Jesse felt strange heat shoot up the front of his neck and over the crown of his head. Suddenly his brain felt tight and a dull ringing started up in his ears. He swallowed and tried to ignore the way his vision was suddenly blurring.
“I figured I had to tell you because I have a feeling this is not your bag, but also I’m not all up in your business when it comes to the ladies.”
Jesse felt his chest swelling up again. “Thank you, Amanda. Excuse me for a second.”
“Are you okay? Should I have kept that to myself?”
“No. Thank you. Thank you for telling me.” Jesse couldn’t muster up a smile, but he did give her shoulder a light squeeze of reassurance as he stood up from the table. “Excuse me.”
He needed to get the hell out of there, or least walk it off. This was why he didn’t date. The real reason. Every woman he met saw him as a challenge. Not a person. He knew he had his own stuff to deal with, but how the hell was he supposed to start a romantic relationship with people who viewed him that way? What was the plan? What did they think would win him over? He wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of guy, so even if one of those women had come up to him to claim that prize, they would have been disappointed. He wasn’t going to hop in bed or duck behind a large bush for a quickie at his brother’s wedding. His grandmother would love that.
Carefully, but quickly, he walked away from the main tent and headed for the bathroom inside the villa. He spotted his cousin Sage smoking near the path leading down to the parking lot and decided to ignore her.
“Jesse,” Sage called out to him with a laugh as he stormed by.
“What?” He didn’t mean to snap, but that didn’t make his reaction any less shocking or unnecessary. He could just hear Lily-Grace’s mocking voice, see the disappointment on his grandmother’s face. He couldn’t even make it through the night without losing his cool. But Sage didn’t seem to take it personally. She was from the Pleasant side of the family that didn’t decide to go into some sort of family business. Her side of the family had gotten all the chill.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, what’s going on?”
“Is it true you know all of Cardi’s choreography?”
Jesse fought the urge to snap again, and this time he was able to keep it under control. “Yes, it’s true. Lilah bet me fifty bucks I couldn’t learn the moves to ‘WAP’ in fifteen minutes. And I enjoyed my winnings. It spiraled from there.”
“That is amazing.”
“We like to have fun,” Jesse said, trying to keep his tone level because now he was pissed for a whole new reason. “Please tell Corie I know her business too. We can both keep to ourselves.”
“I will tell Corie that. But just know there were like six other people at the table when she told us. You were cutting it up on the dance floor and I think she just wanted to give a little back story. You got moves, cuz.”
“Thanks. Excuse me.”
“Uh, I wouldn’t go in there,” Sage said suddenly, nodding toward the entrance.
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Uncle Gerald kicked like five employees out so he could finally have it out with Lilah.”
Jesse let his head fall back on his shoulders and let out a loud groan.
“Yeah. That’s the sound I made when he stopped me from following them. Has he always been such a dick?”
“To Lilah? Yes.” Jesse eyed the door, then looked down at his watch. He’d promised he wouldn’t let Lilah and his uncle make a scene. Technically they weren’t, but he also didn’t know how long he should stand by while Uncle Gerald hammered his daughter with his outdated views on her life. His uncle wanted to see Lilah, his only daughter, settled and taken care of, but trying toarrangea marriage for her, without giving her a say was not the way to go.
It had been almost six years since she fled their vineyard up North, trying to get away from Uncle Gerald’s brutish views and something told Jesse this conversation wasn’t going to convince her to return home. He glanced back at Sage, who took one final drag before she stomped the butt out with her heel. Smoke billowed out of her nose when she spoke again.
“Get in there, champ. Use some of that pent-up aggression for good.”
“I’m not—” Before he could finish his sentence, his uncle Gerald came storming out of the building. He saw them, but didn’t say anything as he walked by.
“Hmmm, looks like Lilah won that round.” Sage shrugged.
“Let me go check on her.”
“Tell her I said to keep fighting the good fight. Marriage is only worth it if you actually like the person you’re married to.”
Jesse grunted in agreement and headed inside the building. He found Lilah sitting on the edge of the indoor fountain.
