by Codi Gary
“Yes, I want you to pull the book. Say that I made the whole thing up.”
“And what if they want it as a work of fiction?”
“Tell them I’m not writing it, and if I don’t, no one is.”
David was breathing hard on the other end, and Dustin hoped he wasn’t having an anxiety attack.
“Look, Dustin, I don’t know what’s going on, but I think you need to take some time to think this through.”
“Pull the book, David, and I’ll make sure you are compensated.”
Dustin clicked off the phone call and let out a shaky breath. God, he really was an asshole. Every time someone had asked him why he was working at Something Borrowed, he’d just smirked. All of this had come about because he was bored and miserable, and liked making other people around him just as unhappy.
He was like the Grinch or Ebenezer, only this wasn’t a Christmas redemption tale. It was real life and he’d almost screwed up and hurt the woman he…
Loved?
“There you are! Is everything okay?”
Just the sound of her voice rose goosebumps across his skin. Was this what love was? Finding joy in just the other person’s presence? Putting their happiness before your own?
No wonder he’d avoided this for so long.
“Yeah, everything is good.”
She cocked her head to the side and her gaze clearly said she wasn’t convinced. “You sure? Because you looked a little pale when you ran out here and I heard you using your bossy voice.”
“What else did you hear?” he asked hoarsely.
“I couldn’t hear what you said, just how you were speaking.” She took several limping steps closer to him and touched his cheek. “Are you feeling okay? You seem tense.”
Dustin’s heart slowed as he forced himself to relax. Rylie didn’t know what he’d almost done and she was out here, worried about him.
That was a win in his book. He didn’t need to focus on his feelings for her right now. Besides, it seemed as though they should try their hand at a date first before they started dropping the L bomb.
“I’m fine, really.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and her eyes lifted to meet his. “I have been thinking though. About you and me.”
“You and me?” she squeaked.
“Yeah. We’ve worked together several months and were neighbors for five weeks. I feel like we’re friends. Am I wrong?”
“No, I mean, yes. Of course we are friends.”
“Who on occasion have kissed,” he said.
“What are you getting at, Dustin?”
“I propose that Monday morning I walk into your office and I ask you out. And when I do, you’re going to say yes.”
Rylie’s hands came up to rest on his shoulders. “What if I say no?”
He pretended to consider this outcome. “Ehh, I think I’m still going to give it a shot. I’m like ninety-nine percent certain you’re going to say yes.”
“And until then?” she asked.
“I’m going to be a professional and keep my hands to myself.”
“You mean the hands that are currently resting on my lower back? Those hands?”
He dropped his arms from around her and grinned sheepishly. “Starting now.”
Rylie gave him a gentle push. “I guess we’ll see on Monday then, huh?”
“I guess we will.”
Chapter 23
Dustin waited inside Kelly’s office later that afternoon, his leg wiggling impatiently. He’d already decided to give Kelly the heads up about what he’d planned to do and tender his resignation. He was hoping that coming clean would score him some brownie points and maybe she wouldn’t share his nefarious plot with Rylie and the rest of the company.
Did he need to tell her? No, she’d probably never find out that he’d almost ruined her. But just in case, he’d rather have everything out in the open than hide it and have it come back to bite him in the ass.
“Dustin,” Kelly said, as she came in the room behind him and he stood up. “I wasn’t expecting you in here. Should I close the door?”
“Please.”
The door clicked shut, and she shot him a curious glance as she came around her desk. “Is there something wrong?”
“You could say that.” He cleared his throat, calling for the nerve. “I’d like to tender my resignation.”
She stilled for several seconds, half sitting, half standing, and finally sunk into the chair. “All right. May I ask why?”
“I was hired under false pretenses.”
Kelly’s eyebrows arched. “Oh?”
“I applied here because I thought I could write a tell-all about celebrity bridezillas.”
She leaned forward on her elbows, resting her chin on her folded hands. “Uh huh. And you no longer think you can write the book?”
“No, I know I could,” he said. “I just don’t want to.”
“I see. Well, why tell me this at all then? If you no longer wish to pursue the book.”
“I’m one of those people who believes when you keep secrets, they eventually rise to the surface and destroy you. So, I’d rather be honest and forthcoming now than suffer the consequences later.”
“I appreciate the honesty. Can I ask what changed your mind?”
He shifted in his chair uncomfortably. “I didn’t want to hurt you or the business.”
“Anyone else?”
He grimaced. “Yeah. But she doesn’t know anything about this.”
“Oh, I know. There is no way Rylie would have kept something like this from me.”
“How are you not pissed right now, threatening to sue me for all I’m worth?”
She scoffed. “Please, did you think I didn’t know you were up to something? A millionaire playboy wants to be a hired groomsman?”
“Then why did you take me on?”
“For all the reasons I told everyone else. You run in the right circles and you look good in a tux.”
Dustin shook his head, laughing. “I guess those are valid. I could have ruined you, though.”
“Maybe. Or I may have ruined you. You can’t bullshit a bullshitter. We always have one more ace up our sleeve.”
She reached into the cabinet below her desk and brought out a large file. “When you gave all your commission to Rylie, I took the liberty of having you investigated. I figured you were trying to slip out of the non-disclosure agreement by not accepting payment. Let’s just say if you ever are tempted to expose my clients’ secrets, I’ll expose yours. Because as honest as you may be, we all have things we’d rather stay hidden.”
Dustin took in her deadly expression and gulped. “You know… I am really glad I didn’t cross you. You’re terrifying.”
She stuck the file in the drawer and closed it. “Thank you.”
“About Rylie…”
“If you’re worried I’m going to fire her over your office romance, you can rest easy. Since you’re tendering your resignation, it’s not an issue anymore.”
Dustin stood up. “Then I guess that is it. I’ll have my office cleaned out on Friday, and after the wedding on Saturday, we’ll be square?”
“Not quite yet,” she said, leaning her elbows on her desk. “I want one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“I want a wedding deposit. In the event that you get engaged before turning forty-five, Something Borrowed is commissioned to help you plan your wedding.”
He almost laughed until he realized she was dead serious. “What if you go out of business?”
“Your money will be returned in full, same as if you never get married.”
“But if I do, you plan everything.”
“Every…last…detail.”
“This feels a lot like blackmail,” he said.
“Let�
��s call it insurance. It has a sweeter ring to it.”
Considering she could have rained a whole lot more hell down on him, this didn’t seem like a bad deal.
“I’ll cut you a check now.”
* * * *
After work, Rylie grabbed a cart from the front of the supermarket and headed for the pet aisle. She wanted to get another Kong toy for Raider and she was going to bake a special cake for Tonya’s last night of freedom. She’d asked Rylie earlier if they could do a sleepover at her house, and she’d been unable to come up with a reason why they couldn’t.
Well, she’d had a ton of reasons, but Tonya’s pleading look had demolished every single one of them.
She threw a couple of new toys into her basket and turned the corner, only to slam her cart into someone.
“Oh, I am so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.”
Her gaze traveled over the big hands wrapped around the end of her cart all the way up to the familiar bloodshot brown eyes of Asher Reid. Besides the eyes, she barely recognized him. In the last month, he’d lost weight and his cheeks were hollow. He seemed almost dazed as he stared back at her.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “It’s a small town and there’s only one grocery store. If I knew you were going to be here, I would have waited to shop.”
Rylie bit her lip, that sick feeling of guilt twisting up her gut.
He threw a brick through Dustin’s pool house window. What do I have to feel guilty about?
She didn’t respond, surprised when he asked, “How’s your foot?”
Rylie stared up at him. “How did you know I hurt my foot?”
“Everyone has told me. When they’re not calling me an asshole and crazy.”
What was she supposed to say?
“You wouldn’t leave me alone and after…that night, I had to do something.”
“I didn’t throw that brick. I wanted you back. I didn’t want to hurt you.” He moved as though he was going to come around the cart and she took a step back, keeping it between them. “Are you really scared of me?”
Taking in his disheveled appearance, his wild eyes, and the bitter twist of his mouth, she nodded.
His face flushed nearly purple with rage. “All I did was try to show you I cared, that I was willing to work on things and what did you do? You shacked up with that rich son of a bitch, Dustin Kent.” He came all the way around the cart and she moved, keeping the metal basket between them. “Does he take care of you and buy you pretty things? Is that how he got you?”
“You… You need to go, Asher. You’re violating the restraining order.”
“You’ve already destroyed my life! Did you know I was fired from the garage? Once they heard that you’d accused me of throwing a brick through that prick’s window, Paulson let me go.”
Rylie backed down the aisle. “Just leave me alone.”
“Why?”
The way he said it, so cold and empty, caused sweat to break out across her body. She glanced over her shoulder, calculating if she could make it to the end of the aisle before he caught her.
“Because you’ll be violating the RO if you touch me.”
He sneered at her. “It’s just a piece of paper. You really think that or your new boyfriend can protect you?”
“Is there a problem here?”
Rylie had never been so happy to hear Luke Jessup’s Texas drawl behind her.
“Asher. If memory serves, you’re supposed to be five hundred feet away from Rylie.”
“How the fuck was I supposed to know she was going to be here?”
Luke took her arm and stepped between her and Asher. “I heard the lady ask you to leave from the next aisle over. So, you had a chance to walk away, and now I’m going to have to arrest you.”
Asher shoved her cart at Luke and took off out of sight. Luke chased after him and as she followed behind, it was as though she was floating, watching all of this take place in someone else’s world.
Another deputy had Asher pinned to the floor and pulled something from his pocket. Rylie couldn’t hear what they were saying over the blood pounding in her ears, but knew this couldn’t be happening. This wasn’t her life. She wasn’t the girl who dated abusive assholes and watched them get arrested in the middle of a supermarket.
Her gaze lifted and she realized there were a lot of people standing around watching and she couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.
Rylie turned and ran, losing her heels as she pumped her arms. She didn’t slow at the pain in her foot or when her bare skin hit asphalt. She unlocked her car with shaky hands, tears rolling down her cheeks as she climbed inside.
She peeled out of the parking lot, ignoring angry glares from several older women from church. She didn’t care what anyone thought of her, not right now. All she knew was she was scared and wanted to feel safe, to forget about what had just happened. There was only one place that offered her that.
She took the main road out of town to Dustin’s house.
The road blurred and she dashed at her eyes, trying to clear her vision, but it was like trying to use wipers in the pouring rain. It just wouldn’t stop.
When she pulled up in front of his house, she stumbled out of her car and raced to his front door. She didn’t see his car and prayed he’d just pulled it into the garage.
She banged on the door, and after several moments, the door was pulled open.
Only it wasn’t Dustin but Victoria.
“Rylie? What’s happened?”
“I…I need… I need Dustin.”
“Oh, baby, he’s not here right now, but I’ll call him. Come inside and I’ll make you some tea.”
“I ca-can’t. I have to get home and let Ra-Raider out. I just… I just needed to see him.”
Victoria took her hand and dragged her inside. “You’re going to come into the kitchen and let me make you a cup of tea. Then I’m going to call Mr. Kent.”
Rylie let Victoria pull her into the kitchen and push her toward a chair. “I want you to sit there while I make you some tea.”
Rylie sat and waited, while Victoria picked up the phone and dialed. Rylie stared out the window as she listened to Victoria leave Dustin a message.
She didn’t want to be here without Dustin. As much as she loved Victoria, she didn’t feel comfortable talking to her.
When Victoria went into the other room, Rylie stood up and left. If she couldn’t be with Dustin, she’d rather be alone.
Chapter 24
Dustin got Victoria’s message while he was having dinner at his mother’s house with Charlie. He rushed back inside and told them both good-bye, ignoring their questions.
As soon as he made his escape to his car, he called Victoria.
“Is she still there?”
“No, she took off when I had my back turned. She was so upset, I really don’t think she should be driving.”
“I’m going by her place.”
“Please let me know she’s safe,” Victoria said.
Dustin hung up and stepped on the gas, heading to Rylie’s little house. He didn’t know what was going on, but Rylie wouldn’t have showed up asking for him if it wasn’t important.
By the time he stood on her porch, knocking on the front door, he was sweating and ready to tear the slab of wood off the hinges to get to her.
She pulled the door open, her face puffy and red, and the heart he never knew he had fell apart.
“Aw, baby. What happened?” He stepped inside and closed the door behind him, waiting for her to say something.
Rylie walked straight into his arms and he caught a glimpse of her face crumbling just before it buried into his chest.
“Rys, you’re scaring me.”
“I just…don’t know…what I did,” she wailed.
Dustin wrapped his arms around her, trying not
to step on Raider who was circling them. When he managed to angle them toward the couch, he sat down, and pulled her across his lap.
“Now, what the heck are you talking about?”
“I… I bumped into Asher at the grocery store.”
Dustin stiffened. “That son of a bitch.”
“It was an accident, but then he got hostile. Blamed me for getting him fired and he… Luke was in the next aisle and heard everything, and they arrested him, right there in the middle of the store. He looked so awful. He’s thin and I think he might be sick. The way he looked at me… I’ve never had anyone hate me so much.”
He smoothed her hair back from her face and cupped her cheeks, tilting her face until she met his gaze. “Baby, it has nothing to do with you. You did nothing wrong.”
“Are you sure? Because it doesn’t feel that way. I keep thinking if I’d done something different, helped him in some way, this wouldn’t be happening.”
“Some people are just miserable and there is no saving them. And even if you could, it is not your responsibility. You owe it to yourself to be happy, and you were not happy with him. You owed him nothing.”
She sniffled, laying her cheek against his chest. “My mother thought that way too. She got diagnosed with cancer and took off to find herself. Left my dad and me for a tennis instructor in Palm Beach, because she wanted to live her life before she died. We didn’t make her happy.”
“That’s not the same thing,” he said.
“Isn’t it? She found out she was dying and realized she wasn’t happy, so she went off to find it.”
“Did your dad beat your mother?” he asked harshly.
She jerked back, scowling at him. “Of course not. He was wonderful. Kind and supportive—”
“That is one major difference. Your dad was a good man. Asher is an abusive asshole and you can’t tell me he isn’t. I didn’t see much, but I know what it looks like when a man is hurting his woman.”