I ran out of his office so quick that day and hightailed it back to Charlotte as fast as my car could carry me, I never asked why. How long they’d been together behind my back.
I never asked anything. I got home and blocked his number. I only spoke with him once, when he called from a friend’s phone, apologizing, wanting to explain.
“No explanation necessary and no apology wanted,” I’d said, right before I hung up on him.
And now? Now he wants to rehash this? The morning before his wedding?
“That’s a cruel thing to say about the woman who will be your wife tomorrow.”
“I knew you were pulling away. You were changing. And you were so busy and didn’t have time for me anymore. I thought… I thought if I could make you jealous, it would show you how much you still loved me.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?” I take a step forward and slam my mug on the counter. God, last week he was ruining my donuts and today it’s my morning cup of joe… personally, I think Roman has a knack for ruining everything he touches. “You have. You’ve absolutely lost your mind. You kissed my friend while we were engaged to make me jealous so I’d come back to you?”
He cringes and his lips curl. “Yeah. And I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but she’d been hitting on me, and I knew you were coming that weekend and you always stopped by to have lunch with your dad, so I thought…”
“You’d use her to get what you wanted. How’d that work out for you?”
“She’s not you.”
“Stop saying that!” I hiss, teeth clenched together.
Shoving my fingers through my hair, I turn and pace the informal breakfast nook area we never use as a family. This was not the quiet moment I needed. It’s so, so much worse.
“You know what?” I spin, flinging my hands out to the side before they slap my thighs. “I don’t care. You made your choice and now you have to live with it and don’t give me that bullshit song and dance about me changing. You were supposed to move to Charlotte with me. That’s what we decided on. You chose to stay here. You chose to stay with our family’s company. You chose this life and I truly, sure as hell, at least for Julianna, hope you’re happy, or can find happiness in the choices you made because none of them have shit to do with me.”
“I still love you.”
My heart tumbles and twists and I might find some freaking satisfaction for my ego in all of this if I wasn’t so damn blown away by his arrogant expression. As if the mere mention of the word love will have me dropping to my knees and begging him to change his mind about the wedding.
As. If.
“I don’t think you know what that means.” I’m completely sincere. I’m not sure he ever knew what it meant, not when it comes to others, anyway. Roman sure does love himself a whole lot.
“Do you know why Julianna’s mad at you this morning and pulled that act she just did in here?”
“I haven’t given it a single thought.” It’s a lie, but I’m too pissed off to care. Julianna can be cranky and selfish and manipulative, but she’s got the guy and the wedding and the sparkling diamond, so why be mad at me?
“I called out your name. Last night.”
It takes me a second for me to understand why that’d set her off. “Oh my God. Ew. Roman. Seriously! I don’t want to hear that. I don’t even want to know that… what the two of you do or what you call her. That’s just… I don’t even know what that is, or what you think you’d gain from telling me.”
“Because I want you to know how much I really do miss you. How much I do love you. I look at her, and I think about you. I sleep next to my fiancée wishing it was you. We can get back what we had.”
I’m so stunned, so grossed out and definitely in need of a drink to wash all this disgust out of my throat after his declaration. I don’t realize he’s moved until he’s in front of me with his cool, lean fingers wrapped around my biceps.
“Jillian. Just listen to me for a minute. I didn’t want her. I wanted you. That hasn’t stopped.”
“There is no us.” I yank on my arms, but he’s gripping me too tight. Not painfully but firm enough I can’t escape. “You should have talked with me about that. You should have talked with me when you started changing plans years ago, but you didn’t, and you let me believe you’d still move to Charlotte. That’s what I wanted... and what I want, or deserve, at the very least, is a man who has a moral compass working enough to be honest.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. I really am, but we can still fix this.”
“No. You can’t.” We both freeze at the sound of Klaus’s voice, cold as ice, solid as steel. “And I’m going to have to ask you to take your hands off my girlfriend.”
In front of me, Roman’s gaze narrows, but he’s surprised enough his hold loosens. I shake away from him, stepping back, and soon, Klaus is at my back, his hand slipping around me until his palm is at my stomach.
The warmth of his hand and his touch instantly warms me to my toes.
“You okay, honey?” he asks, lips at my ear. His body is pulled tight, readied for battle.
He feels so damn good. So solid, so strong. He’s nothing like my ex in front of me, expression still working quick enough I can tell he’s plotting something else.
I fall into Klaus’s hold and cover his hand at my stomach with my own. “Yeah. I’m good.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“No. Roman can’t hurt me. I’d have to care about him for that to happen.”
In front of me, Roman flinches at my words and my tone. He finally steps back, running a hand down his face.
“I don’t know where it all went so wrong.”
If what he’s saying is true, it went wrong well before he shoved his tongue down Julianna’s throat, but the rest of it’s not my problem.
“I can’t help you with that. I can only tell you that I hope you and Julianna are happy. If you don’t love her, don’t think you can, you need to walk away from this wedding. It will destroy both of you.” I glance up at Klaus. I’m in desperate need of fresh air and the burn in my lungs. “I really, really need to go for that run now.”
15
Klaus
Our feet pound the pavement in tandem as we jog down Bay Street. The water on one side, Rainbow Row and the tree-lined streets of Charleston on the other. We’re headed south toward The Battery, and while I know Jillian doesn’t have a planned route, I trust she’ll make this long enough to hurt. Which is probably exactly what she needs, and everything I’ve promised to save her from. Except, in opposition to the verbal lashings Roman gave her earlier, this is the kind of pain Jillian likes.
Like last night, I’m taking her lead in letting her take her time to decide how much to tell me. She overthinks, but she’s also cautious and wise. Once she’s worked out her issues in her head, I know she’ll share her thoughts with me, which is only one more thing I like about her. Jillian considers options and feelings and facts into everything she does and how she behaves and treats people. If she didn’t, there’s no way she’d still be able to find any sort of compassion for Roman or Julianna.