by Krista Lakes
“That’s not true,” Grace said sharply. “You saw the best in him. You gave him a chance. It’s not your fault that the guy couldn’t keep it in his pants. That’s not on you.”
“Sure.” Emma shrugged.
“Don’t ‘sure’ me, Emma,” Grace warned. “Do you remember the last guy who broke your heart? You remember what I did to him?”
Emma chuckled. “You egged his car. I had to take the baseball bat away from you.”
“Damn straight. Chris saw the picture this morning and hid the bat, just so you know,” Grace told her. “But, I know where the sporting goods store is. You tell me, and I’ll buy two new ones.”
“You’re a good friend.” Emma sighed. “I don’t know what to do.”
“You get out of his apartment. Take all your stuff out. Then, you don’t talk to him. He’s scum and he doesn’t deserve someone as wonderful as you. He screwed up big time and you don’t owe him anything.”
Emma chewed on her lip. It wasn’t that simple. She was carrying his child. She couldn’t just shut him out. But, she hadn’t told anyone about the pregnancy yet. Not even Grace.
“You listening, Emma?” Grace asked. “If you feel like you need to see him, you call me. I’ll talk to him for you. You’re my best friend and I don’t like people messing with my friends.”
Emma smiled a little bit. Her friend’s fierce loyalty at least made her feel a little loved. Someone in the world cared about her.
“Okay, Grace. I’ll do what you said,” Emma replied.
“Okay. I’ll be over in thirty minutes to help. I’m bringing some ice cream and animal crackers.”
“Animal crackers?” Emma asked. That wasn’t a usual breakup food.
“I have Sammy and it’s all he wants to eat right now,” Grace explained. “I figure he’s good for cheering you up.”
“I’d like to see him. See you soon.”
Emma sighed and clicked off her phone. Everything felt hopeless. She pressed her hand to her stomach and closed her eyes.
“Don’t you worry, little one,” she promised the child growing in her belly. “I’ll take care of you. Even if your father’s awful, I’ve got you.”
With that, she started to pack.
Chapter 32
Jackson
* * *
Jackson sat at his desk, head in his hands. He didn’t know how to fix this one. He had screwed up. It wasn’t really his fault, but now that it was happening, he could see a million different ways he could have prevented this.
‘If onlys’ whispered through his mind. He could have pushed the woman away sooner. He should have never been alone. He should have told Emma right away.
That was the one that hurt the most. He should have come straight home and told her that a strange woman had kissed him. She would have forgiven him then. She would have understood.
He sighed. Now it was too late. He’d kept the kiss to himself. For the first twenty-four hours, he thought he was safe. There were no news stories, no leaks. He had thought that it really was just an over-eager business student.
And then came the phone calls. Nearly the instant it hit the tabloids, he was deluged by phone calls.
Now there was a note from his housekeeper that Emma had moved all of her things out.
He ran his hands through his hair. How had this gotten out of control so quickly? He had barely seen the images himself before finding out that his fiancée had moved out. He couldn’t blame her though.
He could only imagine what she must think of him. What she must be feeling. He was a notorious womanizer, and as far as she knew, he had just cheated on her in front of the entire world. If he were in her shoes, he would have left him too.
His office door flew open and hit the wall with a loud thud. Jane stood in the doorway, practically spitting fire. Her normally neat bun was a mess of gray streaks and her shirt was wrinkled.
“What the hell did you do?” she growled at him.
“I didn’t do anything,” he told her, trying to keep his calm.
“You didn’t do anything?” Jane asked calmly, nodding her head as she spoke. “Then how the hell did they get that picture?”
“She kissed me. I was just standing there and she kissed me. I pushed her away.”
“Right. Because the image I saw certainly looks like a man pushing away the woman with her tongue down his throat,” Jane agreed sarcastically.
“I didn’t kiss her,” he growled back. “Do you really think I would do something so stupid?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” Jane asked, putting her hands on her hips.
Jackson sighed. “I didn’t kiss her. This was a setup. I called and told you that.”
“You told me that there might be an issue. This is far more than what you let on.” Jane stomped over to his desk. She placed her hands on the smooth finish and leaned over the flat surface. “Look me in the eye and tell me that you didn’t do this.”
Jackson raised his gaze to meet hers. “I swear to you on my father’s grave, I didn’t kiss that woman. She kissed me and I pushed her away. This was not consensual.”
Jane evaluated him for a moment, deciding if he was telling the truth.
“I wouldn’t do this to Emma,” Jackson said softly. He looked away from Jane and down at his hands. “I love her.”
“I believe you,” Jane said after a moment. She sighed and flopped into one of the chairs facing the desk. “The problem is, it’s a good picture. It’s very clearly you and the woman made it look hot and steamy.”
“Emma moved out,” Jackson said softly.
“When?” Jane asked, sitting up.
“Just now. The housekeeper messaged me.” Jackson looked up. “I haven’t had a chance to speak to her. She’s not answering my calls.”
“And you’re sitting here because?” Jane asked, motioning to the room.
“I don’t know what to do. I’ve never had to win back a girl.” Jackson sighed. “I never cared to before.”
“You realize she’s the least of your problems, right?” Jane asked. “Your stock is plummeting. The board of directors is screaming for your head.”
“Emma is my first priority,” Jackson said firmly. He set his mouth. “She’s pregnant.”
“You have got to be kidding me.” Jane pinched the bridge of her nose like she was getting a headache. Jackson certainly had one. “You just cheated on your pregnant fiancée?”
“I didn’t cheat,” Jackson growled.
“To the public, you did. They don’t know it was staged,” she replied. “This is bad. Does anyone else know?”
Jackson shook his head. “Just the doctors. We wanted to wait to announce it.”
Jane pursed her lips. “The doctors can’t legally tell anyone, so we’re okay there. I’m glad one of you was thinking ahead. I’m guessing it was Emma.”
Jackson nodded.
Jane rubbed her temples. “Tell me exactly how this happened. Maybe I can think of something.”
“I went to a dinner party at the yacht club. Emma was supposed to attend, but she hasn’t been feeling well. I went out on the balcony to call her. I spoke to her. Just as I finished with the call, this woman comes up claiming to be a student.”
“And you didn’t think that was odd?” Jane asked. “That a gorgeous woman has you alone?”
“Honestly? No.” Jackson shrugged. “Two months ago, it was normal. Two months ago, I would have taken her home without a second thought. This has happened to me before, just with very different results.”
“And she kissed you?”
Jackson nodded. “She made sure to turn me to the best light. And then she kissed me. I pushed her away, but the damage was done.”
“It only takes a fraction of a second to take that photo,” Jane agreed. She sighed. “It was the yacht club down on Vine and Sea-star?”
Jackson nodded.
Jane thought for a moment. “I might have an idea. If I do, it’s only because I am amazing an
d you would owe me. Big.”
For the first time all day, hope lit in Jackson’s chest. “Really?”
“Don’t get those big hopeful eyes just yet,” she warned him. “I’ll look into it. You need to go salvage what you can with Emma. The fact that she moved out looks bad. It won’t be long before Max figures that one out.”
“You think Max did this?” Jackson asked. The name tasted sour on his tongue.
“Who else?” Jane laughed bitterly. “This is just his style. He set you up. He wants to destroy you.”
Anger flashed red across Jackson’s vision. Max was going to ruin not only his business, but Emma. Emma was the best thing Jackson had in this world and he wasn’t going to tolerate it.
“Whoa, slow down there, Tiger,” Jane warned. Jackson realized he was standing and halfway to the door. “You need to fix things with your girl. We need her on our side if you’re going to survive any of this.”
He stood there, at a loss. He’d never had to mend a broken heart before. He’d broken plenty of hearts, but he’d never wanted to save one. This was something completely new and foreign to him. He didn’t even know where to start.
Jane sighed. “Bring her flowers. And jewelry. And if she has something expensive that she likes, bring her that, too,” Jane advised. “You need to go to her on your knees. She’s going to be furious with you.”
“What do I say?” Jackson asked. “She’s not going to want to listen to me.”
“You apologize. You tell her the truth,” Jane told him. She stood up and straightened his tie. “But most of all, you tell her you love her.”
He looked down at Jane to see her smile sadly at him. “I really do,” he said softly.
“I know.” Jane nodded. “So get going.”
Jackson flew down the stairs. He sprinted across the lobby. He had his secretary calling ahead to have flowers and the biggest diamond necklace the jewelry shop had meet him at the apartment. He had to get to her. He had to make her see.
He couldn’t lose her. Not like this.
He sprinted into the parking garage, ready to run every red light from here to the apartment.
“Wow, you’re in a hurry,” a snide voice said as he opened the parking structure door.
Jackson went cold and then hot with fury as he turned to face Max Singleton.
“You,” Jackson snarled. He crossed the space between them in three big steps. He was going to punch the guy’s lights out and then beat him to a bloody pulp.
“Whoa, whoa,” Max said, holding up his hands and smiling. “Easy there, tiger.” He pointed to a camera on a tripod facing him. “I’d hate for you to have yet more damning video evidence. It would be awful for you to punch an unarmed man for no reason.”
“I have plenty of reason,” Jackson replied. His fingers clenched, but he turned and started to walk away. “I don’t have time for this.”
“I have to say you trained her well,” Max called out. Jackson stopped. “She only answered the phone once. Poor thing. She was so confused, but she managed to get out a ‘no comment’ before hanging up.”
Jackson’s hand balled into tight fists. He knew he should keep walking. He knew that Max was just goading him into doing something stupid. Something to keep up the charade that he was a bad boy with a womanizing attitude.
And it was all to sell diapers.
“You don’t have proof this time,” Max sneered. “There are no secret cameras. No surprise live videos. Just a picture of you passionately kissing another woman. And Alexa is so good at that. I win this time. I always win.”
Jackson forced himself to start walking.
“Oh, did I mention that she’s not a student?” Max asked, his voice bubbling with evil laughter. “She’s a call girl. That’ll come out this week. You cheated on your adorable, perfect, company-saving fiancée with a call girl. Poor, poor, sweet little Emma. You think I can get her number?”
“You don’t get to talk about her,” Jackson growled. The idea of Max hurting Emma more made his blood boil. He couldn’t see straight. “You don’t get to say her name.”
“Careful,” Max warned, pointing to the camera. “I’d hate for those mothers to see your bad side.”
Jackson froze and the smiled. “You always were an idiot, Max.”
“What?” Max looked confused. “I beat you. I’ve won.”
Jackson went over, carefully standing out of frame and knocked the camera over. “Whoopsie,” he said with a shrug.
Max paled.
Jackson then went and punched him square in the jaw.
It felt good.
“Too bad your camera broke,” Jackson told him. He turned and walked away. He had to get to Emma before it was too late to fix things.
Chapter 33
Emma
* * *
Emma didn’t know it was possible to cry this much. She didn’t know that she had this many tears inside of her. She didn’t know that it was possible to feel this much pain from just one lie.
He kissed another woman.
He didn’t love her.
She was obviously nothing to him.
She sat on her couch in her tiny apartment, mindlessly eating a pint of ice cream that she stole from his fridge, and cried.
The worst part was that she didn’t even feel like she had the right to cry. It was in the contract that they could see other people. Their relationship was never meant to be about love. They were a business relationship. It was always supposed to be a way to keep the bad boy’s business happy. She was only ever supposed to be the good girl image.
Yet, it still hurt. It hurt more than she ever thought possible.
He had cheated on her. Just because she had suspected this day might come didn’t make it easier. When they had first started this arrangement, she thought she could handle it. She had thought she would be okay with knowing that he married her for money and not for love.
But then she fell for him. And, worse, she thought he had fallen for her too. She thought that he cared. Even though he never said the words, she thought that he loved her at least enough to give them a chance.
But, the photo proved that he was back to his old ways. She wasn’t enough for him. Their child wasn’t enough for him. He still needed more.
She wished she could quit the contract. She wished she could just disappear to another state and never see him again. But even that idea made her want to sob into her ice cream just as hard.
She loved him. Even after this, even after knowing that he didn’t love her back, she still loved him. Perhaps that was the part that hurt the most. She was an idiot.
She wished she could dull the pain with wine. Or a full bottle of whiskey. Heartache wasn’t nearly as bad when she could pass out and pretend it didn’t exist.
But she wouldn’t do that to her baby. Even if it was his. The baby was innocent in all of this. She wasn’t sure how she would raise the child with the father being a total douche. It hurt even more that he would do this not only to her, but to their child. The man had no moral decency.
A soft knock on her door drew her attention. She checked her watch and saw that the food she’d ordered was due. She carefully set the half-eaten ice cream to the side and got up. She wasn’t in the mood to see anyone but the pizza man tonight.
She went to the door and checked the peephole. The delivery guy was holding the pizza up to the door so she could see it. Smart man, she thought to herself. There was no way she was opening this door to anyone who didn’t have her food. If a reporter wanted to talk to her, they would at least have to give her a pizza to do it.
She undid the lock and pulled the door open.
She promptly slammed it shut.
The pizza man wasn’t there. It was Jackson, holding up the pizza. He must have caught the delivery guy on the way up and taken the pizza. Sneaky bastard.
“Go away,” Emma yelled through the door. She was willing to give up her pizza not to have to see him. She had enough ice cream that she coul
d make it through the night.
“Emma, please,” Jackson called back. “I just want to explain.”
Righteous fury lit up inside of her. What was there to explain? “No.”
“Please, Emma,” he begged. His voice was low and full of hurt. For a moment, Emma almost felt bad for him. Then she remembered that he was an expert in getting women to do what he wanted.
“Go away,” she repeated.
“Emma, I didn’t kiss her,” he said through the door. “It was a set up.”
She evaluated that statement for a moment. It could be true. She’d seen enough of the business world to know that people were willing to lie, cheat, and have babies for the company. It wouldn’t be crazy to pay a woman to kiss him.
But that didn’t change the fact that this caught her completely unprepared. He’d had a full two days to tell her. He’d kept it from her, hoping she’d never find out. He had lied by omission. It was just the first step down the path to him actually kissing another woman.
He didn’t trust her. She told him everything, yet he thought it was okay to keep secrets like this from her. What kind of relationship could they have without trust?
She threw open the door, daggers shooting from her red, teary ears. “A set up?” She glared at him. “A strange woman kissed you, but you didn’t think it was important to tell me. Thanks for the heads up.”
She reached over, grabbed the pizza from his surprised hands, and slammed the door again.
“Emma!”
She put the pizza on the counter and locked the door. Her hands shook and tears ran down her face. She peeked through the peephole and saw him still standing there, his hand on the door like he was trying to reach out to her.
“Emma, I didn’t think it was important,” he said softly. “I didn’t want to upset you.”
“I think that turned out marvelously,” Emma replied, still watching him. He winced.
“Can I please come in?” he asked again, looking around the hallway.
She chewed her bottom lip. She didn’t want to see him, but she knew this needed to be done. They needed a conversation and shouting through the door wasn’t the best way to do that. Who knew what the neighbors would tell the reporters.