Never having to see or speak to Lane and Cassandra again sounded like a real blessing. But that wasn’t the point. Her father had left that trust for her. It was his hard-earned money that he had built up from the age of seventeen. He’d created an empire from nothing. The last thing she wanted was for two selfish, spoiled assholes to get their greedy hands on it.
It wouldn’t be right, and she knew it wasn’t what her father would have wanted.
His memory deserved to be honored.
Not squandered.
She glared at Lane. Would she break her hand if she punched him? Because with the amount of fury coursing through her, she was ready to go Mike Tyson all over his ass.
“You know what?” She stuck her face right in his. “Bring it on, fucker.”
He tried to hide his shock, but she detected a slight widening of his eyes and it spurred her on.
“I dare you to do your worst,” she continued, moving back from him again. “Because, quite frankly, I don’t give a damn. In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve got all the power here, and you can’t touch me. So why don’t you run on back up to mommy and sit around on your spray-tanned ass and mooch off her marriages.”
Suck on that, dickweed.
He lunged at her. She gave a startled gasp as he grabbed hold of her arm in a surprisingly tight grip.
“I’ve about lost my patience, you little whore,” he snarled. “I’m to the point where I’m not asking nicely anymore. Let me tell you this in a way you’ll understand.” He got right up in her personal space, his eyes full of menace. “Get your fucking ass up to Connecticut, sign over that trust to my mother, or so help me God, I’m going to make you wish you’d never met me.”
Too late for that.
She had never seen him so pissed before. She was ashamed to admit a spike of fear shot through her at his threatening stance. But she shoved it aside and let her anger take over.
By driving her knee up and connecting with his crotch.
He doubled over and let out a howl of pain.
She leaned over him. “Don’t you ever lay your hands on me again. And I wouldn’t advise coming back here. Because if my small-town loser boyfriend heard you speak to me like that, trust me, you’d get much worse than a swift kick to the nuts.”
It was the first time she’d called Hunter her boyfriend. And surprisingly, she hadn’t spiraled into a panic attack after she’d said it. Well, not over that, anyway.
Her stepbrother slowly, carefully, rose to his feet and inched toward the door. “This. Isn’t. Over,” he gritted out.
“Yes. It is,” she replied, smiling in gratification.
He stumbled to his car without another word.
As she stood in the doorway, watching him peel out, she heard footsteps approach.
“Hey,” Ivy said. “Everything okay? I heard shouting.”
Jade managed to nod her head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Who was that?” Ivy asked, nodding toward the vanishing car.
“My evil stepbrother.”
Her friend’s brow hiked. “And I’m guessing his visit wasn’t the pleasant sort?”
The question didn’t need to be answered.
There were so many thoughts ricocheting around in Jade’s head, her brain felt like it was going haywire. Her emotions were all over the place. She needed Hunter. Now. But he wasn’t supposed to get home for another hour.
His spare key.
She knew where it was, and she could go wait for him until he got home.
She just needed to be away from her own house and the stench of her stepbrother’s memory.
She grabbed her purse, locked her front door, and rushed down the walkway to her car. “I’ll be back later, okay?”
Ivy followed her. “Jade, wait! Are you sure you’re okay? Do you want to talk?”
“Everything’s fine. We’ll talk later. I promise.”
Without looking back, she got into her car and sped off toward Hunter’s place.
Surprisingly, she started to feel…damn amazing.
The scene at her house marked the first time in…ever…that she’d actually stood up to her stepfamily and told them where they could shove it. She felt changed. Like a new, stronger person, who could do anything she wanted. Be anything she wanted.
Have anyone she wanted.
And suddenly, everything became clear.
She had been holding part of herself back from Hunter. Convinced that if she were to give him all of herself, her heart would somehow, at some point, be smashed into a million pieces. But now she realized she no longer wanted to hold back her emotions. Keeping herself closed off wasn’t fair to Hunter—or to her—and she wanted to give their relationship a fighting chance.
They liked each other—really liked each other—and they wanted to be together. At the end of the day, that was all that mattered.
She wanted Hunter to be hers. All hers.
And now, she was ready for him to know it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hunter took the fastest shower of his life.
He’d busted his ass to get home as soon as humanly possible so he could get over to Jade and her desserts. He was an hour ahead of schedule.
He was scrambling around his house looking for a clean shirt when someone knocked on his front door.
Damn it. He sped across his living room. He didn’t have time for—
“Rebecca?”
His ex stood on his doorstep wearing a dress that would have made Miley Cyrus blush, a devious smile plastered on her face.
Hell, no. He really didn’t have time for this.
“What do you want?” he asked impatiently.
She didn’t react to the ire in his tone, but sashayed inside. “I just came to check up on you. You know, see how you’ve been. Hear how work’s been going.”
He gripped the doorknob tightly in an effort to not throw her out on her ass. “Work would be a lot better if your boyfriend would sign off on the damn contract,” he bit out. “What the hell’s taking so long?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said nonchalantly, running her finger along his mantelpiece. “It might be because a certain someone persuaded him to take his time making his decision. You know, to figure out if you’re the right guy for the job.”
Hunter’s shoulders tensed. “What? We had a deal—”
She spun around to face him. “Yeah, a deal that you reneged on!”
He kept his face carefully blank. “What are you talking about?”
She snorted, crossing her arms over her chest. “Don’t play dumb. You’ve been screwing that slutty redhead for weeks.” She shrugged. “I thought maybe you’d wise up, but you haven’t. We had an agreement, Hunter. You don’t work on that bitch’s store, and you sure as hell don’t sleep with her. Otherwise, I convince Dan you’re not quite up to the task of the condo project.”
Hunter clung to his temper and shook his head. “This is ridic—”
“The rules were simple,” she said, cutting him off. “And you broke them. All you had to do was stay away from her. Obviously, you don’t care about the future of your company. That bitch has you so pussy-whipped you’re willing to turn down a huge deal like this for a cheap lay.”
Red hot fury whipped through him.
This time, she’d gone way too far.
He opened his mouth to tell her so.
“Call me a bitch one more time,” an angry female voice said from the doorway, “and I’ll drag you out of here by your goddamn weave.”
He jerked his head around.
Ah shit.
Jade.
Chapter Twenty-Five
This was not happening.
Jade couldn’t believe what she’d just overheard.
She desperately fought the tears of anguish welling up in her eyes. She had just been riding the highest high of her life. It was not supposed to be directly followed by the lowest low.
“That was why you quit the store job?” she demanded of Hun
ter, her voice cracking. “Why you kept refusing to help me? Because of her?”
Please, please don’t let that be the truth.
“What?” Rebecca said with a sneer. “You actually thought he cared about you?”
Hunter spoke before Jade could sling insults at the skank. “Baby, please, let me explain.”
She tried to prevent the pain of betrayal from showing on her face. But the reflection of hurt in Hunter’s eyes said he could see exactly what the discovery was doing to her.
Total devastation.
He took a step toward her, and she automatically retreated, sidestepping into the room.
He halted.
“Not because of her,” he said. “Turning down your job was purely a business decision. A decision I made before I ever met you. Remember? Before…the hotel.”
“And afterward?” she challenged, her voice rising. “After we had sex? Even after I met your sister and your parents, you still…went along with your ex-girlfriend’s wishes? Or maybe she’s not your ex?”
Rebecca snorted. “Not for much longer, anyway.”
“Shut up, Rebecca,” Hunter snapped. He kept his attention focused on Jade and put his hands out to her as if begging for forgiveness.
Or mercy.
“Of course she’s my ex. Jade, please understand,” he said evenly. “That decision was about what’s best for my company. I needed that condo contract. I still need it. Turning down your job was never personal.”
“It was personal to me!” she shouted. “This whole time I’ve trusted you and respected your decision. But she’s been pulling the strings all along? And the worst part is that you lied to me.”
“Nobody has been pulling my strings,” he argued. She could tell his control was starting to break. “This is about my whole future. What I’ve been working toward for the past ten years. Okay, yeah, I should have told you sooner, but I didn’t know how.” His tone softened. “None of that takes away from us. Everything that happened between us was real, Jade. None of that was a lie.”
She helplessly lifted her arms and let them fall back to her sides. “You weren’t honest with me. You knew I desperately needed help. That I was running out of money. You could at least have told me what was going on. But you didn’t. That was also your decision. One you made all by yourself.” She whirled and stalked toward the door.
“Buh-bye,” Rebecca said with unabashed satisfaction.
Jade spun back around to face the woman. “I might be a lot of things, but at least I’m not desperate enough to throw myself at a man who clearly wants nothing to do with me. Hunter throwing you out on your cheating ass should have been your first clue.”
Rebecca hissed out a breath and opened her mouth to retort.
Jade waved her off, pivoted, and marched out the door. After the whole Lane episode, the last thing she could deal with was a devastating betrayal from the man she had fallen in love with.
Because, yes, she had fallen in love with Hunter Sparks.
But now the jerk would never know it.
She was done with him. Done with this town. And done with being a fool.
She’d been right all along. Love never lasted. It was all just a big lie.
And it always, always ended in pain.
“Jade, wait!” he shouted, running after her. He snatched up her arm and tried to slow her down. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was going on. Please don’t—”
“Stop.” She yanked her arm out of his grip. “I can’t deal with this right now. Not on top of—”
She slashed the air with a hand. Screw it.
She heard his heavy footsteps behind her when she kept stalking toward her car.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Did something happen?”
Her head felt like it was about to explode. “Just leave me the hell alone, Hunter.”
She needed time to think. About what all this meant. About what she intended to do, now that her pretty fantasies had all come crashing down to reality.
She got behind the wheel, but he grabbed the door before she could slam it shut. “Talk to me, Jade. What’s wrong?”
She shook her head, wanting to laugh at herself for being so freaking naive. “What’s wrong? What isn’t? I can’t believe I was so stupid. I moved here to make a fresh start, and what happens? I fall into bed with the first man I meet, run into nothing but roadblocks with my business, and can’t even escape my miserable past. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised about any of this.”
Words were coming out of her mouth faster than she could think.
“Baby, I didn’t mean to lie. I just—”
She waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever. I guess we didn’t exactly establish a solid foundation of trust from the beginning, did we.” A statement, not really a question.
“That’s bullshit, and you know it,” he growled.
“Do I?” She looked up at him, not expecting an answer. She didn’t really want one. “I was fooling myself that I could just move here on a whim and make something good happen. Be happy. Real life just doesn’t work that way. I should have known better. Especially when things started feeling too good to be true.”
“Stop it,” he urged. “You are happy here, Jade. It has been real. Rebecca—”
“Has nothing to do with it,” she finished with sudden clarity. “You’re right. This is about you and me. Obviously, I don’t mean enough to you to be honest with me. So, what’s the point?”
“This is unbelievable,” he ground out. “You can’t seriously—”
“What’s unbelievable is that I actually thought we could make it all work. That I could just pack up my life and a new one would magically appear when I moved. Clearly, that isn’t in the cards. Bad things have a way of following me wherever I go.”
“What bad things?” he asked, his voice stern. “I know something else must have upset you. Other than Rebecca. Tell me. Please,” he added when she remained mute.
She squeezed her eyes shut briefly. “Let go of the door, Hunter.”
Her tone was like steel. She’d be damned if she was going to let a single emotion shine through to make herself even more vulnerable.
He watched her for a minute, hurt and anger written all over his face. “You’re going to leave? Just like that? Without even trying to fix this? Us?”
She wouldn’t let his words affect her. She was the one who’d been wronged, here. He had no business looking like a kicked puppy. “Please let go of the door.”
He didn’t move for a moment. When he eventually did, taking a step back, he didn’t say a word. He just gazed at her in a way that made her heart break all over again.
Driving away from him was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life.
Chapter Twenty-Six
How had all this shit happened so quickly?
Jade groaned, dropping her head onto the steering wheel, waiting for the fourth red light in a row. A cosmic sign, no doubt.
Her life in Shell Grove could not be falling apart so badly. She had put too much time, effort, and money into making her life down here a success. She could not lose all of it in the blink of an eye.
Hunter was the one person in Shell Grove—hell, in the entire world—she’d thought she could trust, no matter what.
But tonight made her question that. And by extension, made her question everything about her new life.
Going on autopilot, a few minutes later she found herself pulling into the parking lot of The Clumsy Clam. Her subconscious apparently knew exactly what she needed right now.
She beelined it for the long wooden bar, plopped herself down onto a stool, and got the bartender’s attention. The barkeep’s nametag read Destiny.
Really? The universe had one sick sense of humor.
“Hey, honey,” Destiny greeted cheerily. “What can I get’cha?”
Jade didn’t even hesitate. “I’ll have a Maggie’s Punch, please.”
Destiny’s body froze, her eyes widening. “Um
…”
“And do me a favor. Keep ’em coming.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Holy shit, what had just happened?
Hunter stalked back into the house.
Because it sounded a lot like Jade had just told him she couldn’t trust him, and that she was leaving Shell Grove.
That could not happen.
For many reasons. But mainly because he’d recently come to the conclusion that she was it for him.
The One.
He was not going to lose her. Especially not over a stupid misunderstanding. There wasn’t anything in the world he would let come between them. Nothing he’d allow to jeopardize their relationship.
Speaking of which—
“Well, now that she’s gone…” Rebecca crooned behind him.
“Get out, Rebecca,” he snapped. “Now.”
“What?” She sounded way too damn cheery, considering the level of destruction she’d just caused. “I thought we were going to—”
“Out!” he yelled. He swiped his keys off the kitchen counter, pushed her out the front door, locked it behind him, and jogged to his truck.
He had to fix this.
Quickly.
Before there was nothing left to fix.
“Hunter!” Rebecca screamed. “Where are you going?”
He turned to glare at her before shutting the truck door. “If you ever try to interfere in my life again, I’m going to tell the entire town about your nose job. And don’t for a minute think I won’t.”
It sounded weak. But since she actually cared—a lot—about what other people thought of her, he knew it was a direct hit.
He slammed the door in her face, gratified at her outraged expression, then backed out of his driveway, tires squealing.
Jade’s house was the first place he went to find her. It was quickly apparent she wasn’t there. Her car wasn’t in front and all the lights were off in the house. He stood on the front porch, gripping his head with his hands, trying to figure out where she could have gone.
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