go home with him.
Brantley had obviously moved on, had plans to spend the night with his date, so there was no real reason not to take Ares up on his offer.
Sure, he’d been a supreme asshole the first time that we’d met, but now that I knew the history between him and Brantley, I knew that none of it had been personal.
He’d been trying to hurt Brantley, and their relationship was no longer my business.
“There’s absolutely no reason for me not to go home with you,” I answered honestly. “In fact, though I could be wrong, you even look like you might be worth going home with.”
I thought that he’d get cocky, but he didn’t.
“Once I found out who you were, I dug up everything that I could find on you, Keris,” he said, surprising me again.
“What I found tells me that you are very much worth going home with. In that dress, you’re worth whatever wrath Kingston might want to bring down on my head.
” Before I could comment on that, he added, “But since he’s busy entertaining another woman, I can’t see him really bothering with what I’m doing with his wife, can you? ”
That stung more than I’d been prepared for.
I had accused Brantley of wanting to keep up appearances, but now it was me that was hurt because our secret was no longer a secret. After tonight, no one was going to be surprised by our divorce, and love really did fucking suck. Why did people sign up for this shit?
“No, you’re right,” I agreed. “There really is no reason for not leaving with you.”
Ares smirked. “I’ll even apologize for the last time that we met.”
Surprisingly, that got a soft smile out of me. “Such a gentleman.”
Ares grinned, and when he wasn’t being a disgusting slimeball, he really was handsome. “While you do have my apologies, I can see that you’re not going to leave with me.”
My brows furrowed a bit. “Why do you say that?”
“Because you’ve done the unthinkable, my dear,” he said dramatically. “You’ve gone and fallen in love with your husband when you really shouldn’t have.”
“You don’t know-”
“Keris, it’s written all over your face,” he informed me. “No one’s that good of an actor.”
“Why do you hate Brantley so much?” I asked, deflecting from the truth.
“It’s just an old business rivalry that’s gotten out of hand,” he answered truthfully. “One that I welcome and enjoy because it keeps me at the top of my game.”
“Do you even want to sleep with me?” I asked. “Or would it all be for Brantley’s sake?”
“Oh, make no mistake,” he said wolfishly. “I most definitely want to fuck you. I’d just prefer that you not be thinking of him while I’m inside you.”
“I didn’t peg you for being high maintenance,” I teased.
He winked, but then quickly got serious. “I think that you should leave.”
My head jerked in confusion. “What?”
“I think that you should leave,” he repeated. “If Kingston follows you, then you be honest with him. Tell him that you love him and make your marriage work. If he doesn’t follow you, then you have your answer. You can decide your next move, knowing that your marriage is truly over.”
“What makes you think that I haven’t already told him that I love him?” I posed.
A small dimple twinkled in his left cheek. “Because, after everything that I’ve learned about you, if a goddess like you told me that she loved me, I wouldn’t even dream about looking at another woman,” he said, and I could feel embarrassing pressure forming behind my eyes.
It was so weird to be having this honest conversation with a virtual stranger, but since he wasn’t invested in me or my emotions, I could count on the truth from him.
Granted, Dylan was also all about the truth, but she’d also been the one to advise me to tell Brantley the truth of how I felt, and look at where that got me.
“He won’t follow me,” I said, finally voicing my greatest fear in this moment.
Ares looked at me understandingly. “No, he won’t,” he agreed. “Brantley Kingston doesn’t chase women. He chases business deals, money, power, and status, but women not so much.”
I eyed Ares. “I still don’t know why you’re helping me, Ares.”
“Because I owe you,” he answered simply. “What I did the first time that we’d met was wrong. I dragged you into this thing between me and Kingston, and that had been unfair of me. Consider this my apology.”
“Plus, you also want to sleep with me,” I added, a small smile playing on my lips.
“There is that,” he agreed good-naturedly.
I let out a heavy sigh. “Still, you’re not wrong. Even though I know that Brantley isn’t going to care about me walking out of this building, I still need it spelled out for me.”
“The letters will be bigger if you allow me to escort you outside,” he said, and Ares was right again. If me walking out with Ares Cormac wasn’t enough to make Brantley come after me, then we were officially over. The writing would be written all over the wall, and I did have some pride after all.
I opened my purse to leave a tip, but Ares quickly stopped me. “I’m not a cad all of the time, Keris Bishop,” he said as he pulled out his wallet. “Believe it or not, I do know how to treat a woman. Especially, when she’s not married to my business rival.”
“But I am married to your business rival,” I pointed out.
“Not for long, I think,” he replied brutally, and I couldn’t even argue with him.
After tipping the bartender, I felt Ares put his hand on the small of my back, and it was weird how wrong it felt for him to be touching me.
However, everything about tonight felt wrong.