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I had suspected as much but I swallowed hard, my eyes dropping into my lap.
“I’m not saying this to shame you, Lara. I don’t know if you remember, but I said something to you last night at the bar – ”
“That if something was going on, you were behind it.”
“Yes.”
I looked up at him, wrenching my hands under the table. “Why?” I asked, despite not really wanting the answer. I remembered what he’d drunkenly said on the yacht in Ibiza, right before Jackson proposed. “I know a lot of things. Things that you’d wanna know.” I always assumed he was talking about Gabrielle since he’d seen them that night, but suddenly, sitting alone with him, I feared that there was something more. After all, he had said that he knew “things,” which was plural. Or maybe you’re just being crazy, I told myself. “Listen, I know you know about Gabrielle,” I blurted, unable to take the suspense. “Dane told me you were there. But is there something else you know beyond that?” I asked, hating the desperate tone in my voice.
Sawyer ran a heavy hand over his stubble. There was a long pause before he answered, “Yes.”
I closed my eyes, shaking my head with mounting fury. Of course. Of course there was something else with Jackson. There always was and I’d simply found out too late. “What is it, Sawyer?” I asked, opening my eyes to find myself staring through tears.
Sawyer took a deep breath, rubbing his face with both hands. “I wanted to tell you but I wasn’t sure if it was true and I had to make sure before I made any accusations that could ruin someone’s – ”
“I know, Sawyer, it’s fine. Just tell me, please,” I said hastily, my heart beating faster as Sawyer’s lip began to curl with disgust. He pressed his fist against his mouth, as if needing to suppress his anger in order to speak. When he finally did, instant fear burned in my chest.
“You know the man who broke into your apartment?”
I stared. A cold sweat prickled my skin. “Yes,” I said, my voice dead, hollow. I waited for Sawyer to continue but he didn’t, once again choking back revulsion. “Sawyer, what about him? Who is he?” I pleaded for an answer but when he finally opened his mouth to speak, it snapped back shut, his fingers curling into a fist.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” he muttered to himself as he stared past me.
Turning around, I expected to see Jake and Sloane but instead, I saw a stunning brunette in an impossibly short dress – joined by him.
Dane Fucking McNulty.
“Holy shit!” he clapped, his volume startling the adjacent tables. “Look at you two. Like fuckin’ deer in headlights,” he laughed, his grey eyes twinkling with true excitement as he strolled to us. “Sawyer.” Dane slapped a heavy hand onto his shoulder. “I don’t know if I should congratulate you or punch you in the fuckin’ head, you fuckin’ dog.”
“Get your hand off of me,” Sawyer flung him away. Dane held his hands up, feigning hurt.
“Really, dude? I was actually going to say good job on growing some balls and doing what you said you’d do that night we saw Jackson and Gabby together.” He turned to me with mock sympathy. “Not to bring that up again. I’m sure it’s a sore subject. But I’m guessing it’s what made this happen, right?” he said, pointing back and forth between us.
“This isn’t what you think it is, Dane,” I bit back. “There is such thing as a non-sexual encounter, even though I’m sure you’d love to believe otherwise.”
A slow grin spread Dane’s lip
s. “Goddamn, I’ve heard about that sharp tongue,” he murmured, eyeing between my mouth. He turned to Sawyer. “How was it, brother? As good as Jackson says?”
The table lurched forward as Sawyer rose to his feet, pressing a forearm into Dane’s chest. “Listen, don’t talk to me like that and don’t talk to her at all. This isn’t what you think it is but I don’t owe you an explanation so why don’t you walk the fuck away and go have lunch with that poor girl over there who doesn’t know what kind of disgusting fucking prick you are,” he muttered, walking forward and forcing Dane back. Dane only sneered.
“Fuck, you guys are such a drag these days. You, Jackson, all of you,” he shook his head. “Don’t worry, I’ll make things exciting for you guys again. I have a feeling Jackson would love to hear about this.”
Sawyer’s jaw twitched but he swallowed whatever words were on the tip of his tongue. Glaring, he watched Dane till he was seated across the restaurant. Then, he grabbed Jake and Sloane’s coat and nodded out the door. “Come on. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
That night, I sat violently shaking in the hot bath Jake had drawn for me in his soaking tub. It had taken some coaxing but I’d finally gotten Sawyer to finish what he had begun telling me at Broome Street Kitchen. He said it all quickly before Jake or Sloane could return, and what he revealed made me so instantly sick that my knees buckled. His arms had caught me before I hit the floor but a part of me wished that he’d just let go. I wanted to fall. I wanted to crash and shatter into a million pieces.
It had been a suspicion of mine but now I knew – everything I ever had with Jackson had been a lie. I had no idea who he was. All I knew was that he was a master manipulator – someone who knew exactly how to get his way, no matter how much money or many connections it took. Some way, somehow, he found a way to bend life in is favor.
And when it came to me, he’d do just about anything.
“Say the word, Lara, and I’ll kick Dane’s fuckin’ ass,” Jake said, leaning against the basin sink. I hadn’t told him what Sawyer had revealed. I was afraid of his reaction. After all, I needed to confront Jackson. I couldn’t risk Jake beating him to death. So I went ahead and let Jake believe that it was Dane who had rattled me. It wasn’t totally untrue. He was the one who gave Jackson the sick idea in the first place.
“Don’t kick his ass, he’s not worth it,” I murmured.
“If you’re worried about Jackson, he has no reason to believe Dane,” Jake said between his teeth.
