Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66134 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 331(@200wpm)___ 265(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“Why does it matter?” I asked her, keeping my voice steady. “Caleb’s own brother is sitting in prison, which means my past certainly isn’t going to hurt Caleb’s chances when it comes to the custody case.”
“Oh, it doesn’t matter in terms of the custody case,” she said, looking pleased with what she’d discovered. “But once word gets out about where you come from, it’s going to make you look desperate to everyone else in our circle. Like a fucking gold digger who was looking for a better life and decided a man like Caleb could give that to you.”
I flinched at her words before I could catch myself, and Alyssa clearly took pleasure in that discomfort before she gave me one last triumphant look and walked out of the ladies’ room.
Logically, I knew what she said wasn’t true. I even knew that Caleb would never think such a thing of me, but if Alyssa spread the rumors and stirred the gossip, the last thing I’d ever want was to tarnish Caleb’s reputation because of my past or how my upbringing could paint me as a woman who was only with Caleb for his money. I’d never want to put that kind of speculation on him.
Those knots in my stomach tightened. I had to talk to Caleb and tell him the truth before he heard about my past from someone else and was blindsided by the skeletons lurking in my closet.
As wonderful as the night had been up to this point, it clearly wasn’t going to last.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Caleb
As soon as I saw Alyssa exit the ladies’ room with a smug look on her face shortly after Stevie went inside, my entire body tensed in reaction, my gut telling me that my ex had probably stirred up some kind of shit with Stevie.
My instincts were confirmed when Stevie came back out a few minutes later and approached me, her expression subdued. Gone was the lively, exuberant woman I’d been with all night, and in her place was someone who almost looked…defeated.
“What did Alyssa say to you?” I immediately asked.
She shook her head, the distress in her eyes unmistakable. “Please, can we just leave?”
It took every ounce of control I had to not demand answers so I could take care of whatever the problem was, but I respected her request and ushered her out of the ballroom while texting Dylan to bring the car around to pick us up.
But once we were settled in the back of the vehicle, I took her hand in mine and approached the issue once more. “Stevie, what happened with Alyssa?”
She looked at me, and the pain I saw in her eyes was like a direct hit to my heart. “I promise to tell you everything, but not here,” she said in a soft tone. “Just…let’s get back to your place and let me change out of this dress and get more comfortable first. Please?”
Not wanting to pressure her further, I relented for now. “Okay,” I said, though that easy agreement went against every grain in my body when I was a man who preferred to face things head-on.
The rest of the drive was quiet as she stared out the passenger window, and it drove me insane the way it felt as though she was shutting me out, or maybe putting up her guard. There was a disconnect between us that I despised, and I was furious at the thought that Alyssa had done or said something to cause that divide.
When we arrived back at my place, I gave her the time and space she’d asked for while we both changed out of our formal attire. I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and went back into the living room to wait for Stevie while she removed her makeup in the bathroom and joined me a short while later, wearing one of the casual cotton sleepshirts she’d kept here for her overnight stays.
She sat next to me on the couch, turning toward me and curling her legs beneath her. I waited for her to start the conversation, and she did so immediately.
“The first and most important thing I need to tell you is that when I walked into the ladies’ room, Alyssa was in the lounge area by herself,” she said, her fingers absently pulling at the hem of her sleepshirt. “I caught her by surprise, and she was pouring prescription pills out of a bottle to take one, or a few, I don’t know. She dropped them onto the counter as soon as she saw me because I startled her, and she had a hard time picking them back up and seemed under the influence of something. It could have been too much champagne, for all I know.”
My stomach clenched and I swore beneath my breath. “Do you know what she was taking?”