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“Chloe,” I snap, already getting fed up with this conversation. “You can’t chastise me about Jacob and Parker in the same conversation. Pick a lane.”
She blanches. “Sorry.”
“So, he shows up and he wants to come in and I say no and then he’s like can we talk and then Parker calls and is asking all these questions about him and I think he accepted my answer when I said who he was but then I just felt like I was doing something wrong…” I know I’m talking a mile a minute and I feel myself getting more worked up by the second. “So, we left and came here and… he told me he loved me and not to marry Parker and then asked if I’d come back to his place so we could talk in private and then thank God you showed up because I was honestly going to say yes.” I take a deep breath because I don’t think I did the whole time I was speaking. “I am a shitty person.”
“Have you done anything with him?” she asks.
“No, we just talked.”
“Then you’re not a shitty person. Although I will say, Whitney, you’re going down a slippery slope because for you and Jacob? Talking sounds a lot like foreplay.” We are walking out of the bathroom and immediately my eyes find him. I wasn’t even looking for him and yet my gaze lands on him instantly from across the room. He’s staring at me like if he blinks, I’ll disappear and a part of me wants to. I want to run so far away from this bar. Run away from Jacob and my feelings and nineteen-year-old Whitney who’s begging me to give him another chance because this isJacob.
JPMy JP
“He’s still in love with me,” I say as I guide her toward the bar nestled in the corner of the lounge.
Chloe leans against the bar and pushes my hair behind my back so she can see my face better. “That much is obvious. The question is are you still in love with him?”
“I’m trying to do the right thing, Chlo. I’m engaged to another man.”
“One doesn’t have anything to do with the other. Doing the right thing means admitting the truth to yourself. It means walking away tonight, breaking up with Parker so you can be free to be with the man you love. You’re twenty-two years old, marrying Parker when you’re still in love with someone else out of some weird sense of obligation because you said ‘yes’ to his proposal, isn’t doing the right thing, Whitney. You haven’t done anything wrong, yet.” She winces. “But I see the look he’s giving you and the one you’re giving him and I think you’re one drink or brush against him away from falling into bed with him and then that isn’t doing the right thing.”
“Weren’t you drunk like ten minutes ago? Where is this voice of reason coming from? And where is all this logic when it comes to you and Trey?” I ask her as I drink the glass of water that the bartender placed in front of me that Chloe had motioned for.
She shrugs. “The logic comes and goes.” She chuckles. “And it’s easier when it’s not your own life you know that.”
I nod in agreement, because I know that’s the truth. It’s easy to cast opinions when your heart isn’t the one invested. We begin walking toward our seats and my skin begins to prickle in anticipation at being close to him again. “I… I don’t know what to do.” He scratches his beard and runs his thumb over his bottom lip before darting his tongue out to lick the skin.God, he’s fucking hot.
“Then I suggest you put a pin in this and go home until at the very least, you’re sober,”Chloe advises.
I let out a breath, trying to ignore the blood heating in my veins and the tingling in my sex. “You’re right.” I nod, and as if the universe is in complete agreement my phone begins to vibrate in my purse that’s currently resting against my hip. I open my bag and see Parker’s name on my phone.Perfect timing. Amazing timing.“Let me take this, I’ll meet you at the table.” Chloe heads back toward them and I swipe my finger across the screen.
“I love you.” I tell him instantly. “I miss you. How are you?”
“Where are you?” he asks and I frown that he didn’t respond to any of the things I said.
“At a bar with Chlo,” I tell him and he sighs in response. “What’s wrong? I told you I was going out.”
“You’re just with Chlo?”
I freeze. There are moments in life where you’re forced to make a decision where the choice isn’t obvious but you don’t have a chance to weigh the pros and cons because you only have about a second to give an answer. The lie comes out before I have a chance to stop it. “Yep. Mason is still at my parents’, I think.”
Guilt washes over me at the idea of lying to him. But what was the alternative? Tell him I was here on what is shaping up to be some kind of double date? Or even if I left out the tidbit about Trey and Chloe getting back together, he’d still question what I was doing drinking with my parents’ friend without my parents or even Mason. It would lead to questions and perhaps accusations that would be well warranted.
I’ll tell him the truth when he gets home. I’ll tell him everything. Just not on the phone while he’s across the country and working.“What are you doing?” I ask.
“When are you going home?”
I frown, also recalling my earlier conversations today. I feel like I’ve been interrogated all day and I’m officially over it. “Parker, stop it. I asked you a question, one I’m realizing you’ve been avoiding answering all day.”
“I’m working, Whitney. What do you think?”
“I think it’s past midnight in New York on a Friday night,” I say, looking at my watch. “There’s no way you’re still at the office. You run a chain of clubs.”
“I’m the financial advisor for a chain of clubs, you act like I spend much time at any of them.” And that was true, I went to his clubs with Chloe more than he did. He didn’t mind me going,my guess because everyone knows I’m his fiancée and he has people keeping an eye on me.That wayward thought comes out of nowhere and throws me off slightly.
“It still doesn’t change the fact that I asked what you’re doing and your response is to continue to interrogate me like you’ve been doing all day.”
There’s a door where I’m standing that leads out onto the patio and I push through it and I’m happy to have some fresh air. There are people taking pictures and drinking, some rowdier than others but it’s still quieter than it is inside.
