Page 45 of Bad Boy Husband

JAMESON

The sun beat down hard, probably already turning the back of my neck pink even though we’d only been out here a few minutes. Dallas humidity was no joke, especially out here on the green, but it wasn’t only the heat that had me sweating.

It was Trent.

After convincing me to come golfing with him, he hadn’t said much since we’d left the first tee. Just the occasional grunt or sarcastic remark when I sliced the ball into a bunker. I couldn’t tell if he was pissed at me all over again or if he was just playing his cards close to the vest.

The last twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind. Arriving in Dallas, working things out with Sadie, finally getting some sleep, more working things out with her, and then falling asleep with her in my arms only to wake up this morning with Trent standing at the foot of our bed.

Well, technically, his bed. It was his pool house we were staying in, after all. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected when I’d opened my eyes to find it was him who’d been tapping my foot—over the covers—to wake me up. It sure as shit hadn’t been an insistence that I come play golf with him, though.

I watched him line up his next shot. Usually, he had a good swing, smooth and patient, but today, he seemed to be rushing it. The ball veered right into a sand trap and he cursed under his breath.

“You’re distracted,” I commented, trying for neutral.

“No shit,” he muttered, exhaling harshly as he raked his fingers through his hair. “Sadie’s taking care of business with Collins and we’re fucking around with tiny balls and?—”

“This was your idea,” I reminded him. “If you’re not feeling it, we can leave.”

“No, I…” He closed his eyes and tipped his head back to the perfectly blue sky, the storm but a distant memory today. “You and I need to clear the air. I want that and I know we have to do it. I just, uh, I think walking into that room this morning made it real for me, you know? In a big way.”

“I get that.” I thought back to how we’d been lying, her head on my bare chest, her hair splayed out across my arm, and my hand on her hip. “We weren’t naked. If that helps.”

He snorted. “It doesn’t.”

“Yeah, I thought it might not, but it was worth a try.”

We walked to our cart in silence and I climbed in beside him, unsure if he actually wanted me to explain this to him, but I hadn’t come out here just to sweat and hack at grass. I needed to be the one who worked the hardest to clear the air between us. I owed him that much.

“I didn’t plan for it to happen,” I said quietly. “Me and Sadie.”

Trent’s jaw flexed, but he kept his eyes ahead. “It still happened.”

“I’ve always respected you,” I said, mostly because it was true but also because it felt like something that needed to be reiterated. “You’ve been like another brother to me since middle school, and I never, ever thought I’d fall for your sister.”

He stopped the cart and turned toward me, sunglasses reflecting the cloudless sky. “But you did.”

“Yeah. I did.” I met his gaze, steady even though we were both wearing sunglasses and we couldn’t actually see each other’s eyes. “For what it’s worth, I tried not to let it happen. God knows, I tried. But Sadie? She sees me.”

When he didn’t say anything, I took it as a cue to keep going. Trent had been with me in our teenage years, back when I’d first started realizing that kids weren’t just wanting to be my friend just because we were on the same playground anymore.

“She’s never cared about my name or the money. Just me. In a way no one else ever did, she made me feel like it was okay to be exactly who I was. It’s still like that when I’m with her.”

“She does have a tendency not to act like every other asshole around us,” he agreed quietly. “So that’s it, then, huh? You fell for her because she didn’t care that you’re a Westwood?”

I shrugged. “At first, yeah. I think that was what got me most about her. I mean, you were there back in the day. I could do whatever I wanted. Say whatever I wanted. Everyone still fawned over me like I was the second coming.”

He chuckled. “It was pretty gross.”

“Exactly, and you also saw how much it fucked me up. Not knowing who I could trust. Not knowing who was actually in it for me and who just wanted to say they’d hung out with Jameson Westwood.”

“It didn’t fuck you up as much as it did Sterling,” he said lightly. “That guy just switched off like a lightbulb.”

“Until he met Laney,” I conceded. “In much the same way, Sadie’s never once made me feel like I had to prove something to her. She just… made me feel human. Accepted me for who I was.”

Trent was quiet for a long time. I let it be, listening to the wind rustling through the trees and the muted buzz of a lawnmower in the distance. Finally, he looked back at me. “I guess I always knew it was gonna be somebody. I didn’t think it’d be you , though.”

“That’s fair.”

“She’s my kid sister, Jameson. You think I don’t remember you at twenty-one? Drunk in Cabo with those twins who didn’t even speak English?”

I groaned. “That was one time, and I swear they did speak English. They just didn’t like me, so they pretended not to so they wouldn’t have to actually talk to me.”

He laughed, but the sound came out tight. “I didn’t want her anywhere near guys like we were back then.”

“Also fair,” I said. “I’m not that guy anymore, though.”

“I know,” he said, looking back out over the green. “You grew up. You got serious. I see it. I’ve been seeing it for a few years now if I’m being honest. It just took me longer than I expected to accept that my best friend is brutally in love with my sister.”

My pulse stammered. “So you believe me.”

“I heard her crying for hours because she thought she’d lost you,” he said.

“I saw how broken up she was when she realized she’d been played and she thought you’d ended it once and for all.

She’s stubborn, but she loves you like crazy.

” He turned to look at me again. “As for you, it seems like you’d burn the whole Westwood empire down if it meant making her feel safe. ”

“I would,” I said without hesitating. “I need you to know that I really tried to walk away, man. I made myself and her miserable for almost a fucking decade because I tried so damn hard. Now that she’s forgiven me for it, there’s nothing I won’t do to keep her.

To make her happy. To give her the best damn life I can. ”

“Alright, then.” He nodded. “Let’s get this over with. Ask me.”

I arched an eyebrow at him. “Ask you what?”

“That thing you’ve been dying to say since we got out here.”

I laughed, but I wasn’t surprised that he knew. The guy always had been able to practically read my mind. Hell, he’d known since the very beginning that I’d developed serious feelings for a girl. Then he’d known that it hadn’t worked out. He simply hadn’t realized who the girl was.

“Will you come to San Francisco to be in the wedding?” I asked.

“Be in the wedding as what?” Trent pulled his sunglasses off his eyes and smirked. “Emotional support animal? Groomsman?”

“My best man.”

He let out a low whistle. “Damn, Jamie. That’s a big ask.”

“I’ll let you pick the suits.”

He made me sweat for another minute, just staring at whatever he was looking at before he finally grinned. “I accept, but only because I’ve already got a speech planned that’s going to humiliate you and make Sadie cry.”

“Perfect,” I said, laughing as relief flooded my senses and it finally felt like I could breathe again. “I’m sure you’ll crush it.”

“What about a bachelor party?” he asked. “Is Callum handling that? I assume he is.”

I shook my head. “I think at least the last seven years of my life counted as one long, depressing bachelor party. That’s enough for me. If I get to hang out with you and my brothers at the big house for the night, that’ll be all the celebration I need.”

He chuckled. “It might be enough for you, maybe, but I hope Callum and Harrison know. Otherwise, you might find yourself waking up naked on a beach in Aruba with a pet tiger and a bunch of new tattoos you don’t know the meaning of.”

“You might’ve just made me a little bit nervous about it.” I laughed. “Let’s just play the next hole. I need to make a call to my brothers when we’re done.”

Trent smirked and drove to the next hole.

He teased me on and off for the rest of our game about all the many less than ideal things that might happen if my younger brothers really did plan my bachelor party.

When we were eventually done, we headed back to the clubhouse. As we pulled up, I saw Collins arrive.

She stepped out of a sleek black car, sunglasses on and designer heels clicking against the sidewalk like she was stepping into a courtroom instead of a confrontation.

Trent noticed her too, glancing at his watch before his jaw flexed. “She’s early.”

“She doesn’t know we’re here.” I watched her sashay toward the entrance, as smug as ever as her hips swung from one side to the other. My hands clenched on the steering wheel. “I don’t like her being near Sadie.”

“Neither do I, but she insisted on doing this herself,” Trent said. “She said she needed to end this her own way, which is fair. They’ve been friends for a long time, or at least, Sadie thought they were. Collins’ intentions are debatable at this point.”

I hated it, but I also got it. Collins wasn’t just some ex-friend or leech of a coworker. She was the last thread Sadie needed to cut to step into her own life fully. On her own terms.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stop imagining what Collins might try to make herself look innocent. Part of me was seriously worried that I would have another fight on my hands after this, depending on what kinds of lies or stories Collins spun.

“I can ruin her if she crosses a line,” I said. “Same with Carson.”

We climbed out of the golf cart and followed her into the club but kept our distance.

“You already did that, didn’t you?” Trent looked at me. “I thought you said you took care of him already.”

“Oh, I did.” I allowed myself a small smile. “We’ve acquired his family’s company and we’re in the process of restructuring it now. Carson’s about to be cut out of everything. He’s going to lose it all.”

“You’re already restructuring it? Wow. That was fast. How?”

I shrugged. “I’ve been keeping an eye on the company since I met him. Nathan, Sterling’s friend, has been doing some digging for me. He came back with the same information you gave me, but it wasn’t until I spoke to you that everything he found out started making sense.”

Trent chuckled. “You always did play the long game.”

“You want anything out of it?” I asked. “The company? I can send you the list of assets I’m going to liquidate if you’d like. There might be a nice little ranch or something in there.”

He shook his head. “Just take care of Sadie. That’s all I want.”

“Consider it done.”

We sat down in silence at the bar, on edge as we watched Collins approach Sadie. We both knew she could hold her own, but I, for one, was quietly hoping that she wouldn’t ever have to do it again after this.