The others then noticed him, but it was Melinda who hurried over to Junior and tried leading him back inside with little success.
“Let’s just go, Dane,” I coaxed, crossing to him. I put a hand on his back. “I’m hungry and tired and my head’s starting to throb again.”
His gaze slid to me, dark and hard, but then cut back to Heather. “Don’t even think about turning up to the reception on Saturday,” he told her. “You’ve burned every chance that Vienna asked me to give you—you’re now officially out of them.”
Chapter Thirty
Looking up from my e-reader the next evening, I sighed at the cat sitting in front of me on the bed. She was staring at me, twitching her tail. “He’ll be here when he’s done in his office,” I told her.
Dane had been very insistent the first night he brought her home that Blue didn’t sleep in the room with us. But after hearing her meowing and scratching at the door for what felt like hours, he’d given in. She didn’t actually sleep near us, though. She made herself comfy on my closet shelf. Understanding she’d claimed the spot as her own, I’d moved her bed in there.
When Dane had earlier headed upstairs to his office after dinner, I brought her to my room. I’d fed, petted, and played with her before she disappeared into the closet for a nap. But, yeah, she was apparently tired of me now. She wanted her hero.
I went back to my e-reader, needing to wind down a little. I felt completely wired. Up until now, I hadn’t been nervous about the reception. I mean, it was just a party. But now that it was only two days’ away, I felt constantly restless.
I wasn’t nervous in a bad way. It was the kind of nervousness you felt during the run-up to something important. There was a sprinkle of anticipation and a thread of excitement all mingled in with it.
It only made it better that Heather was officially uninvited. Neither Melinda nor Wyatt had objected or been upset with Dane’s decree that she wasn’t to attend. Which was a very good thing, because nothing they could have said would have made him change his mind. They’d just stared at their daughter, their eyes sad.
Heather had stormed out of the house, dragging Junior with her. She hadn’t been bothered that her invitation was revoked. No, she’d been pissed that her parents didn’t put up a protest. And it was then I realized why she’d claimed to be dating Owen. It wasn’t merely to hurt me. She’d wanted Dane to kick up a fuss so that her parents would intervene. She’d expected them to defend her and toss Dane out of the house, knowing I’d have left with him. And then, bingo, she’d have finally caused a divide between me and her parents.
It was a good plan. Her parents had always defended her in the past, so she’d had every reason to be certain that they’d do so again. Hell, even I hadn’t expected them to speak up last night. Although I was glad that they did, I was sad that they’d been put in a position where they had to do so.
They were hurting now and worried she’d keep Junior from them out of spite. She probably would, but only until she needed a babysitter. Then she’d appear at their door and act like she was doing them a favor by letting them see their grandchild. Really, she’d just want him off her hands for a short while.
When Melinda called me last night to apologize for Heather’s behavior—to which I, as usual, told her it wasn’t necessary—she also asked about the whole blackmail thing. I advised her to ask Heather, figuring the annoying woman had the right to tell her parents herself, but then Melinda’s voice cracked, and she got all emotional and … well, I told her the truth. It didn’t go down well, and I suspected Wyatt would be equally upset.
Hearing my phone chime, I nabbed it from the nightstand and glanced at the screen. I smiled on seeing it was a text message from Dane.
I swiped my thumb over the screen and opened up the message: No, if I start going out at night, Vienna will ask questions. She’ll think about those pictures again and wonder if I was lying. I warned you we wouldn’t see each other as much until I divorced her. You said you could deal with it, so deal with it. I’ll come to you when I can. You’ve got no reason to feel jealous, you know you’re the only one I want.
I stilled, and my thoughts scattered … like my mind just went blank and couldn’t compute the words—or as if it didn’t want to.
I shook my head and blinked hard. That text was … it didn’t make any … was it some kind of joke?
No, Dane didn’t joke.
I re-read the message. My hand clenched tight around the phone. I genuinely couldn’t wrap my head around the content. One thing was clear. He hadn’t meant to send this message to me. He was responding to a text from someone else. Someone who was “the only one” he wanted.
Pain stabbed my chest, and the phone slipped from my hand. I began to shake, and my breaths started coming sharp and fast. No. No, he couldn’t have been fooling me all this time. There was no way. There couldn’t be anyone else. He slept in my bed with me. He wouldn’t do that if he had another woman in his life.
Unless … Oh God, what if he’d only started fucking me to throw me off the scent? My stomach twisted painfully.
Questions suddenly crowded my mind. Was the woman Lacey? Had they grown close after Hugh died? Had she ever really been a call girl? Was her name even Lacey? Or could this be someone completely different? Had he pictured the bitch when he fucked me?
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. This could not be happening. It made no sense. None.
Maybe he hadn’t sent the text. Maybe someone had taken his phone. Maybe they’d cloned it.
Or maybe I was just desperate to believe I hadn’t let him play me all this time.
I wanted to think he’d never do that to me. I wanted to think—no, trust—that, if nothing else, he’d have more respect for me than to do something like this. I’d begun to believe that I mattered to him in some way. Now? Now it seemed I’d been fooling myself. And he’d been fooling me too.
Hot tears burned the backs of my eyes. My throat felt so tight I was surprised it hadn’t closed over. I quickly pinched the spot between my thumb and forefinger to fight back the tears. I was not going to cry. Nor would I shout or rave or yell at him. No, if he’d really been playing me all this time, he wasn’t worth the emotional energy. And I’d be damned if I’d let him see just how much he’d wrecked me.
Not intending to wait for him to appear, I grabbed my cell and slipped out of the room, leaving Blue behind.
Blue …
I came to a halt. He’d gone to a cat rescue center, he’d brought home a gorgeous cat, gifted her to me as my something blue. Why would he do something so sweet if he had another woman? He wouldn’t, would he?
Maybe he wasn’t having an affair. Maybe he was just placating some delusional woman who wanted him for herself.
Or maybe I was trying to think up excuses so I wouldn’t have to face that he’d betrayed me.
Well, I wasn’t going to get answers if I stayed in this spot.
I padded down the hallway toward his office, feeling a little like I was walking to my doom. I didn’t knock on the door, I walked straight in. He wasn’t at his desk, but the computer was on.