by Krista Lakes
Jackson enjoyed the party immensely. He wished that Emma could be there, but even without her, he was enjoying himself. The food and drink were delicious and he’d found a college friend he hadn’t seen in years. He’d spent the majority of the evening catching up and reminiscing.
The best part to him, was that despite remembering the “good old days” with a different girl every night, he had no desire to repeat them. He was glad that he got to go home to Emma at the end of the night tonight.
It took the pressure off. He was no longer hunting the crowd for the best girl to bring home. He wasn’t distracted by previous conquests, and no jealous husbands threatened to punch his lights out. Jackson was sure that his security team appreciated the change of pace as well.
Jackson stepped outside onto a porch overlooking the water. The party was held at the yacht club clubhouse, so the view was amazing. The second story porch jutted out over the docks where million dollar boats bobbed in the cool night air.
Most everyone was inside enjoying the party, but Jackson wanted a moment to himself to check in with Emma. He could see her Facebook status was active, so he knew she was awake.
“How’s your show?” he asked when she picked up the phone.
“The new guy is a total jerk, and I hate him,” she replied.
“Maybe he’ll get voted off next week,” he consoled.
“What? No! That would be terrible,” she replied. “I like that I hate him. It makes the show so much more interesting.”
“So you’re enjoying watching a show full of people you hate?”
“Yes, but only because I know they aren’t real people,” she replied. “It’s like getting to gossip without hurting anyone. I get my fix of crazy without actually interacting with the crazy.”
“You know that makes absolutely no sense, right?” He shook his head and looked out at the dark water. Some of the docked yachts had people sitting out on the decks enjoying drinks and having conversations.
“Forty million people can’t be wrong,” Emma replied. He could hear her smile over the phone.
He sighed and shook his head. This was something he was going to have to live with. His future wife enjoyed horrible television. He smiled, knowing it could be so, so much worse.
“So, how’s the party?” Emma asked. He heard the TV lower in the background.
“It’s wonderful,” he told her. “I’m glad I came. I ran into an old friend and I have some wine for you to try later.”
“I can’t have wine for awhile,” she reminded him. “But thank you anyway.”
His heart skipped a beat. He was still coming to terms with the fact that she was pregnant. So much was going to change.
“Right. Next year then,” he said. “You feeling better?”
“The tea is helping. But laying down is helping the most.”
“How long is this supposed to last again?” he asked, leaning against the porch railing. “I’m having a good time, but I’d be having more fun if you were here.”
“According to the doctor, the nausea should stop in the second trimester. So, I have two more months of this crap. But, I should be good for all the Christmas parties, at least.”
“Then I will make sure you go to all of them.” He heard the TV volume go up at little bit and realized she was still trying to watch her show. He should go back to the party anyway. “I’m going to be home in a few hours.”
“Okay. Wake me up when you get back. I...” She paused, stopping her words from coming out. He knew she was going to say, “I love you,” but since he hadn’t said it back yet, she didn’t want to pressure him.
He wanted to make it special. She deserved to feel like a princess when he said it. He wanted her to never doubt it and the only way he knew how to make that happen was to make it an amazing event. The trip to the mountains would do it.
He would just love her without saying the words and screwing everything up until then.
“I’ll see you soon,” she said. “Have a great night. I love you.”
“You too,” he replied warmly. He clicked off the phone and looked down at her picture on his screen. He smiled at her image. “I love you.”
He sighed and looked out at the water again. He could hear murmurs of conversation on the various yachts and soft sounds of music and conversation from inside the club house. The stars shone down on the porch, twinkling in the darkness.
“I’m so sorry to bother you,” a soft feminine voice said from behind him. “But, are you Jackson Weathers?”
Jackson turned to see a young woman in a stunning red dress. It fit her every curve, hinting at smooth skin underneath. It was sexy without being slutty. He wondered immediately where he could get Emma a dress just like it.
“I am,” he replied, tucking his phone into his pocket.
“Oh my gosh.” She grinned and looked like she might bounce off the porch with excitement. “I was so hoping you’d be here tonight. I’ve wanted to meet you forever.”
Jackson smiled at her. It was always nice to meet a fan. “And you are?”
“Alexa,” she replied, grinning and tucking a perfect golden curl behind her ear. She reached out her hand. “I’m a business student at the local college, and you are such an inspiration.”
He shook her hand firmly, noticing the way her cheeks flushed at his touch. Two months ago, he would have been figuring out if he wanted to take her to his apartment or a hotel bed. She was beautiful and obviously attracted to him. He knew that all he had to do was smile and she would do whatever he wanted.
Except he didn’t want her. Alexa was beautiful and obviously attracted to him, but he didn’t want to take her to any of his beds.
He released her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you, Alexa,” he told her. She held onto his hand for an extra moment.
“Could I ask you a couple of questions?” She smiled up at him. “Like I said, I’m a business student. I was wondering if you could give me a couple of tips.”
She bit her bottom lip as she looked up at him. When Emma did it, he wanted to kiss her. When Alexa did it, he wanted to tell her it looked childish and was smearing the red of her lipstick.
“Maybe some other time,” he said. “I was actually just on my way out.”
“You’re leaving?” She glanced out at the yachts behind him. “But it’s such a nice night. And isn’t one of those yachts yours?”
She tugged gently at his arm, turning him to look out at the water with her. She stood far too close for comfort. This used to happen all the time and he would let it happen. He wasn’t used to having to tell women no.
“I’m very sorry, Alexa,” he said, gently pulling his arm away from her. “But it’s time for me to leave.”
She frowned slightly and then moved forward, wrapping her arm around his neck and kissing him. The shock of it had him frozen for a second before he quickly pushed her off.
“What the fuck are you doing?” He spat, stepping away from her.
“I thought that’s how you liked it,” Alexa replied, batting her eyelashes and doing the annoying lip-bite. “They say that women who sleep with you are more likely to get a job at your company. Isn’t this how this works?”
“Not even a little bit,” he said.
Jackson stared at her for a second before leaving the porch. He walked past her, carefully not touching her as he went back into the party.
He couldn’t believe the woman had kissed him like that. He hadn’t seen it coming at all. Something about it made him feel sick to his stomach, and it wasn’t just that he’d been kissed by a stranger.
He thought of other encounters that had started just like that and played out differently. Alexa wasn’t wrong. He’d slept with several women who had become employees. If they wanted to sleep their way to the top, he wasn’t going to stop them. He just wasn’t going to promote them if they weren’t good at their jobs either.
He’d had hundreds of encounters just like this one that had led to one-night stands he
never regretted. Yet, this made his stomach turn.
This felt like a set-up. It was too easy. He thought of the people down on the yachts. It would be far too easy for one of them to have a camera and to have gotten a picture of their kiss. Without context, it would have looked consensual.
“Shit,” he hissed. What if this wasn’t just an attempt to sleep with the big boss? What if this was something else?
And worse, how would he explain it to Emma?
He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t tell her. He didn’t need to worry her, he decided. His stomach twisted and a small voice told him it was a bad idea.
He didn’t want to tell the beautiful woman pregnant with his child that his lips had been touched by someone else. He was embarrassed. She deserved better than him.
He didn’t want to tell a soul.
He left the party. He was no longer in the mood.
Chapter 31
Emma
* * *
Emma groaned, finally giving up on her nap. Exhaustion still tugged on her, but her phone simply wouldn’t stop buzzing or chiming. Unfortunately, it was on the kitchen table and a good ten steps away from the couch she currently was very comfortable on.
The chime went off again. She thought about just leaving it there, but it was plugged in. The chimes would never stop since it would never run out of battery. Besides, that many text messages, emails, and phone calls had to be something important.
With a groan, she threw her feet to the floor and sat up from the couch. She just wanted to nap today. This being pregnant thing was harder than she expected. She remembered her friend Grace’s pregnancy being easy. The only thing Grace had was an aversion to the smell of cooked chicken. Emma seemed to have an aversion to everything.
She stood up and walked zombie like to the kitchen table. She picked up her phone and started making some ginger tea while she checked what was making her phone so noisy.
Twenty-two text messages, but only three of them from numbers she recognized.
Sixty-eight emails. Twenty-three phone calls, all with voicemail messages.
Emma raised an eyebrow in confusion as she looked at her phone. Where in the world had all these people gotten her contact information? Jackson had assured her that this was a private line when he gave it to her. No one was supposed to know it, yet there were twenty-three phone calls stating otherwise.
She went to open up the text messages when the phone began to vibrate again. She nearly dropped it she was so startled. No one ever called her. She decided to answer it and find out who exactly wanted to get her attention.
“Hello?”
“Hello? Ms. Sheridan? Ms. Emma Sheridan?” A female voice on the other line asked, sounding slightly surprised.
“Yes, that’s me. How can I help you?”
“I’m with the Daily Times and was hoping you could give me a comment,” the voice replied. She sounded nice enough.
“A comment about what?” Emma asked. “And how did you get this number?”
“A comment about the photo of Jackson Weathers kissing another woman,” the reporter replied. “Just days after proposing.”
A cold chill settled into Emma’s stomach.
“No comment,” Emma quickly said. “Do not call back.”
She quickly hung up. She closed her eyes. Maybe this was an old photo. Maybe it was a misunderstanding.
She pulled up the internet and ran a quick search.
The very first article had a picture of Jackson kissing a beautiful blonde woman. Her arms were wrapped around him in a passionate embrace. She was absolutely gorgeous and everything that Jackson usually went for.
In other words, not plain-Jane Emma.
“Maybe it’s an old picture they’re trying to pass off as new,” she mumbled. She tapped on the picture, even though it made her stomach flip. Seeing one’s fiancé kissing another tended to have that reaction.
Emma’s heart stuttered and her knees gave out. She reached for a kitchen chair and collapsed into it, staring at the photo.
He was wearing his blue suit. His new blue suit. She could see him putting it on while she lay in bed.
Had he worn it knowing he was going to meet her? Had he wanted to impress this new lover? She tried to think back to exactly what had happened two nights ago. She’d been sick and wanted to stay home. She had watched her favorite reality TV show.
She had thought it had been her decision not to go to the party, but now she wasn’t so sure. Maybe he had played her. He was known to be a player.
She swallowed hard and read the article. Maybe it was just a bad angle... maybe...
“‘Jackson Weathers kissed me,’ Alexa J. told reporters this morning. ‘He instigated it. He offered to take me to his yacht, but I didn’t want to leave the party yet. I was there to make business contacts, so when the biggest billionaire in the city offered to show me the ropes, I jumped on the opportunity to speak to him alone.’”
Emma read the article, her heart breaking with every word. Jackson had found a beautiful woman.
“‘I thought we were alone,” Alexa J. says. ‘I knew he was seeing someone, but I thought it was serious. I guess not.’” Emma read the words, her throat catching. “Alexa J. is a local student who has requested her last name not be printed.”
The phone clattered to the floor as Emma realized what this meant.
They weren’t married yet. The pregnancy wasn’t announced. If anything, the pregnancy would hurt Jackson and his company now. Not only was he cheating on Emma, he was cheating on a pregnant Emma.
There would be no salvaging his company’s reputation after that. The board would kick him out and he wouldn’t need Emma anymore. He wouldn’t need her, or their child.
The contract wouldn’t be valid anymore.
“That’s why he didn’t say he loved me back,” she whispered, the full realization of it hitting her. “He doesn’t. I fell for his act, hook, line and sinker. He played me.”
Hot, angry tears splashed down her cheeks.
He didn’t love her. He never had. She’d been played for a fool.
And now, she was useless to him. He would toss her out. Sure, she’d be able to get child support, but the love of her life would be gone.
She thought back to that night. He had come home that night, kissed her and cuddled with her for a moment. She didn’t know he was kissing her with someone else’s kisses. She didn’t know that it was all a game to him.
If this had been some sort of accident, he hadn’t mentioned it. He hadn’t said a word about the other woman or the party, which made her think he was hiding it. He had deliberately not told her because he didn’t want her to know he was cheating.
Now she knew. Now she knew that he didn’t care and it shattered her.
The father of her child didn’t want her anymore.
She didn’t know that anything could hurt this much. She’d felt heartbreak before, but never like this. Her heart ached not only for her, but for her unborn child. This betrayal affected both of them. She could never forgive him for this.
Emma sobbed into her hands. The perfect picture she had in her mind of the two of them raising a child together was gone. All of her hopes and dreams for the future were dashed to pieces now.
She wished she had never fallen in love with him. And it was her own fault for getting hurt like this. She knew what he was. She knew he was a player whose only usage of the word fidelity related to stocks and bonds.
She should have known she wouldn’t be enough to keep him.
But she had hoped. She had let herself believe that he loved her. That he cared. That she had changed him and that they could walk away into a beautiful happily ever after.
But she was wrong. He didn’t change. He couldn’t. He wasn’t capable of love or monogamy. It was his nature to want new women. He couldn’t be happy with just one. He couldn’t be content with a life with her. He would always need more.
Emma cried, burying her face in her arms. She wasn�
�t enough.
Her phone continued to buzz and chime, telling her that she had an endless supply of emails and phone calls from various newspapers wanting to know how broken her heart was.
That gave her pause. How in the world did they get her number? It was supposed to be unlisted. Then she shook her head. It wouldn’t be that hard to figure out. Anyone worth their salt could find a phone number, and her email wasn’t exactly a secret. She couldn’t blame them. A sound bite from the cheated on fiancee would be more than worth their effort.
She wiped at her face and felt the twist in her stomach. Just because she was crying and upset didn’t stop her morning sickness from reminding her that it was there. She got up and finished making her ginger tea and ate a couple of crackers.
She chewed on the bland crackers and wondered if she might be overreacting. It was possible. She was pregnant and she could feel the hormones swirling around in her brain. She needed an outside opinion.
She picked her phone back up, ignoring the twenty-sex text messages, seventy-two emails, and twenty-four phone calls. She dialed Grace.
“Emma! Are you okay?” Grace picked up on the second ring. “I just saw the picture.”
“I don’t know what to do,” Emma admitted.
“You dump his ass is what you do,” Grace told her. “He cheated on you, Emma. I don’t care that he’s a billionaire or how cute he is. That’s a scum move. That’s not someone you stick around with.”
Emma deflated. She half hoped that Grace would tell her the photo was obviously photoshopped or that there must be a reason.
“Emma, do you have a place to go?” Grace asked. “You can come here if you need to. We have the guest room all set up. The baby crib is in there, but he doesn’t like to sleep there.”
“No, it’s okay,” Emma told her. “The apartment downstairs is in my name and paid for the year. He can’t take it.”
“Good. That was smart thinking.”
Emma shook her head. “That was my lawyer’s smart thinking. I’m an idiot.”