I let go of Tessa and grab her phone. Looking at the screen, I take a breath before answering. “Stop fucking harassing Tessa; if you want to talk to me, then you can call me. Don’t bring her into this shit,” I say before he can even say hello.
“I did call you. You shut your phone off,” Christian says.
“And why do you think that is?” I huff. “If I wanted to talk to you, I would have, but since I don’t, stop fucking bothering me.”
“Hardin, I know you’re mad, but we need to talk about this.”
“There isn’t anything to talk about!” I shout. Tessa watches with worried eyes as I try to control my temper.
“Yes, there is. There’s a lot to talk about. All I’m asking for is fifteen minutes.” His voice is pleading.
“Why should I talk with you?”
“Because I know you feel betrayed and I want to explain myself. You’re important to me, and to your mom,” he says.
“So now you two are forming some kind of united front against me? Fuck off.” My hands are shaking.
“You can act like you don’t give a fuck about either of us, but your anger shows that you do.”
I pull the phone away from my ear and have to stop myself from smashing it into pieces against the wall.
“Fifteen minutes,” I hear him repeat. “The wedding isn’t scheduled to begin for a few hours. All the men are meeting for lunch at Gabriel’s bar. You should meet me there.”
I bring the phone to my ear again. “You want me to meet you at a bar? Are you fucking stupid?” A drink sounds good right about now . . . the burn of hot whiskey on my tongue . . .
“Not to drink, only to talk. A public place would be the best spot for us to meet, for obvious reasons.” He sighs. “We can meet somewhere else if you want.”
“No, Gabriel’s is fine,” I agree. Tessa’s eyes go wide, and she tilts her head slightly, obviously confused by my change of heart. It’s not affection that makes me want to hear him out; it’s purely curiosity. He claims that there’s an explanation for all of this, and I want to hear it. Otherwise, my barely existent relationship with my mum won’t exist at all.
“Okay . . .” I can tell he didn’t expect me to agree. “It’s noon now. I’ll meet you there at one.”
“Sure,” I snap. I don’t know how this little meeting could possibly not end in blows.
“You should bring Tessa by Heath—that’s where Kim and Smith will be. It’s only a few miles from Gabriel’s, and Kimberly could really use a friend right now.” I want to laugh at the note of shame in his voice. Fucking asshole.
“Tessa will be coming with me,” I tell him.
“Do you really want to bring her into a potentially violent situation . . . again?” he asks.
Yes. Yes, I do. No, I don’t. I don’t want to be out of her sight, but she’s seen enough violence from me to last a lifetime.
“You’re only saying that because you want her to comfort your fiancée after you fucking cheated on her,” I growl.
“No.” Vance pauses. “I just want to talk to you alone, and I don’t think it would be especially wise of us to have either woman present.”
“Fine. I’ll fucking meet you in an hour.” I hang up the phone and turn to Tessa. “He wants you to hang out with Kim while we talk.”
“Does she know?” she quietly asks.
“Sounds like it.”
“Are you sure you want to meet with him? I don’t want you to feel like you have to.”
“Do you think I should?” I ask her.
After a moment, she nods. “Yes. I do.”
“Then I’ll meet him.” I pace across the room.
Tessa gets up from the bed and wraps her arms around my waist. “I love you, so much,” she says against my bare chest.
“I love you.” I’ll never tire of hearing her say the words.
WHEN SHE STEPS out of the bathroom, I nearly choke on my breath. “Fuck.” I cross the room in three steps.
“Does this look okay?” she asks, turning in a slow circle.
“Um, yeah.” I nearly choke again. Okay? Is she fucking insane? The white dress that she wore to my father’s wedding looks even better on her now than it did then.
“I could barely zip it.” She smiles, embarrassed. She turns around and lifts her hair off of her back. “Can you zip the rest?”
I love that I’ve seen every inch of her hundreds of times, yet her cheeks still flush and she still holds on to some of her innocence. I haven’t completely tainted her.
“Have you changed your mind? I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.” Tessa’s voice is soft.
“Yes, I’m sure. All I’m doing is giving him fifteen minutes to listen to whatever bullshit he has to say.” I sigh. I sure as hell don’t want to go anywhere except to the damn airport, but after seeing the look on her face while she repacked that suitcase, I felt like I had to do this—not only for her, but for myself, too.
“I look like a fucking bum next to you,” I tell her, and she smiles, her eyes running over my face and body.
“Please!” She laughs. I look down at my black shirt and ripped jeans. “You could have shaved,” she comments with a smile. I can tell she’s nervous and she’s trying to lighten the mood. I couldn’t be further from nervous . . . I just want to get this shit over with.
“You like this.” I take her hand and rub it along the stubble on my jaw. “Especially between your legs.” I bring her hand to my mouth and kiss her fingertips. She jerks her hand away as I wrap my lips around her index finger, and swats at my chest.