Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
She nodded sagely and promised she'd find Sloane. Charlie was stifling a giggle, and Vance gave my waist a hard squeeze. "The only time in my entire fucking life that I've ever had the jitters was when you wouldn't agree to marry me."
"You said no?" Charlie cut in.
"She turned him down?" I heard over my shoulder. I turned to see Aiden behind us, frowning at Vance. "You fucked it up, man? How?"
"I did not fuck it up," Vance growled, lifting my hand from where he had it tucked to his chest and showing Aiden my ring. "She said yes. She just made me wait first. I think she wanted to torture me."
"I wasn't trying to torture you," I protested. "I was in shock. I wasn't expecting a proposal."
"That's my fault," Vance whispered in my ear. "You should have been expecting it. I should never have let you wonder about how much I love you."
I melted into him. How long did we have to stay at the show? My sensible side said we had to stay to the end. The newly engaged woman who'd spent the previous night crying into her pillow wanted to jump the wall and sneak off to have sex with her fiancée.
At the moment, I liked her much better than my sensible side. I nudged Vance with my elbow and said, "Hey, do you want to sneak out? What's Sloane going to do, fire you?"
Vance's blue eyes went electric and he lowered his mouth to mine. His tongue was tracing my lower lip when I heard from behind me, "Maggie! I need to talk to you, baby."
I turned to see Brayden, wearing a suit and sporting a black eye, stalking across the walled garden to the gazebo. Every person in earshot fell silent.
Wonderful.
Almost everyone here knew me, knew Brayden, and knew our sad drama of cheating and a broken engagement.
Atlanta was a big city, but my corner of it sometimes felt like a small town. Vance shifted to put himself between Brayden and me.
I stepped to the side. I wasn't afraid of Brayden, but I was curious to know what he wanted.
"Why aren't you in jail?" I asked.
A gasp went up from the crowd.
I couldn't say I didn't enjoy the heck out of that. I was tired of playing the rejected girlfriend. A stint in jail made being dumped the far lesser crime.
"Maggie, how could you have me arrested?" he asked, coming to a stop in front of me. "I need you to drop the charges, baby. This was all a misunderstanding. You just need to let me explain."
I laughed. I couldn't help it. He was completely insane if he thought there was any explanation for what he'd done. I told him so.
"You're crazy. You were stealing from me. You stole my grandmother's bracelet, her clock, and more. Your backpack was stuffed full when you were arrested. I'm not dropping anything. You can rot in jail for all I care. I hope you do."
"I'll lose my license," he pleaded. "I'm sorry. It was a mistake. I owed some money and I didn't have it."
"So you stole from me?" I asked, incredulous. "You took family heirlooms, things my grandparents expected me to hand down to my own children, and pawned them to pay your debts? Who did you owe money to?"
"Can you keep your voice down?" he asked, glancing around.
The crowd was listening with avid interest, not even pretending to look at the art. We were the show now, and if Brayden thought this entire conversation wasn't going to hit every ear in Atlanta by midnight, he was sadly mistaken.
"No," I said. "Who did you owe money to? And for what?"
"I can't tell you," he mumbled, looking at the ground. "Can't you just let it go?"
"No. Tell me what you wanted the money for and I'll drop the charges."
Vance squeezed my arm and said, "Magnolia."
"Do you promise?" Brayden asked.
"First tell me why you needed the money," I said.
"For Heather's engagement ring," he confessed in a low voice. "I was over-extended and I couldn't get credit. She wanted a ring, and I thought—"
"You thought you'd steal from your former fiancée to buy a ring for your new one? God, you're a dumbass," I said.
If I hadn't had Vance beside me, his ring on my finger and his declarations of love fresh in my ears, I might have murdered Brayden. As it was, I laughed.
"So will you drop the charges? I really am sorry," he said with a sheepish smile I'm sure he thought was charming.
"No," I said.
"But, you promised," he sputtered. "You said—"
"I lied," I cut in. "And you're an idiot."
"Come on, Maggie, don't be such a bitch. I'm sorry about everything, but you don't need to get back at me by doing this."
"Get back at you?" I laughed again. "I don't need to get back at you at all.
I've moved on. I don't care about you anymore.
But you were stealing from me. You knew I loved that bracelet, knew my grandmother gave it to me, and you pawned it for cash.
You must have known I'd go crazy looking for it, but all you wanted was to make yourself happy.
You'll have to hope your lawyer can work a miracle, because we have you on video at my house and they're tracking down the things you pawned.
You're going to lose a lot more than your license. "
"You fucking cunt—" Brayden swore.
He didn't get the chance to say more. Vance lunged forward and swung his fist, catching Brayden right on the jaw.
Brayden dropped like a sack of rocks. Vance stepped back and shook out his hand.
"Fuck. Forgot how much that hurts."
I caught his hand in mine and rubbed his fingers. "Careful with those hands, honey," I said. "You can't work if you get injured."
Vance kissed my forehead. "I've been dying to hit him for years. If he moves, I'll do it again."
"He's not worth it," I said.
"No, but you are." He rested his lips on my skin, and I leaned into him, twining my fingers with his.
"When you're not being an asshole, you're pretty sweet," I said.
"Charming, not sweet," he said, trailing his lips down my cheekbone to my mouth and kissing me slowly. I forgot everyone was watching us and kissed him back, my body melting into his.
"Uh, guys? The dickhead is getting up," Charlie said, staring down at Brayden as if he were something she'd stepped in.
I looked over my shoulder to see Brayden sneering at us, propped up on one hand, touching his cheek gingerly with the other. "I'm fucking pressing charges, asshole. You hit me!"
"No shit," Vance said with a laugh. "Did you just figure that out?"
"I'm going to fucking kick your ass," Brayden shouted.
Not likely. He was still wobbling to his feet when I pulled my hand free of Vance and stepped in front of him. Vance tried to pull me back, but I waved him off. Brayden couldn't even stand up straight. He wasn't a threat.
"Get out of my way, Maggie," he said. I took a step closer and set my hands on his shoulders. Behind me, I heard Charlie say, "Oh, shit."
"There's something I've been meaning to tell you, Brayden," I said.
He opened his mouth to speak, but he never got the words out. Before he had the chance to spew more bullshit, I lifted my knee and slammed it into his balls.
Brayden let out a high-pitched squeak and collapsed to the ground, jaw hanging loose, limbs splayed, gasping for air.
Vance took my hand and swung me around, dropping me over his arm in a low dip as if we'd been dancing.
He set his lips on my neck and said, "You're amazing. I fucking love you, Magnolia." In a whoosh of movement, he swung me back upright and held me tight to his body. "What do you say we get the hell out of here and celebrate our engagement?"
"Please," I said. Vance picked up the bottle of champagne by the neck, wrapped his arm around my waist, sent Aiden and Charlie a two-fingered salute, and led me through the murmuring crowd. He was parked in the tiny lot behind the gallery.
After helping me up into the Range Rover, he got in, started the engine, and said, "Home?"
"Yes. Let's go home."
He took my hand in his as he drove, stroking the ring on my finger as we passed through the hushed streets. "Is Rosie with Mrs. Williamson?" I asked.
"Yep."
"All night?" I asked.
Vance gave my hand a squeeze and turned his head to look at me. His eyes shone with love and sparked with lust.
"All night, Magnolia. All night."
"Mmm," I said, pressing my knees together at the wave of heat between my legs. I'd only been without him for one night, but it felt like a lifetime.
"You know what I want, Sugar?" Vance asked, his voice a low rumble in his chest.
"Tell me."
"I want you, in our bed, wearing nothing but my ring and those fucking shoes. That's what I want."
"I can do that," I said.
And I did. All night.