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“Oui, she is indeed. The fiancé was ill-prepared, popping the question because her family is here. Americans have lost the art of romance. No honest man would make a mockery of love. Love requires intimacy, not big displays.” His flippant comment warrants a comeback, but I’m still stuck on the “popping the question because her family is here” part. The only person with Marlow and her family was Rad.
My hands fist at my side, and I take a deep and staggering breath to control my head from exploding. “Did you see the man, her fiancé,” I grit, “propose, or is it a rumor?”
“The actress, Lorie Marché, was telling a small group of us at the wedding. Her father is going to give a toast.”
“A toast?” Rad is about to have his engagement announced instead of his relationship with me going public. A punch to the gut has me coddling my midsection just as panic sets in.
He must be wrong. Others men are dressed in tuxes. It must be a mix-up. Please be anyone but Rad.
“This, uh, man.” He looks around and then turns back. “Is the same man as the one coming from the house.”
My gaze pivots over his shoulder to see Rad returning to the reception. Just past him, twenty or so feet, Marlow walks out of the house. My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach, and I brace myself by holding it with one arm. It’s hard to speak with my throat thickening, but I ask, “Are you sure? Are you sure that’s the man?”
“I am. Lorie pointed him out when they walked down the aisle.”
I stare at Jean-Luc, watching the shape of his lips when he speaks and the way they creep around the edge of the glass when he drinks. I stare at his mouth because it’s a liar just like the man. Only someone cruel like him would spread lies for entertainment.
My Rad wouldn’t do this to me.
My Rad wouldn’t betray someone he loves.
My Rad wouldn’t go against his moral compass, choosing his career over me. I know he wouldn’t. Rad has goals, but he’s changed for the better. He has a life, with me, for the better. Why would he do something that he knows would destroy me?
He promised never to hurt me, but I stand here unable to walk away from the pain.
Jean-Luc rocks in his loafers and then smiles. “Would you like to dance?”
“Tealey?” The voice cuts past Jean-Luc. When my eyes find the ones that usually bring me comfort, this time, they don’t. I’m hit with a glare so piercing that he has me believing I’ve done something wrong. “I’ve been looking for you,” Rad says, standing behind Jean-Luc.
“I’ve been looking for you as well,” I volley back with caution.
We’ve had a fight, but it was a rain shower compared to the storm brewing inside him. The tension is so thick that I take another step back from Jean-Luc as if he’ll find me guilty from the proximity to another man.
This is not Rad. Not my Rad.
He’s not like that—unreasonable and threatening. Who is this man standing before me? The one who looks so familiar but feels foreign in every other way.
Jean-Luc steps forward and faces Rad. “Is there a problem?”
His accent is much milder now and more in tune with his manners.
Rad’s gaze never sways from mine, ignoring Jean-Luc entirely. He holds out his hand, reaching for me.
In. Front. Of. Everyone.
At least anyone who’s paying attention to us, but that doesn’t seem to be many when I look around at the party happening behind me. It’s a violation of the agreement, either way, and I’m all for chucking that damn deal, but it seems he already did way before now.
I take a breath and place my hand in his despite my better judgment, his touch the match igniting the dwindling embers inside me once again. I needed this. I needed him.
But when I glance at Jean-Luc, his words of warning reappear. No honest man would make a mockery of love. No honest man.
I pull my hand back, burned by him. Again.
Be strong, Tealey.
Confusion rips through Rad’s expression, and he comes forward, whispering, “We need to talk.”
“Do we?”
“Yes.”
One look. That’s all it takes for me to see that he’s done something that can’t be fixed. “I . . .” I start, my breath getting away from me as tears threaten the corners of my eyes. “Why didn’t I see it before now?”
“See what, Tealey?” He comes even closer, desperation coating his tongue. “Talk to me.”
As soon as Rad grabs my hands, Jean-Luc says, “You should not touch her.”
“Fuck off.”
“Rad!” I say, shocked by his behavior.
No, this is not the man I’ve fallen in love with. “I’m glad you showed me your true colors now before you had me fooled completely,” I lie, turning around and walking away. I was fooled by him, head over heels in love with him, but I finally see the truth.
