“He may as well have.” Tears burned my eyes as I remembered that night. “In a wicked twist of fate, it turns out his ex is the same woman Landon is married to.”
“What?” Her voice bounced around the inside of the car and I winced. “Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately.” I breathed past the tears threatening to fall, but my voice still came out thick. “Cyrus encouraged me to tell her about Landon cheating on her when he found out. I did. They got in a huge fight. She ended up at the same bar as us and he couldn’t take his eyes off her.”
It got too hard to talk without crying and I dragged in another few breaths while April released a string of curses worthy of every single one I hadn’t uttered. “That bastard. Are his balls still attached to his body? Because they shouldn’t fucking be.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I said flatly. “I wasn’t the one doing anything with his balls for the rest of the trip.”
“You really think he got back together with her?” she asked after a brief pause. “Did you see them together?”
“No, but I didn’t see either of them separately either. They might have been together, but maybe not.” I shrugged. “I don’t know, but if you’d seen the way he looked at her, you’d know she was the one he’s wanted all this time. God, he was watching her like a hawk circling its prey.”
“Bastard,” she repeated. “I can’t believe he did that to you.”
“We never made each other any promises he didn’t honor. He took me to Italy, paid off my debts, and didn’t fall in love with me. It all went exactly as he said it would.”
Silence fell between us for several long minutes. Horns honking as we made our way through the traffic seemed to be the melancholy cacophony welcoming me back to my real life. The one where there were no super hot, super sweet billionaires popping in every other day, no invitations for exotic trips, and no passionate nights after disagreeing on plans for a wedding that wasn’t even ours.
A choked sob escaped me and April squeezed my leg. “I’m so sorry, babe. You didn’t deserve this.”
“I did,” I said. “You warned me. He warned me. I should have known, but I refused to listen. I thought I had it all under control and then I just had to go believing in some fucked-up fairy tale that wasn’t even real.”
This time the silence that fell between us was stunned. April was first to break it but only as we were nearing her apartment. “You fell for him hard enough to swear about it?”
I nodded, tears finally breaking free. They tracked down my cheeks and tasted salty on my lips. “I really did. He was everything I never thought I wanted, and now I don’t know what I’m going to do. This isn’t like Landon. It feels a million times worse, especially because this time, I really should have seen it coming.”
“You never cursed over Landon, so I already knew it was worse” she said, demonstrating once again that she knew me better than I knew myself sometimes. “Just so you know, I was really hoping to be wrong on this one. In fact, I’ve never wanted to be wrong so badly. I was holding out hope that Cyrus was going to prove me wrong about all male kind.”
“You and me both apparently.” Bitterness tinged my tone and I hated it.
“For what it’s worth,” April said, honesty and regret making her voice sound course, “this guy really did seem different. I don’t think you can blame yourself for falling for his act because if he got me to believe it just by hearing about him, he’s really good at it.”
“Yeah, he was good at it.” Just like he was good at every flipping thing he did. “I don’t think he meant for it to be an act, though. He really never said anything that didn’t turn out to be true.”
“He made you believe it, though,” she said softly. “That’s almost worse, as far as I’m concerned. This was the first time I hoped I was wrong about a guy after everything that happened with Adi’s father. I’m sorry that I wasn’t.”
“So am I,” I murmured before drifting into silence once more. “Do me a favor and just slap me next time, okay? None of this believing I’m right stuff. It only seems to get me burnt.”
In a surprising reversal of roles, April shook her head firmly. “I’ll never stop believing you’re right, girl. I can’t. One of us has to stay optimistic and it has to be you. One day, you’ll find your Prince Charming and he really will prove to all of us that not all men are untrustworthy assholes.”
I doubted that, but I nodded anyway.
If only because April had just admitted to needing to believe. I’d already faked being a wife. How much harder could it really be to fake being an optimist?
Chapter 36
Cyrus
One week after getting back from Italy, Peter was tired of me dodging his calls. He was waiting for me when I got home, sitting on my couch with a beer in his hand and an expectant expression on his face.
He stood up when I walked in and spread his arms wide. “Well, well, well, the prodigal brother returns. Where have you been, dude?”
“In Italy,” I grunted as I kicked off my sneakers and dragged my sweaty shirt over my head, letting it fall to the floor.
My brother gave me a look, then handed over a beer he had waiting for me. “From the looks of things, I think you might have been to the gym after. Unless you just ran here all the way from Venice.”
“Smart ass.” It was the best I could come up with as I collapsed on the couch and kicked my feet up on the coffee table. “Why are you here?”
“What? Do I need a reason to visit my little brother when I know he’s been back in the country for a week and I haven’t heard a peep from him? I was worried, Cyrus. Jesus. What’s wrong with you?”
“Nothing.” I hoped he read the implied “fuck off” between the lines.
He didn’t, but it really shouldn’t have surprised me.
“I checked with all the wedding suppliers from that list you sent me before you left,” he said, starting almost cautiously. “They’ve all assured me everything is on track.”
“Yeah, well, the wedding is in two weeks. What did you expect?” I hooked one arm behind my neck and rested my head against it. “Your bachelor party is coming up and it’s going to be tame, just like you requested. Everything else was on that list. So what’s up?”
“Where have you been all week?”
“Working.” I shot to my feet and glared at him as I began to pace. “Fuck, Peter. What’s with all the questions? I’ve been busy with your fucking wedding for months, and everything is set to go as you’ve found out for yourself. Why are you up my ass about this?”
Peter, annoyingly, ignored my outburst. “What happened to Luna? You weren’t like this when she was around, which tells me that she’s not anymore.”
“Nothing happened to her. I told you we were just friends. I’ve gotten back into my investments. You know, my actual job. Luna has gotten back to her actual work, too. You might remember that neither of us are fucking wedding planners in our real lives.”