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“Good evening, Miss Harden.” Liam’s voice was low and gravelly, merely above a whisper, but missing the flirty tone that saying my name normally came with.
He placed a light kiss on my cheek, and my skin instantly erupted into millions of goosebumps while a heavy expression covered his face. There was regret in his eyes, maybe even pity.
Fuck that!
Revolt filled my lungs, spreading like wildfire as a reaction to that damn look on his face. I didn’t need his pity. I didn’t need him to feel sorry for me. I did that enough for both of us.
That was before I saw why.
I stood taller, and looking beyond the gleam of Liam’s light, I saw the beautiful brunette with sun-kissed skin that stood behind him.
My breath hitched in my throat as my heart stopped beating for a whole damn minute.
The first impact was like a dark hole of nothing, sucking me into its pit as if what I had in my chest was simply gone and left a huge void that would never be filled. Jealousy hit me second, the warmth from my boiling blood contrasting with the ice that covered the place where my wounded heart once was.
This was her. His future wife. The woman I’d dreamt of being. The woman who took my life.
She was everything I feared she would be. Beautiful, elegant, and she even seemed nice. I wanted to see flaws, chips on her damn shoulders the size of a meteorite. But there were none. She wore a polite smile that contrasted with a stiffness in her body that gave away her uneasiness. I didn’t think she knew who I was. Her gaze had barely glazed past me.
I sucked in a sharp breath, my arm tangling around Mr. Dornier’s again as I tried my best to keep my composure.
I loved Liam, and from the bottom of my heart, I wished him happiness. I just couldn’t deal with him being happier with her than he was with me.
“Let’s go in before the party starts without us,” Alison said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. She’d seen the panic in my eyes, and that was her saving me from breaking right here in front of an audience.
I wasn’t sure what I needed right now. To scream, to cry, to disappear. Of one thing I was damn sure, I’d prefer to be standing in the middle of the fire and brimstone of Hell than to be where I was right now.
Mr. Dornier tugged on my arm, and I followed his pace, trying my best not to rush inside and hide. Thankfully he had guests to greet, leaving me free to run off to the bar and take the second-best option I had tonight – burying my feelings at the bottom of full glasses of alcohol. Alison followed my lead, rushing by my side with a heavy expression in her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know she was coming.” She apologized, her fingers lacing with mine as we made our way over to the other side of the massive hall. “Two rums, please. Top shelf, don’t give me any of that weak crap I know you guys keep back there.”
The waiter got busy with our order, and soon enough, I had a glass in one hand and my heart in the other. Alison looked at me worried while I held the glass against my lips without drinking. I was trying to decide what to do, and somehow, the only thing that came to mind was writing my letter of resignation on a napkin and handing it to Mr. Dornier tonight.
“Jamie, talk to me.” I swerved my eyes from the counter to her, still stuck in my reverie. “Shit, why is she even here?”
“It’s fine.” I finally replied after gulping down the whole drink without so much as a mild flinch, slamming the glass on the counter and ordering another. “I have to get used to it anyway, right?”
I couldn’t believe he would deliberately bring her here, knowing I would be here, too. But then again, he didn’t owe me anything. He didn’t have to rearrange his whole life to avoid hurting me. They’ll be getting married soon, so I’ve heard. Damn office gossip. It wouldn’t make sense not to bring her.
How the fuck didn’t I think of that?
I had that second drink and then a third. The intention wasn’t to get completely drunk. I just needed something to help me cope.
A warm hand wrapped around my arm that rested on the counter, making me startle and briskly turn around.
“It’s just me,” Matt said in surrender. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. That must have been extremely hard to handle.”
“I’m fine.” I lied blatantly. “Nothing I wasn’t expecting already!”
“Okay, so why are you trying to pass out drunk barely ten minutes after arriving?” He pried the glass from my fingers and took my hand, pulling me behind him towards the dance floor. “Come!”
“Matt, let go of me. I don’t feel like dancing.” I resisted, but he was too strong to even be affected.
“Jamie, come on, I’m trying to help you relax. No hidden intentions, okay?”
I tried to make myself comfortable in Matt’s grasp, failing miserably to succeed. Unlike the only other time we met, Matt kept his hands in appropriate places as he held me and swayed us to the rhythm of the slow tune while his tone was nothing but brotherly.
“You’re okay. You’ll be okay.” He whispered, feeling the tension in my shoulders. “He didn’t do it on purpose, you know? The lines between business and personal aren’t as clear in our lives, Jamie. They blur too easily. He wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
