Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
When they call my zone to board, I’m stopped by someone’s hand on mine, and I catch a swath of short, dark hair out of the corner of my eye.
Oliver. My heart floats in my chest, but when I turn, it’s not the man I expect.
“Alec, what are you doing here?”
He nods toward the boarding gate. “I’m flying back with you. We need to talk.”
He looks upset, and my gut twists. I never should’ve slept with him last night. I never should have done any of this.
I follow him numbly onto the plane. When I get to my seat, he sweet-talks the woman in the coach seat next to mine into taking his spot in first class so he can sit by me.
When we settle into our spots, I draw in a ragged breath. “I’m sorry.” I could say the words a hundred times and it wouldn’t be enough. “I should’ve told you, and I shouldn’t have let last night happen. But my history with Oliver is messy, and I didn’t want you to see me differently, which you would if you knew the truth.”
He swallows, his gaze focused on the flight attendant who’s going through her preflight instructions at the front of coach. “When I asked you to leave this morning, I was so hurt. I assumed you knew everything—that Oliver told you everything—and I couldn’t understand how you could keep the truth from me if you knew it all.”
“Knew everything about what?” I ask.
He closes his eyes. “About the last time he came between me and the woman I love.”
My stomach sinks. “Oliver was incredibly private about his past. There was very little that he shared with me.”
“So he didn’t tell you about Portentia?”
I frown. “The woman your mother wants you to marry? The reason you needed me to pretend to be your girlfriend?”
“Yeah.” He studies his hands in his lap. “I guess you aren’t the only one who had a past you were too embarrassed to share.”
“What happened?”
“Mom introduced me to Portentia when we were teenagers, but we didn’t start dating until we were in college. Our schools were a couple hours apart, but we still saw each other at least once a week, and we went to all our family functions together.” He blows out a breath. “I thought I was going to marry her, just like our parents wanted. I dreamed of marrying her, and I thought that went both ways. It never occurred to me to worry about the fact that while I only saw her a handful of hours each week, she and Oliver were on the same campus and could see each other every day. But then one day, I got a call from her mom because Portentia was in the hospital. She’d suffered a miscarriage and was having some complications, and Oliver had to rush her there.”
“I’m sorry, Alec. It must’ve been hard to know he was there for her when you couldn’t be.”
He shakes his head. “You don’t understand. Portentia’s family is very conservative. She said she didn’t want to have sex until after marriage. I believed her. But somewhere along the line, while I was planning our future together, she’d started sleeping with my brother.”
“Oh no.” Was that why Charles was looking for a wife for Alec? Because Portentia broke his heart? “Alec . . .”
When he lifts his eyes to meet mine, they’re full of pain. “You see what I mean? There are no rules that apply to Oliver. He takes whatever he wants, the rest of us be damned.”
And then today when he found out Oliver and I knew each other, all those bad feelings came back. “I’m so sorry, Alec.”
“You know what pissed me off the most? She obviously had feelings for him, but after she miscarried, Oliver just dropped her. It was like all he cared about was taking her from me, and once that was done . . .” He shrugs. “But it sounds like you already know how conniving he can be. He found a way to pay off your gambling debt so you’d have to give him whatever he wanted.”
I open my mouth to defend Oliver and then snap it shut. How many times did I accuse Oliver of the same thing? But every favor he asked of me was a choice on some level. Yes, he used the gambling and the debt to get in with me, but he never treated me like I was bought and paid for. He just . . . took care of me. He made me feel safe and taught me how to be strong.
And I threw it all in his face.
I swallow hard. I could tell Alec about meeting his dad. About what I took. But I believe Oliver, believe that whatever was in that chest was rightfully his. I believed that even before I knew Charles was his father. Honestly, the connection makes more sense than Charles being a stranger. I won’t tell Alec about it and risk Oliver losing whatever it was he was so desperate to get back.