Betrayal (Infidelity Book 1) - Aleatha Romig Page 0,41
was right. I was devastated when you left for Stanford. I just prayed that you’d realize where you belong—back here with me. I didn’t follow you out to California because I knew you needed to make that choice yourself. It’s like that poem you always liked. Remember the one about loving something and setting it free?
“You were free,” he went on. “Now you’re back, and I want to resume where we left off. Why would I risk losing that by raping some gold-digging tramp?”
Disgust emanated from my eyes. I felt it. For not the first time in my life, I wished looks could kill. Bryce wanted us back together but more than that, he wanted me to help with his cover. That was why he’d said that no one knew we weren’t in contact.
“Never. Never. Never!” I said each word louder than the one before. “We never had sex, and we never will. So if you’re waiting for me, you should go ahead and screw every young thing out there. However,” I added, lowering my voice a decibel, “you might want to get their consent first. It’ll cut down on the legal fees. And I don’t plan on being your alibi.”
“Dear, lower your voice. You don’t want our guests to hear you.”
“Our guests, the people who we’re rudely ignoring. Are those the guests you’re referring to?”
“She’s right, Laide,” Alton said. “You and Suzanna go back out to the guests. Let them know that Alexandria will be out shortly, and we have an announcement.”
Like dutiful Southern women, they both stood.
“Alton,” Suzanna said, “I think it would be better for Laide and I to talk to Alex.” She smiled my direction, as if using my preferred name won her points. “Woman to woman.”
This is absolutely unbelievable.
I stood. “I tell you what. I’ll go out to the guests. I only know about two-thirds of them,” I said, shrugging. “But that’s all right. Supposedly, they’re here to wish me well. The only announcement we’ll be making is that I’ll be leaving Savannah on Monday and currently have no plans to return.”
I turned toward the door and was halfway there when Alton’s command reverberated through the paneled room.
“Stop.”
Though my feet obeyed, I kept my eyes fixed on the door, refusing to turn back around.
“Bryce,” Alton said. “Your mother is probably right. Let’s give the ladies a few minutes. I’m sure Alexandria will make the best decision for her family, for Montague.”
I spun toward them all. “What in the hell decision do you think I’ll make? What exactly are you asking?”
“I told you that I had a ring—”
“No!” I cut Bryce off. “Hell no.”
“We can start slowly. We’ll just mention how we never really lost contact. We agreed to an open relationship, one where we could both mature.”
Open relationship. Nox’s confident demeanor as he offered to tell Max we had an open marriage came to mind. My attention went back to Bryce and I raised my eyebrows. “So we could mature? Is that code for something, because as I recall as soon as I was out of the picture—no, before I was out of the picture—you were maturing with Millie.”
“Those were only rumors, ones that she started because she was jealous.”
We were all now standing, and Suzanna reached for Bryce’s arm. “Dear, go with Alton. You two have clients out there. Let Laide and I have a moment with Alex. It seems like it wouldn’t hurt.”
When she looked back at me, I shrugged. What the hell? This whole messed-up family wanted to gang up on me; they wanted to betray me.
Let them give it their best shot.
ONCE THE MEN were gone, I gave my mother and godmother my best have-at-it look.
Suzanna began on the offensive. “Dear, men have needs. Did you really expect my son to remain celibate if you weren’t willing to help him out?”
“Help him out?” I asked incredulously. “Are you saying that if I wanted to keep your son, which I didn’t nor do I now, I should’ve helped out or put out at fourteen? Or maybe I should have waited until I was fifteen?”
“No,” Mother replied, her hand fluttering near her neck like it did when she was upset and it was missing its customary glass. “There are two sides to this. On the first side, the most important side,” she emphasized, “is that you are a woman of breeding. You did the right thing by abstaining. It’s just another reason I’m proud of you. But dear, one day you’ll need to