by Laura Drewry
“What do you want me to say? That I’m happy for you? That I think it’s great you have a hard-on for my wife?”
“Your wife,” Jack seethed, tipping his head to the far side of the room, where Stella stood talking to a group of guests. “Is the last person I’d ever have a hard-on for.”
“You know what I meant.”
“Yeah, but Stella might be a little confused if she hears you talking like that. Look, I wanted to tell you before, but your mom begged me to wait until after the ceremony.” It was the craziest thing, how much lighter Jack felt. “We’ve been friends a long time, Will, and if you can’t deal with this, I get it. I’m…fuck man, I’m sorry, but I love her and I’m going to do whatever it takes to keep her.”
He waited for Will to do something, yell maybe, or at least take a swing at him, but he did neither. Instead, he hung his head for a few seconds, sighed, then looked over at Stella who smiled back at him.
“This is fucked up, Jack.”
“Maybe.”
“What ever happened to bros before hos?”
“You’re like the only guy this decade who still says that.” Jack snorted, shook his head slowly. “If you had to choose between me and Stella right here, right now, who’d win?”
“Well, come on, that’s not fair. I mean, I love you, man, but it’s my wedding day and if you knew what Stella has on under that dress…hooooooooo.”
Watching Will’s eyes roll back like that, Jack had to laugh.
“I rest my case.”
When Will finally came back to his senses, he was actually smiling, not anything huge, but it was a start.
“You’ve been my best man twice, Jack.”
“Yeah,” Jack snorted. “And I’m really hoping you don’t make me do it a third time.”
“Fuck you.” Will’s shoulders relaxed a little as he sat back and lifted his beer. “You’ve had my back through a lot of shit, even when you wanted to beat the crap out of me for being such a dick.”
“That’s true.” He waited for Will to say something else, but it took a while, and when he did, he was smiling at Stella when he said it.
“Look at her. Isn’t she something?” He lifted his bottle in salute to his beaming bride, then slowly turned back to Jack. “Did you know she almost called this off a few weeks ago?”
“What?!”
“Yeah, she kind of freaked out there for a bit; and I can’t really blame her considering how she and I got together.”
“She thought you were cheating on her?”
“Yeah. Thought me and Delilah had hooked up.”
“Did you?” He expected Will to tell him to fuck off; it was his standard answer; but instead, Will’s smile widened, and he shook his head.
“Who needs someone like Delilah when I’ve got Stella?”
“Holy shit.” Jack stared open-mouthed at Will as the reality suddenly struck him. “You really do love her, don’t you?”
“Fuck you—of course I do!”
“Sorry.” Jack laughed. “It’s just…hang on, you said that was a few weeks ago?”
“Yeah, why?”
“She, uh, she showed up at my hotel room a few weeks ago wanting to talk about something.”
“Yeah, she told me she’d gone over there but you weren’t around.” Will studied him for a second. “You were there, weren’t you?”
Jack nodded. “So was Maya.”
“Oh shit. What happened?”
Might as well ‘fess it all. “I was a total dick, and Stella left without actually saying anything.”
“You were a dick to Stella?” Smile gone, Will’s whole face was like granite. “What the fuck’s your problem?”
“Whoa!” Jack cried. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“Uh, boys.” Stella made her way around the table and pulled up a chair between them, smiling all the while. “My grandmother is sitting right over there and I’d really like it if the memory she takes back to the retirement home with her isn’t one that includes my new husband and his best man cursing like sailors for the whole room to hear. So if the two of you would shut the fuck up and smile, that’d be awesome.”
To anyone not standing right beside them, it must have looked like she was sharing a hilarious joke with them, because her smile never faltered and when she was done reaming them out, she threw back her head and laughed, then kicked both their ankles until they joined in.
“Good,” she said. “Now ask me to dance, Jack, and show my darling husband that there’s no hard feelings between us.”
Jack shot to his feet, held out his hand and smiled. “May I have this dance?”
Still smiling, she took his hand and let him lead her out on the floor, where he found himself smiling, too. Not forced, either.
“You know what I just realized?” he asked.
“What’s that?”
“You and Will—you really are a good thing. I’ve never seen him look at anyone the way he looks at you.”
Stella’s hand squeezed his a little tighter. “Yeah. It’s sort of the same way you look at Maya.”
Jack didn’t even try to deny it; he just grinned, big and goofy.
“She did an amazing job with the flowers,” Stella said. “I don’t know what I was thinking with the ones I originally ordered. Honestly, I’m kind of glad the road washed out now.”
“Yeah, she’s kind of amazing.”
“Mm-hmm.” The waltzed around a while longer before Stella looked up at him. “What are you doing, Jack?”
“I’m dancing.”
“Oh is that what you call it?” she smirked. “That’s not what I meant, but just a heads-up, you might want to take a few lessons yourself. I meant what are you doing here?”
“What do you mean? I’m the best man, I’m supposed to be here.”
“You’re right, you are Will’s best man, and you’ve done your due diligence, but there’s nothing left to do now except dance and eat with people you don’t know.” She released his hand long enough to smooth her finger over the edge of his boutonniere. “Wouldn’t you rather be with her?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Go, Jack.” Releasing his other hand, Stella stepped out of his arms. “Consider it part of my payment to her for the gorgeous job she did for us.”
When he hesitated again, she smiled; warm and kind—more than what he deserved from her.
“Stella,” he said slowly. “I think I love you.”
Wrapping his hands around her shoulders, he planted a big old kiss right on her mouth while everyone cheered except Will who bellowed from the other side of the room.
“Hey! That’s my wife!”
“Excellent choice,” Jack hollered back. He kissed her again, this time on the cheek, then bolted for the door.
—
Maya didn’t open her store but instead changed the sign in the window and went straight home. If she was going to throw up—and she really thought she might—she couldn’t do it at the store. She could have called Alec, but it was too much effort to even pick up the phone.
No one was going to die if The Stalk Market wasn’t open.
Fully dressed, she collapsed on the bed, then leapt off it as though she’d been shocked.
How many times had the two of them slept there, together? More to the point, how many times had they not slept because they were too busy finding ways to drive each other mad, making each time something new?
God she was stupid.
Grabbing an extra blanket out of the closet, she wrapped herself up in a cocoon on the couch and spent most of the day lying there staring at the TV, which wasn’t even turned on.
Ellie called to find out why she wasn’t open, and Maya told her the truth: She felt sick.
Jayne came upstairs to see if there was anything Maya needed, but there wasn’t. Not unless Jayne had a Time-Turner in her pocket, then yeah, Maya needed to go back about six—no seven—weeks.
How could she tell them? They all thought Jack was so grea
t, everyone loved him, even Maya.
Which was why it was so hard to ignore the doorbell when it rang late in the afternoon. After everything he’d told her, things he’d never told anyone else, why hadn’t he told her that—the one thing that would have saved her so much grief?
The bell rang a second time, then nothing. Good. She needed time to work this out before she saw him, and she wasn’t nearly there yet.
Maya didn’t think anything of it when the door leading from Jayne’s store opened. Knowing Jayne, she was just coming up to check on Maya before she went home.
“Snip? Are you okay?”
No. No, no, no. Damn it, Jayne, why did you let him up?
“Get out of my apartment.” She didn’t sit up; she didn’t look at him; she didn’t even raise her voice.
“What?” In three steps he was right next to her, crouched down in his new tux with that stupid pink bow hanging undone around his neck. “What’s the matter?”
“Get. Out.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” His finger barely grazed her forehead, and she was up and off the couch like a shot. “Snip?”
“Don’t ‘Snip’ me, you son of a bitch. You knew. This whole time you knew and you didn’t say a word.”
“What?”
“Oh no, you don’t get to act innocent on this, Jack. This is all on you. You were the best man, remember?”
“What? I mean, yeah, but—”
“The best man organizes the bachelor party, everyone knows that. So many more options when you hold it in the city, isn’t that what you told me? And by options you meant strippers? Hookers? Or any other female who’d open her goddamn legs for you?”
“Maya, what are you talking about? Is this about Delilah? I told you she showed up the other night, but nothing—”
“I don’t give a flying shit about Delilah!” Shaking hard, Maya had to grip the blanket tighter around herself to try and contain her rage.
“Maya?” Jayne’s tentative voice sounded on the stairs. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine!” she bellowed. “Jack’s leaving.”
“No I’m not.”
“Yes you are.”
“Jack.” Jayne came through the door at the top of the stairs and stood between him and Maya. “Maybe it’s best.”
“No, not until she tells me what the hell I’m being blamed for.”
“The bachelor party, Jack. The first one!” That changed his tune a little. It sure as hell changed his expression. “Want to talk about that? Okay, let’s talk.”
“Shit, Maya.” He sank down the couch and dropped his head into his hands.
“You organized it, Jack. You’re the one who rounded up all the guys—oooh, look at all of you being so cool—and it was you who hired the stripper. Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me!”
“Jack,” Jayne said, her voice quiet. “Say something.”
It seemed to take a whole lot of effort before he finally nodded. “You’re not wrong.”
“And she did her job with gusto, didn’t she? Did she do all of you or just Will that night?”
“What?” Jayne cried.
“Well, did she?” Maya bellowed. “Did she do all of you? One at a time or was it a gang thing?”
“No.”
As soon as he lifted his head, Maya lunged, but Jayne held her back. Damn it, she just wanted to slap that face, that face she loved so much, the face that had grinned at her so many times, the face that made her fall in love with him.
“That’s not what happened,” he said. His face, tinged green, was tight and pinched when he finally looked at her. “I hired her, yeah. Will wanted one, I was his best man, and I did it. But she left that party untouched, Maya—those are the rules. She can touch the guys but they can’t touch her. Shit—she brought a bodyguard with her for Christ’s sake.”
“Don’t bullshit me, Jack. Genie told me he screwed her that night—and you knew about it!”
“Let her go, Jayne,” he said. “It’s okay.”
By the time Jayne finally let her go, Maya’s urge to slap him was still strong but somehow felt petty.
“Yeah, I knew, but not until the next morning. All us guys crashed at Genie’s that night, remember? I don’t know when Will and her hooked up, because she wasn’t there when I went up to bed but she was sitting in Genie’s kitchen when I got up.”
“Okay,” Jayne said. “I think that’s enough.”
“No.” Maya never took her eyes off Jack as she shook her head. “I want to know all of it.”
Before saying anything else, he reached up and undid the top couple of buttons on his shirt. “I couldn’t let Genie see her, so I forced her back into Will’s room until I could get her and all the other guys into cabs, and then I did what I always did.”
“You cleaned up after him.”
Jack nodded.
“And where was Dickhead while this was all going on?”
“Passed out on his bed.” Clearing his throat, he didn’t seem to know where to look. “When I finally got him up, we got into it pretty bad. He told me it was none of my fuckin’ business and that it was the only time he’d ever done something like that, and I believed him. It was Will; he’s like my brother. Why would he lie to me?”
“Oh please,” Maya snorted. “Don’t give me that shit, Jack.”
“I’m not giving you shit, Maya.” For the first time his voice got louder, stronger, and he pushed off the couch to pace. “Do you have any idea how hard it was for me not to tell you? You’re the only woman I’ve ever loved, and I couldn’t tell you because you were in love with my best friend, and if you found out what he did, you’d be devastated. Jeezus, why the hell would I want to be the one who did that to you?”
“It wasn’t about you, Jack.”
“I know!” he bellowed. “It never was! It was always about what someone else wanted or needed, and this was a prime example, wasn’t it? You didn’t want me, you wanted Will, and Genie sure as hell didn’t want you anywhere else except with Will, so I did what I’ve always done and I kept my fuckin’ mouth shut, because that’s what I thought would make you and Genie happy!”
As much as the bile began to swirl in Maya’s stomach again, it was Jayne who looked like she was going to throw up, so with a tip of her head, Maya indicated that she should go.
“No.”
“It’s fine,” Maya said quietly. “Really.”
Jayne didn’t look convinced but she did finally nod, albeit briefly. “I’ll be right downstairs—and I’m leaving the door open.”
Maya followed Jayne to the top of the stairs and gently eased the door closed a little bit, not all the way. Not because she had the slightest fear of Jack but because she knew Jayne would feel better. It was only then she turned back to Jack, who picked up right where he left off.
“I swear to God, if I thought for one second he’d ever do it again, I’d have told you that very day, and I know that’s a stupid thing to say now, but it’s the truth. And if you don’t believe me, maybe you should go have another conversation with Genie, because she heard everything I said to Will that morning.”
“Genie knew, too?”
“Why do you think she was such a bitch at the rehearsal dinner? She wanted to make sure I knew where my place was in that family, and it worked, didn’t it?”
Maya had never seen him like this; she’d seen him annoyed before, even angry once in a while, but this was more than just angry.
“I’m sorry you had such a shitty life, Jack, I really and truly am, but I’m not the one who did that to you; I’m not the one who ever treated you that way, and yet for some reason, I’m the one you lied to. I’m the one you screwed over.”
It was her heart that was breaking, yet he was the one who looked crumpled.
“I trusted you. From the second I saw you sitting in the pub, I knew you were the one I could trust; I wouldn’t have to second-guess anything with you, and now that’s gone.”
“Maya.” He took a step toward her, b
ut she drew back, pulled the blanket tight again.
“No. I can’t…” She inhaled a shuddering breath and moved farther away from the door. “You need to go.”
“Come on, Maya, don’t do this.”
“I didn’t do anything, Jack. You did.” The knot in her throat threatened to let loose, but if that happened, she’d lose control and she couldn’t afford to do that, not with him standing there, because she knew exactly how it would end—with her sprawled out naked on top of him again.
“I’m sorry. God, I…can’t we just sit down and talk about this?”
“No. I need to figure some things out and I need to do that by myself.”
“Okay, but tomorrow…?”
“Please just go.”
“Maya—”
“Don’t make me say it again, Jack.”
His jaw flexed, his mouth even opened a couple times, but whatever he was going to say stayed unspoken as he made his way to the door. He stopped at the top of the stairs and turned, but kept his head down.
“You’ll never know how sorry I am, Maya, but while you’re trying to figure things out, I hope you can see the one truth in all of this. I love you, and you’ll never have to second-guess or doubt that, because it’ll always be there waiting for you whenever you’re ready to believe it.”
His footsteps sounded down the thirteen steps, the back door opened and shut quietly, and then he was gone, taking everything she had to give with him.
—
The highway opened Tuesday morning, and Maya assumed Jack was one of the first vehicles in line to get out of Newport Ridge. She hadn’t seen or talked to him since he’d left her apartment, and no matter how much that hurt, it was what she wanted.
Now if she could just stop thinking about him every two seconds, maybe she could sort things out a little faster. There was no way of knowing where he was or how he was doing unless she contacted one of the Carsons, and that wasn’t going to happen.
When she got to Chalker’s that night, the other three were already there with drinks waiting. She’d given Regan and Ellie the condensed version of what happened, but they’d both agreed to give her a little space those first few days and not hover.
She was ready for some hovering now. And these three were the ones to do it. If there was any way to help her get over this—over him—it was through the support of her friends sitting around that table waiting for her. Just seeing them waiting for her as she walked up was already beginning to help.