I thought I was prepared. I thought I’d braced myself. I told myself Mercer’s change in behavior and the secrecy had to have something to do with my past, and I was right.
But I never in a million years would’ve guessed that the man my best friend was seeing was the same one I’d befriended my freshman year of college. The one I took home and dangled on the end of a string like a puppet just to see how far my nemesis would go.
Jack Darling was supposed to be a one-night stand and nothing more than a means to an end. He definitely wasn’t supposed to be here in my new life. He wasn’t as scary as Sawyer, but just about as welcome.
For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why Jack was here and on a date with my new best friend.
Vernon reached across the table and silently tapped my chin so I would close my mouth. I blinked at him and put both my hands on the top of the table, torn between running across the restaurant and pulling Mercer away from that man, or running out the front door. That was how I usually handled baggage from my past. It was always a mess I hated to clean up.
“I take it you know him?” Vernon’s pierced eyebrow lifted and a frown pulled at his mouth. He typed something on his phone, and I knew without asking that he was letting Huck know I was on the verge of a freakout and that I definitely recognized the guy with Mercer.
“Just a little. He was my friend from school and a little more.” I gulped and clenched my shaking hands into fists. “We flirted a bit and hooked up once, but it wasn’t anything serious. I knew going in that Sawyer wasn’t going to let another guy get close to me. I was pretty sure I was never going to see him again after he found out Sawyer had secretly recorded us when we were together. He didn’t take Sawyer’s threats well. Him being here can’t be a simple coincidence.” Especially if he was treating Mercer like garbage and purposely trying to isolate her from me.
Vernon put one of his hands over mine and gave a gentle squeeze to remind me that we were in public.
“What do you want to do? Confront him? Continue to follow them? We never talked about the endgame.”
“I... I don’t know. I want to know why he’s here. I don’t want to hurt or embarrass Mercer. She’s one of the few people who has unconditionally had my back with no questions asked. I was so worried about Sawyer, it never occurred to me there were other people out there who might have something against me.” I did drag this guy into a sticky situation, and he was yet another rich kid whose status and image apparently mattered more than basic human decency.
Vernon watched the couple over his shoulder as I kept my head down and tried to work out what I should do next. I should’ve listened to Huck’s warning about this plan, possibly costing me more than I was willing to lose.
“Ohh...” Vernon tapped my hand frantically to get my attention. “Your girl is getting up and going to the bathroom. That only gives you a minute or two if you want to talk to that guy alone, but I can go and try and distract her for a little longer.” His unusual eyes watched mine carefully. “Or we can slip out now, and you can figure out how you want to approach her later. Either way, this is our only window to do something unnoticed.”
I nodded and pulled in a deep breath. “I’m going to talk to him.”
I waited until Mercer’s colorful hair was totally out of sight before I got up and walked toward the table.
I heard Vernon mutter, “Good luck.”
He also got up and hurried in the direction of my friend. I could hear an invisible clock ticking in my mind as I took the empty seat across from the young man I never expected to see again.
I used a finger to push up the bill of my hat, but Jack didn’t seem at all surprised to see me. Instead, his expression was bland, almost bored, as he gave me a flat look over the rim of his wine glass.
“What are you doing here? Why are you dating my best friend? Why would you follow me here?”
The questions came out rapid-fire, one after the other. I was doing my best to keep my voice level, but I really wanted to scream at him at the top of my lungs. I hated how detached and unbothered he seemed. Wealthy people really were unaffected by most things. They knew they were basically untouchable, and it was so annoying.
He calmly put down the wine glass and stared at me in a way that made me feel like I should already have the answers.
“Do you know that the night I spent with you ruined my life? That guy you lived with made things very difficult for me. He caused quite a bit of concern for my family as well.” My former classmate leaned closer to me by putting an arm on the table and pushing forward. “He got me suspended from school. He cost me an internship I worked my ass off for. He showed that video of us to my actual girlfriend, and obviously, she dumped me. She had no idea I was seeing other girls on the side. She told my family how I was slumming with the help, and she left me. Her father was an investor in one of my father’s upcoming development projects and he was livid with me when he lost the backing because of my wandering eye. I was nearly cut off and written out of the will… all because I thought it would be fun to take your virginity.”
I made a strangled sound and lifted a hand to my throat. It sounded exactly like how Sawyer would act when he was wronged. I had no idea he’d taken revenge beyond threatening to release the footage if Jack didn’t leave me alone when we were at school.
He lifted an eyebrow in my direction and smirked. The expression on his face made my blood run cold.
“After I picked myself up and had some time to smooth things over with my family, I realized everything that happened to me was your fault. You brought that lunatic into my life. You put me in his crosshairs. I realized it wasn’t fair that I was the only one suffering. You should lose the things that matter to you as well. I might’ve been able to get past my anger toward you if you kept suffering and continued to live such a pitiful life, but after your mother died, you became a totally different person. I could see how happy you were once you got away, how relieved when that poor guy in the Victorian let you get close to him. You’re too close to living a perfectly normal life these days, and I don’t think that’s fair after all the trouble you caused me. There’s not much I could do to ruin you, Olivia. Richman already did that. But your friend, she’s so sweet, so innocent, so unsuspecting. How do you think she would feel if I put her through the same thing you dragged me into? I’ve been keeping her at just the right distance that when I finally let her get close, she won’t question anything. Who knows who might be watching? What if she becomes a target, a laughingstock, a pariah just because she befriended you? Does she have any idea how dangerous your friendship is?”
The thought of Mercer being on display like that made my stomach hurt.
“You’re right. I was thoughtless and careless when I befriended you and brought you home. I didn’t think about anything beyond using you to get what I wanted. But that doesn’t mean someone innocent like Mercer should get hurt. She’s a good person. Way better than me or you. She doesn’t deserve to be part of any of this, and if you hurt her, I won’t let it go.”
Jack chuckled, but there was zero humor in the sound. “What else is left for you to do? I have nothing to lose, and the guy who set this in motion in the first place is no longer a threat. You don’t scare me. And Mercer is well on her way to being in love with me. I have no doubt she will pick me over you no matter what you tell her about me and our history.”