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“Her best friend senses told her that you and I are getting married soon, whether we like it or not.” Jade laughed.
Ryker grinned for a second, but then his smile faded and his face grew serious. “I can’t say I don’t like the idea. I could see us getting married someday. If you want to. There’s a small issue I have to deal with before it can happen.”
“What’s that?” Jade asked.
“Well... I have to get divorced first.”
“Wh—?” Jade’s heart dropped.
She ignored her instinct to hurl her drum sticks at him, and instead sat up, pulled her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them while she processed this.
He was married? He was cheating on his wife with her? She was the “other woman?” How did this happen? He’d never worn a ring. Never mentioned anyone else. They’d been side-by-side almost constantly for weeks. How could he do that to her? To them?
“What?!” Lyra shrieked, leaped off the bed, and charged at him.
He held his hands in front of him and backed away from the raging best friend.
“Sorry, that came out badly. It’s not how it sounds. We’re separated. The relationship has been over for a long time. I haven’t even heard from her in over a year.”
He dodged Lyra’s attempted slap so she kicked his shin. He hissed but kept his palms forward trying to pacify her. It looked like he planned to let Lyra rage herself out.
It was kind of pitiful watching the tough security guard, who Jade knew could throw down with the best, fending off a tiny, raging guitarist who’d never actually fought a day in her life.
As much as the news upset Jade, she wasn’t unreasonable. If what he said was true, then the situation wasn’t as bad as she’d assumed. She needed to call off the angry bestie.
“Lyra, stop. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
“What? He should have told you from the start!”
Lyra landed another kick to his shin. He gritted his teeth.
“Yeah maybe, but I never asked, either. He didn’t bring it up or lie about it. I didn’t ask. It’s on both of us.”
He said, “I was going to talk with you about it over your break. I thought we had time for me to explain. I didn’t realize there were already wedding plans in the works.”
Lyra tried to slap him again, but he caught her hand and said, “Lyra, I won’t hurt you but I will subdue you if necessary. You’ve had a few shots at me now. I won’t let you hit me again.”
Lyra growled at him and shoved a finger toward his face. “You make this right. If you hurt my girl, I’ll kill you.”
“I don’t intend to hurt Jade. I’m sorry things went down this way and that this is how she found out about my ex, but I plan to resolve that situation ASAP. I never expected to meet someone I’d fall for so fast or I would’ve gotten divorced years ago. Hell, if I’d known Jade was out there, I would never have married someone else in the first place. Hindsight is 20/20 and all. I swear, I will always do right by Jade. If she still wants me, that is.”
Ryker’s hesitant eyes turned to Jade.
“I won’t lie, Ryker. I’m upset.”
“I would never ask you to lie, sweetness. And you have every right to be upset.”
“Mostly, I’m upset you’ve never mentioned this before. It’s important information, and we’ve spent all our time together for weeks. You owe me an explanation.”
“I know.”
“If you’re really not together anymore, fine — I can deal with that. But if you’re not separated, I won’t be the other woman. I need you to be honest with me.” She hugged her legs. She’d never been in a committed relationship before and this new development made her feel vulnerable.
“I am. I will never lie to you. My ex and I haven’t been together for a long, long time. We were naive, young, high school sweethearts when we got married. We were right out of school and in what we thought was love. But... I enlisted and she couldn’t handle my time in the service. Being a SEAL wife is tough. There were months at a time without communication, and I couldn’t tell her where I’d be or when I’d be home. The stress was too much for her.
“She started disappearing for months, not telling anyone where she was going. She went wild — drugs, parties, hitchhiking across the country. I’d call home and her mom would be frantic, not knowing where she was or wondering if maybe she OD’d and was in the hospital. I finally convinced her to go to rehab, but by then she’d become a completely different person than the woman I fell in love with. By the fourth year, we fell apart.”
Jade’s eyes filled with tears. How heartbreaking. He lost the person he’d loved because of a job he had no choice but to finish.
