Colin shook his head at me, like he didn’t want me to admit guilt.
I stepped forward. “Vanessa hired me.”
“To seduce me?”
“Not exactly,” Isla said. “We own Dirty Exes Private Investigators. Vanessa was under the impression you were cheating, and needed cold, hard facts, so we went undercover, it’s our job.”
“Your job is to lie to people to gain wrong information?” Jessie said in a furious voice. “Do you even realize what you could have done?”
It was my turn to be angry. “Do you even realize what we do?” I yelled. “We help people! And I have pictures of you with some tall blonde chick, so don’t sit there on your high horse yelling at us for ruining your life and siding with Vanessa when we know the truth!”
“You wouldn’t know the truth if it hit you in the ass, Blaire,” he said in a cold voice. “And that tall leggy blonde . . .” He pulled out his cell, typed something in, and then showed me a picture of her on a company website with three names.
“She’s my divorce attorney.” Jessie scowled.
Colin paled. “But you’ve been with her at the bar, you’ve been—”
“Because I didn’t want Vanessa to know what I was up to. Better she think I’m cheating than I’m surprising her with divorce papers and a nice little eviction from my house and my life. I had to time it right.”
Vanessa huffed, and then burst into tears.
“No.” Jessie jabbed a finger in her direction. “You cheated on me three times, three fucking times, Vanessa.” I gasped. “You don’t get to cry, not when you’re the one who ruined this, first with the baby, then by cheating in order to revive your acting career. I took my vows seriously then, I take them seriously now. Yes, I’m a man. Yes, I was tempted.”
His eyes flickered to mine. “I was tempted. I shouldn’t have texted you, Blaire, that was wrong. I’ll admit that. I’ll admit that I shouldn’t have let this go on as long as I did.”
He hung his head and stomped off.
Colin sighed. “Jessie, one more thing.”
Jessie turned. “What!”
“Blaire and I are . . . together.”
Jessie choked out, “You bastard!” before he rammed his fist into Colin’s face. They both went down in a blur of fists and cursing.
Vanessa just slumped to the ground, crying drunk tears.
While Isla and I tried to pull the guys apart.
Jessie landed on top of Isla, but she shoved him off her.
My dress tore before I could stand. Colin caught me as I stumbled forward and lost a shoe.
“Enough!” Colin yelled. “We’re adults!”
“You went behind my back!” Jessie roared.
“Thought you said it was wrong!”
“At the time! That doesn’t mean . . .” His eyes narrowed. “How long has this been going on?”
“Since the pantry,” Colin admitted.
“Pantry,” Jessie repeated. “What the hell? My pantry, your pantry?”
“Why don’t you eat cereal?” I just had to ask. “Why do you live by certain public rules and not private ones, why are you so—”
“Controlling?” Jessie finished for me. “Because being reckless got me that.” He pointed to a still-crying Vanessa and walked off.
I didn’t realize I had tears streaming down my face until Colin wiped them with his thumbs and led me back to the room.
Chapter Forty-Five
JESSIE
All I felt was anger.
Red. Hot. Searing. Anger.
My best friend and Blaire.
Vanessa having me followed after all the shit she’d already pulled on me.
Being investigated was the final straw.
I emailed my lawyer.
She was getting served the minute her skinny ass walked off that plane. I was so torn up inside I didn’t know who to trust, what to do.
I thought I could trust Colin, and yet the entire time he knew I was struggling with seeing a blast from my past, he did what? Just went behind my back and took her for himself?
Not that it mattered now.
Not anymore.
I was never committing to another woman again.
They couldn’t be trusted.
Even Blaire.
I slammed my hands against my closed door and ripped off my bow tie, followed by my shirt, buttons went flying all over the ground.
A soft knock sounded on the door.
“Vanessa, I swear on all that’s holy if you ask to come in here and shed one fucking tear I’m throwing you off the balcony.”
“Not Vanessa.” Isla’s voice was sad.
I jerked the door open. “What? What could you possibly need?”
“Nothing,” she whispered as uncertainty washed over her pretty features, and then suddenly she hugged me. Her arms wrapped tightly around my middle.
I was so shocked I just stood there.
And then very slowly, I hugged her back, then rested my chin on her head while my heart slowed to its normal rhythm, only to pick up again when she pulled away and looked up into my eyes. “I was wrong.”
“You were also psychotic.” I added seriously, “You can’t just do that shit to a guy and expect him not to get a restraining order.”
She grinned. “You got a restraining order? I’m honored!”
I snorted out a laugh. “So you’re a PI, huh?”
“Clearly not a great one, Jessie. You have to know, we’ve never been wrong. We really do pride ourselves on helping people. We never liked Vanessa, but that’s not part of our job, our job is to do what our clients pay us for. Blaire and I didn’t necessarily come to catch you red-handed, we came because Vanessa threatened to expose Blaire as the one cheating with you because of the texts. She knew if she said just enough to the media, to the public, that it would undermine the business we built. We were stuck in a horrible position, and when Blaire wanted to tell you the truth, Vanessa threatened again.”
I sighed and looked out over her head as a bloodied Colin walked toward us with Blaire in tow, her dress ripped and her easy smile gone.
“People.” I pointed at both of them. “They pay you for this?”
Colin smirked.
Blaire hit him.
“Were you really stuck in my pantry?” I had to ask.
Blaire sighed. “At least I wouldn’t have starved.”
“No, you’ve got all the cereal without milk to feed your hunger.” I smiled.
Blaire stepped forward. “I’m sorry, I—”
“Isla just told me. I’m the one who should be sorry. I don’t really . . . granted, I’m still pissed as hell, but I was trying to keep my marriage problems under wraps. I thought I could handle it on my own. I wanted to keep up appearances like I always had.”
My eyes found Colin. “We need to talk.”
Colin hung his head while Blaire squeezed his hand one last time and walked off with Isla.
“Wait.” I grabbed Isla’s waist and turned her toward me. “Thank you for telling me the truth.”
She sucked in a breath at my touch.
I stared maybe longer than I should have.
But something about her green eyes made me do a double take.
Ever since we arrived at the hotel I’d been thinking things I had no business thinking.
And they weren’t about Blaire.
Even though I still wondered if things would have been different had I stayed with her, fought for her.
I shook my head. “Just, thanks.”
Isla smiled up at me and then kissed my cheek.
The touch of her lips burned all the way down my neck.
I looked away.
Colin’s eyebrows shot up.
“Inside, now,” I barked.
“Vanessa’s still outside crying on the grass,” Colin muttered. “Sure we shouldn’t grab her first?”
“I’ll call hotel security, get her a separate room, and send her on the plane in the morning.” I was suddenly
exhausted.
Colin nodded.
I closed the door behind him.
He looked ready to brace himself for a fight.
The only word I could get out was “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why? How about all of it, just what the fuck, man?” I paced in front of him, my hands clasped on my head. “I’m your best friend, the least you could do is say something? How about, Hey, the girl I’m attracted to? She wants to nail your balls to the wall. Or maybe that you wanted me out of the picture? Either way, we don’t keep secrets, that’s not us.”
Colin’s long hair was partially out of his bun, his face a bit scratched up from whatever the hell we’d tumbled into on the bridge. His tie hung loose around his neck. “That first night she was trying to spy on you,” he said. I rolled my eyes, a PI? I still couldn’t believe it. “I asked about your story.”
“Our story?”
“What went wrong . . . with her, with you, with her ex.”
I flinched.
“And it just . . . there was something about her, I know it’s insane, but we talked for hours, and I just couldn’t get her out of my head, man. Everything about her personality just clicked, I don’t know what else to say except I wanted her the minute I saw her creeping around my bar looking like a fucking stalker. I wanted her every second of every day. I should have told you right away, but the closer I got to her the harder it was to have that conversation, and then I saw how much you were texting her and knew I was crossing this invisible line, and then I just got—”
“Possessive? Selfish? Stupid?” I offered.
“All of the above,” he admitted.
I sat down on the bed and hung my head in my hands. “I can’t blame you.”
“Yeah, you can.”
I grinned up at him, irritated but understanding. “Yes, I can.”
“I love her.”
Hearing that didn’t hurt like I thought it would. Colin and Blaire getting together didn’t feel like a betrayal as much as an omission, and as Colin so often reminded me, I was stuck in my own soap opera.
“Does she love you?”
“I’ll spend every day of my life making sure she has a reason to, yeah.”
“Sappy shit.” I stood and walked over to him, then pulled him in for a hug. “I’m happy for you.”
“Not still pissed?”
“Oh, I’m pissed. I’m about to get very drunk by myself and watch HBO until I can’t see straight.”
Colin wrapped an arm around me. “Not alone you’re not.”
Chapter Forty-Six
BLAIRE
I eyed the tequila the guys had lined up on the bar. “This is a bad idea.”
“Of course it’s a bad idea.” Colin saluted me and Isla. “But we’ve had a rough night.”
“Years,” Jessie corrected, tossing back his shot. “Rough years.”
He’d gotten a separate room for Vanessa.
She’d basically spit in his face by telling him that not only was she going to go to every reporter in Hollywood and make it look like he was cheating on her regardless of the truth, but that she never loved him in the first place and that she wasn’t even sure the baby she’d aborted was his.
It was a nightmare.
She yelled at him for hours, according to the guests who had the unfortunate timing of walking by their room, and when it was all over, she had the nerve to ask if he would drive her to the airport.
He said no.
And she ran off screaming at the hotel concierge to book her a car.
She didn’t look at me or Isla.
Didn’t acknowledge our existence.
And part of me was sad that she was going to keep living her life like she could manipulate everyone around her for her own gain.
The other part of me was thrilled that Jessie was going to be free soon.
“To charity?” Colin lifted his shot and winked at me.
“Divorce.” Isla eyed Jessie.
He took another shot.
“How about . . .” I looked around at each of their faces. “Second chances?”
Colin pulled me in for a kiss. “I’ll drink to that.”
He tasted like tequila and sunshine.
I wrapped my arms around his neck while Isla and Jessie started talking about some elephant excursion she wanted to do in the morning.
“Come to my room,” Colin whispered against my mouth. “In five minutes.”
I waited maybe three before I made an excuse to Jessie and Isla that I know she knew was fake and bolted down the hall.
His door opened before I could knock.
He jerked me against his chest, his mouth finding mine with urgency, possession. I met his kiss with enough enthusiasm to set the world on fire as he walked me over to the bed and laid me back. “You’re mine.”
“Yes,” I said as I hurriedly pulled his shirt over his head and tugged down his jeans. “Yours.”
“Mine.” He grabbed my breasts with a moan, his fingers massaging, his tongue finding mine as his rough hands moved down my rib cage.
I clenched my thighs against his pressure, ready for me, waiting.
His thumbs grazed my hips, a strangled cry exploded from my mouth, parting my lips, causing him to kiss deeper, harder. I bucked, grabbed him by the hair.
He groaned into my mouth. “I love it when you do that.”
“I love your hair.”
“Man-bun hater turns into man-bun lover, who would have thought?”
I laughed as he kissed me again and again, then paused at my entrance.
“What?” I leaned back on my elbows as he watched me with measured breaths. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” He kissed me reverently. “It’s right. Everything is right.”
I grinned as he pulled me onto his lap and spread my legs wide, piercing my entrance, making me cry out with a rush of pleasure that you could probably hear in the city.
I moved against him. I breathed him in. I took him in.
Colin was oddly silent as we moved in sync, his eyes never leaving mine, promises not said yet, words that hung in the air just waiting to get plucked and spoken aloud.
His stare was enough.
I trusted his stare.
His presence.
And realized that sometimes you don’t need the words. Because words can manipulate, they can terrorize—but the eyes are the window to the soul, and I knew, in that look he gave me.
He wanted to share his.
“I love you,” he finally said. “Love me back?”
“You’re easy to love,” I whispered on the cusp of another wave of pleasure. “You have it . . .”
He thrust deep, lips meeting my chest in an open-mouth kiss as I fell off the ledge.
As I dove in headfirst without fear.
Because I’d finally found a partner in crime.
He followed soon after. His smile widened and then broke out across his entire face. “Does this mean that . . . I get to help you on stakeouts, Spy Girl?”
I rolled my eyes. “No. And you don’t get a badge. It’s a real job.”
He gave me a teasing nod. “Whatever you say, just know that I’ll be ready for your call the next time you get stuck.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I know.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
BLAIRE
We’d run out of wine.
The impossible had happened.
And because I didn’t want to let Colin go, the minute the plane landed we hatched a plan: meet at my place, eat takeout, have as much sex as possible, and drink.
Only, I knew the pathetic state of my pantry.
So I sent Colin to grab Chinese down the street while I stopped at the wine store to grab a few bottles. My hands hovered over the Prisoner Red Blend, one of my favorites for its price range, when I felt it.
The hairs on my arm stood on end.
I grabbed the wine and turned slightly to my right.
Jason.
And her.
I sucked in a breath.
And told myself that destroying all the wine around me by way of knocking it off the shelves wasn’t going to help my narrow escape, it would just be wasteful.
“Hi,” I croaked out, my voice sounding a bit weaker than I intended.
Olivia’s eyes bulged before she reached for Jason’s hand and held it tight between her fingers. Her nostrils flared. Why did she look scared? It wasn’t like I was going to punch her.
I felt myself genuinely smile at their nervous demeanor.
“Hey,” Jason finally said.
“You know”—I felt calmer by the second—“the Prisoner is the best, if you’re looking for a red blend.”
Why was I talking?
They both gaped at me like I’d lost my mind.
The bell on the shop door clanged and then I felt warm arms around me and the smell of Chinese food, right along with an open-mouthed kiss on my neck. “Hey, sorry, those damn spring rolls were . . .” Colin’s voice trailed off as he straightened then held out the arm with the sexy snake tattoo. “Hey, man, what’s up, I’m Colin.”
Jason’s eyes widened a bit before he slowly pumped Colin’s hand and said, “I’m Jason.”
“Ah.” Colin nodded knowingly. “Nice to meet you.”
Olivia couldn’t keep her eyes off Colin.
All I wanted to do was throw myself around him and shout at her, “Yeah, that’s right, this one’s taken, you even speak to him I’ll break your nose.”
“And you must be”—Colin’s smile was so wide and sexy my knees went a bit weak—“the best friend. Sorry, I don’t know your name?”
“Uh,” she gulped. “Olivia, I’m Olivia.” She reached out her frail-looking hand. It looked like she’d lost weight. In fact, both of them looked content, but not necessarily jumping for joy. Then again I was blocking the exit, so . . .
“Well.” I held my wine up. “You guys have a good night then, I guess?”
Both of them were still staring at me.
“I’m sorry,” Jason blurted.
Making me stumble into Colin’s back.
Olivia put her hand on Jason’s arm as if to tell him not to keep talking.
“We both are.” Jason shared a look with Olivia. She hung her head.
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