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Why the hell was my intern in my penthouse with no pants on?
Rose went ahead and did what she had always done so well: she began to ramble.
“Oh my goodness! Mr. Roe, I’m so, so sorry! You can totally take the price of the lamp out of my next paycheck. And, uh, oh gosh, if you’d like, I can pick up the pieces if you tell me where you keep your trash bags in your house. And oh my gosh, what a be-beautiful home you have, and, and—”
“Rose.”
She swallowed hard and stood still. “Yes, Mr. Roe?”
“Leave my house.”
She blinked a few times. “Of course, Mr. Roe.” She began walking toward the front door, and I called out toward her.
“Before you exit, please get dressed in whatever it is you wore over here. I don’t need people seeing you leave half-naked.”
“Right. Of course. Sorry, Mr. Roe. I’ll be gone in no time.”
I couldn’t believe she’d even spent a moment in my home. What had she been thinking? No—what had Jason been thinking?
After Rose slithered out of my house, I stared at Jason as if he were the biggest villain I’d ever crossed paths with.
He held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, don’t look at me. She came on to me.”
“She’s nineteen years old, Jason. Plus, it’s your damn wedding day!”
“Don’t remind me,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose as he walked to my kitchen, swung my fridge door open, and took one of my water bottles. “Shit, my head is pounding.”
Not shocking, seeing as how he’d drunk enough for a party of ten.
“What the hell are you going to do? About the wedding?” I asked, hating every piece of him but also thinking about Aaliyah. This was going to crush her.
“I mean, fuck. I don’t know, Connor. I fucked up last night—well, and this morning, but maybe that was it. Maybe that was my final bachelor moment, you know? I had to get it out before settling with Aaliyah.”
Settling? As if she wasn’t the damn prize in their current situation. If anything, she was the one doing the settling.
I brushed my thumb against my chin and sighed. “You should tell Aaliyah.”
“Tell her what?”
“About Rose.”
He snickered out loud and huffed. “Yeah, okay, Connor. That’s how I want to start my wedding day.”
“You don’t want to start a marriage with that kind of lie.”
“If I tell her, there won’t be a marriage. She’ll hate me.”
“Maybe, but if anything, she deserves to know the truth. Just think about it, all right?”
“Yeah, I will.”
“Good. Now go take a shower. You smell like whiskey and ass. I’ll be back to grab you in a bit. We have to get a move on.”
He headed off to take his shower, and I shook my head, glancing over at the thong lying across the floor. I supposed Jason had found his something blue for the day.
When fifty minutes had passed and I’d gotten showered and dressed in my suit, I headed back to the guest room to retrieve Jason. The whole time I was bathing, I couldn’t stop thinking about Aaliyah and the shit situation she was about to be in by marrying an ass like Jason. She deserved better than him, and I had very little doubt he was going to tell her, which made me feel shitty because if he didn’t tell her, I had every intention of doing so.
Did that mean I was breaking some kind of bro code? Maybe, but I couldn’t explain it. For some reason, deep down in my soul, I felt as if my loyalty was in Aaliyah’s corner and not Jason’s.
“Jason, hurry up, will you? We got to get a move on,” I called out as I walked into his room, thinking he was still in the shower.
When I didn’t hear a reply, I called out his name once more.
Again and again.
I darted over to the bathroom to find it empty, and I swore my stomach dropped. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed his number—no luck. I called his number once more.
Again and again.
As I searched the space, I noticed a note sitting on the nightstand.
I can’t do it.
I hardly even know this girl. What the fuck am I doing marrying her?
Let everyone know.
Tell Aaliyah I’m sorry.
-Jason
The letter crumpled in my tight grip and I sighed, knowing today would be the worst day of Aaliyah’s life.
12
Aaliyah
“I don’t believe this,” I whispered, shock taking over my core. “I can’t believe this…”
Oh God, this was the worst possible thing that could’ve ever happened. I couldn’t believe everything around me was crashing and burning on today of all days. I looked at my phone as tears formed in my eyes. I felt an overwhelming amount of sadness. I couldn’t even explain why.
Feeling alone on your wedding day was never a great thing.
