They walked into a hall, and he tucked her into a side room. Every step felt like she was trudging through cement.
“Hey,” he said, moving his face close to hers. “You have to take a breath.”
She couldn’t form thoughts or understand why Mason would do this to her.
“Jules.” Rhys cupped her face. “Look at me.”
“It’s been Mason?” This whole time, it had been one of the people closest to her. “Why?”
Vivian appeared behind Rhys and handed him a Coke. He popped the top. “Take a sip of this. Sit down on the chair behind you.”
She did what he said. Breathing still didn’t feel right. The sweet bubbles on her tongue, though… That felt a little better.
Rhys rubbed her back. “Take a deeper breath. Slow it down.”
That was the problem. Her lungs raced. Her blood screamed. Anger, fury, and shock at Mason rattled her more than the text message, the flowers, or stupid Chad Montgomery. The betrayal was too much.
Rhys crouched in front of her. “Another sip. Good. Now, a deep breath.” He locked eyes with her and made her breathe in and out with him. “Just like that.”
Finally, the hazy edge in her periphery disappeared. She took another sip and dropped her chin to her chest. “That bastard. Why would he do this?”
“The feds will figure it out. They’re talking to Mason right now.”
She squeezed her eyes shut. “It will be all over the news. I can’t handle—”
Rhys cupped his hands on her cheeks. “Give me your eyes, Jules.”
She forced them open.
His thumbs smoothed over her skin. “They’ll keep it quiet. He won’t have any reason to say anything. No one’s gonna know.”
“They’re going to know.”
“They won’t. Not right now.”
“I was just having the best day.” Tears burned at the back of her throat. She refused to cry over Mason. But hell, now that she could breathe again, she wanted to scream.
“I’ll take you home.”
“No. What about dinner?”
He gave her an uncertain look.
“One of your coworkers is grilling out?” She swallowed away the unshed tears. “Can we do that? Do something? I can’t just sit at home and try to figure out why he did this to me. I need to be somewhere I can pretend my life isn’t gossip fodder.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re sure?”
“Positive. I need this. I need normal.” She wasn’t sure what normal actually looked like. Her life was ridiculous, and it was her own doing. She hated it. But this place? Less than twenty-four hours here, and she was falling in love with it. Or maybe that was Rhys she was falling in love with.
She sat with that thought longer than was safe. Then she put it away, because Rhys was crouching in front of her with his forehead pressed to hers, and she couldn’t think about falling for someone while that someone was actively holding her together.
Rhys took the can of Coke from her hand and set it on the floor. “Look at me.”
Her eyelashes fluttered.
“I will fix this. Whatever the reason. Whyever the fuck it’s happened, it will be done. If that means I rid the world of Mason Marlow, then he’ll disappear. If I have to do something else to make everything right? I’m going to do it. Do you believe me?”
She nodded. But she was the only person who needed to disappear. Just dissolve, evaporate, never to be seen again. “I don’t want to do this anymore. There has to be a different way.”
