of it. It’s a simple business transaction, and nobody gets hurt, nobody gets a ransom demand, and sure as shit nobody gets beaten. You’ve done all this for nothing.”
He gives her a hard look. “It’s never all for nothing.”
“Derek had feelings for me. I know he did. I had him, right up until he went away with Marin—”
He leans forward and places his hand directly on the tender spot on her jaw. Reflexively, she jerks back, but he does it again, squeezing harder, forcing her to look at him. She tries not to move, knowing that if she attempts to squirm away, he’ll only hurt her more.
“Stop it.” She gasps. It hurts like hell, and tears spring to her eyes. “You’re hurting me.”
“You never had him,” J.R. says, and she lets out a yelp as he squeezes one more time before letting go. “He’ll never leave her. He was never going to be yours.”
She slides off the bed before he can grab her again. She can escape into the shower; hopefully by the time she gets out, he’ll be in a better mood. A thought occurs to her as she grabs the towel hanging at the back of the bedroom door.
“Hey. How did you know that Marin always takes Derek back?”
His face is in his phone again. “The hell you talking about?”
“Just now,” she says. “You said she takes him back every time. How would you know that?”
He doesn’t answer.
“J.R.” She says it louder to let him know she expects an answer, but not so loud he might construe it as raising her voice. “Seriously. How do you know that?”
He looks up and sighs. “Remember I once told you about my college girlfriend? How we’re still friends?”
“Yeah,” she says, irritated at his abrupt change of subject. “You said she dumped you for—” She stops, her eyes widening. “That was Marin?”
“Christ, catch up.” He’s back in his phone again.
If it were anyone else, Kenzie would be across the room, yanking the goddamned phone out of his hand so he would pay attention to the conversation.
“How could you not tell me? Did you already know who he was when I told you about him? Did you…” She pauses. “Did you set this up?”
“When you said his name was Derek, and that he had a metallic black Maserati, I knew. Not too many rich douchebags in Seattle named Derek with a black Maserati. You’d already been with him for a month at that point, so how could I have set it up?” J.R. shakes his head in disgust. “Use your head, M.K.”
“But you still lied to me,” she says. She can’t believe what she’s hearing. She’s been talking about Derek for months and months, and not one word from J.R. that her married boyfriend is the husband of the ex-girlfriend who broke his heart. Even Lorna’s said that she wishes her son had married his college sweetheart.
It explains why J.R. always seemed so interested in her relationship with Derek. It also explains why he backed away. He wanted her to end up with Derek.
So that he could have Marin.
“I didn’t lie,” J.R. says. “I withheld. And now you know.”
“So this isn’t really about the money for you, is it?” Kenzie feels a tingle go through her. “This is personal. What is this, some kind of sick game you’re playing to try to break them up? To, what, punish her for daring to leave you for the guy she married and had a kid with?” Another thought occurs to her, and the next words are out of her mouth before she can stop herself. “Holy shit, J.R., did you take their kid?”
He’s out of the bed so fast, she has no time to react. He shoves her up against the wall, causing the back of her head to smack solidly against it. His hand is back on her jaw, squeezing twice as hard as he did before, and his dark eyes bore into hers. She can’t move. She can’t look away. All she can do is close her eyes, feeling his hot breath on her bruised cheek.
“If you ever say anything about the kid again,” he says, “I will fucking kill you. Do you understand me, McKenzie?”
He never calls her by her first name.
Kenzie would nod if she could move her head, but all she can do is whimper, to let him know she understands.
Chapter 30
Marin has no idea how to start this conversation.
She can’t decide where to begin. There’s so much they haven’t