much of anything.
“This is bad,” he finally said.
Confused, I swiveled my face in his direction. “Nothing about that looked bad.”
“Not me and her. Her and him.”
I didn’t disagree. I never could lie, especially not to Jett. “She’s a grown woman. He can’t stop her from seeing you.”
He gave me a flat look.
“He can’t. He’s not a goddamn magician,” I shot. “I’m sure he’s pissed, but come on.”
“The stakes go beyond Liam. This morning, she told me everything about her aunt, about her job. The life she’s built will be threatened if she chooses me. How can I ask her to sacrifice so much for me? I want to make her happy, not hurt her. And what if choosing me does damage I can’t fix?”
I didn’t have a response to that. “I don’t like how bleak you sound.”
“The best thing to ever happen to me just walked out the door, and I’m not sure she’s coming back. So yeah, things are looking pretty fucking bleak. And don’t chuck me on the shoulder and tell me it’s going to be fine, or I swear to God.”
“I won’t,” I promised. After a beat, I confessed what I hadn’t told him last night for Georgie’s sake. “Wyatt showed up at the party last night.”
His gaze snapped to mine. “What?”
It was one dark word that promised violence.
“He came to see me, to tell me goodbye before he left for work. You had Georgie in the clutch in the back, and thank God. I don’t know what Liam would have done if Wyatt upset her, considering Liam’s reaction to Wyatt when he didn’t.”
“What did Liam do?”
“Nothing, but I’m pretty sure that was only because I stopped them. Mostly, it was a lot of angry words and posturing, but I think it ruined him for the rest of the night, triggered him hard. God, he was such an asshole. And right after that, he found you with Georgie.”
Jett’s hand made a pass down his face, dragging his features with it. “The craziest part of all this is that I’d double the drama if it meant a real chance with her. That’s all I want. A chance.”
“I think that can be arranged,” I soothed. “You might need to climb through wreckage to get to her, but I don’t have a doubt that you will get to her. Who knows? Maybe Darcy will surprise us. Maybe he’s had time to think about what a complete dick he was and will apologize. Stranger things have happened.”
But as we shared a dubious glance, neither of us could think of a single one.
19
Gut Check
LIAM
The only sound was the ticking of the clock and the beat of my heart.
I hadn’t slept.
Last night when I’d come home, I gathered a bottle of scotch and a glass and sank into a chair off the entry where I could see the door. And then I waited. I waited, and I drank, and I thought.
I thought about Georgie, about what I wanted for her and what she wanted for herself. I thought about Wickham and the myriad wrongs he’d committed. But I thought about Laney most of all.
Had I always been so destructive, or did she bring out the worst in me? Or through her honesty, did she unearth what I didn’t want to know, what I didn’t want to see? Was I angry because she was wrong, or was I angry because she was right? She left me exposed, raw and prone, and I didn’t like how that vulnerability felt. So I snapped and shoved her away until she was too far away to see. But she’d only creep closer again, slipping silently into my space like a thief or a savior, I didn’t know which.
The hurt I’d caused her was so visceral, so visible, the imprint of her face was left on my heart. I’d done that. I’d hurt her because I was angry with Wickham, sure. But the truth was, there were things I wanted to say to Laney Bennet that I couldn’t utter and that she likely didn’t want to hear.
And then there was Georgie.
Facts were facts—it probably wouldn’t have mattered who had their hands on her. I would have lost it regardless of who it was. But she knew Jett Bennet was forbidden to her, and she was with him anyway. She’d promised me she wouldn’t, but she did. Which meant it was more serious than I’d realized. She wouldn’t have opposed me so openly without reason.
Another secret she kept—the depth of