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I just didn’t realize that Jenny was everyone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
jenny
When I wokeup the next morning, Cole was up and packing. “Oh! Do we have an early flight?” I asked, confused. I thought we were spending the morning at the spa and then flying home in the afternoon.
“Ihave an early flight,” Cole said. He wouldn’t look at me.
I sat up a little. “Aren’t we going together?”
“I don’t think so.” Cole’s voice was ice.
I felt sick to my stomach. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.
“What do you mean?” I asked, but I already knew. I wanted to tell him the whole truth right then and there. But I remembered his father’s warning. If I ratted out Lewis Bryson, he would take it out on Cole. This wasn’t about just me and my past anymore. This was about the man I loved.
The man I loved, who still wouldn’t look at me.
“I mean that I’m flying back as soon as I can get to the airport.” Cole roughly folded a pair of pants and stuffed them into his suitcase.
“Can I… Can I come with you?” I knew what his answer would be, and tears flooded my eyes.
“No, you can’t.” Cole finally looked up at me. His cheeks were hollowed out, and he had faint dark circles under his eyes like he hadn’t slept all night. “I can’t have you around me right now.”
“Why not?” The tears spilled over.
“I think you know, Jenny. You don’t need to play dumb anymore,” Cole said. “I think you’ve been lying to me for long enough. Why’d you agree to come back, huh? Did my father offer you a bonus? Or was it the double-dipping—was it too good to pass up?”
I shook my head. “That’s not why I came back.”
“You think I’m going to believe one word that comes out of your mouth?” Cole closed his suitcase. “Ramos hasn’t texted you back yet, by the way. So you’ll have to tell my father you couldn’t close the deal, either. We’ll both be on his shit list.”
“Cole, please?—”
“And what about this, huh?” He grabbed my phone from the nightstand and furiously swiped at it. “A ten-thousand-dollar Venmo to someone in Boston a few days ago. And then yesterday,while we’re on fucking vacation, another one. Who was that to, huh? Your fuckingboyfriend?”
“Don’t be crazy!” I wailed. “There isn’t anybody but you!”
“How can I believe one word that comes out of your mouth? I should have known when you left the first time that I couldn’t trust you.” His voice rose. “But I brought you back. I couldn’t help myself. I brought you back and hoped that finally—even though you left me the first time—I’d found someone I could trust. Someone I could be myself around. Someone interested in more than my fucking bank account.”
“I don’t care about the money?—”
“Stop lying,” he spat. I’d never seen him so angry. His eyes blazed. “Stop lying to me. I trusted you. I let you in. You’ve been pretending this whole time, and you did one hell of a job, Jenny. You earned every penny. I hope it was worth it.”
“Your father threatened me?—”
“Welcome to the club,” he interrupted. “He threatens me all the time. But I won’t compromise my morals to get him off my back. But I guess that’s how we’re different, huh? And I’m not even going to judge you for it. I don’t know what it’s like to be poor, to come from nothing. I just wish you hadn’t pretended to care about me. You fucked me, Jenny. And you did one hell of a job.”
I jumped out of bed, not caring that I was naked, not caring that tears were running down my face, not caring anymore that Lewis Bryson was going to drag out my past, throw me in jail, and then ruin his son. At that moment, all I cared about was Cole. “I’m not lying. I’ve never lied to you about my feelings. I love you. You mean everything to me!”
“Don’t say it. Don’t say you love me ever again. Please, you’re making me sick.” He held up his hand as he headed for the door. “I loved you, Jenny. It was real for me. Please don’t hurt me anymore.”
He fled the room. I threw on sweats and a T-shirt, then ran after him even though I was barefoot, crying, and didn’t have a bra on. “Cole!” I ran after him, even though it was a fancy resort and I had snot running down my face. I ran after him even though he hated my fucking guts.
“Cole, please!”
“Enough, Jenny.” He stopped right before we reached the lobby. “I am finished with you. I’m canceling your contract. I refuse to have people in my life who fuck me over and lie to my face. They’re calledboundaries. You crossed mine. You’re out.”
