Page 182 of Boyfriend of the Hour

None of them obeyed.

I wished I were anywhere but here. Anyonebut myself.

“It’s not…I didn’t…” My head was a howling mess; I didn’t know what to say. There were too many things swirling, including the story of how the scene on everyone’s phones had happened, which was simultaneously too simple to believe and too complicated to explain.

“H-how?” I finally managed to get out as I turned to Carrick. “W-where did you get that?”

Carrick, at least, shoved his phone back in his pocket and smirked. “You didn’t think I’d forget about your little friends at the game, did you? Or did you actually think I wouldn’t do due diligence on my brother’s supposed new flame?” He flipped hisphone into his jacket, and I was grateful to see that Nathan’s family had all finally stopped watching the horrible scene. “Your boy Vamos sang like a canary with a little cash. Especially after Nathan beat the shit out of him.”

Beside me, Nathan growled. He actually growled at the mention of Shawn’s last name.

“You didn’t…you don’t want to inherit the company at all, did you?” I asked. “You were waiting to sabotage us from the beginning, weren’t you? So Nathan would have to come home after all.”

“Well, I was hoping you’d fuck it up all by yourself, sweetheart, but you surprised me,” Carrick said with a smirk. “Color me shocked that when my big brother finally fell in love, it was with someone likeyou. Even more when it actually seemed like it might work out.”

I’d never wanted to punch someone so badly in my life.

“Lucky for me, you left a trail of dirty laundry a mile wide,” he continued. “Why would I want that god-awful spotlight when I’ve already got the perfect place in the shadows?”

He made me sick. The whole situation did.

“Regardless ofmymotives,” Carrick went on, “the ends justify the means. It’s time for Nathan to come home. His judgment is obviously impaired if he’s jumping into another relationship with someone likethis. It’s Isla all over again, and we don’t want to get saddled with another situation like that.”

“No,” Lillian said almost gleefully. “We do not.”

I turned back to Nathan. “Please. Don’t let them do this. It was so long ago, and I didn’t know…you have to believe me.”

For a second, I thought maybe he would. I thought that maybe, justmaybe, Nathan would demonstrate the same unconditional tolerance, compassion, and fairness I’d seen from the very beginning. That it wouldn’t matter what stupid mistakesI’d made in the past because what we had in the present, what we might have in the future, would matter so much more.

But Nathan wouldn’t meet my eye. He wouldn’t look at anyone. He swallowed again and again, like he was trying to remember how to do it in the first place. His eyes were glazed, shocked, and his hands were once again opening and closing by his sides. He looked like he was drowning.

LikeI’ddrowned him.

“Nothing to tell me?” Nathan said in a voice shredded by resentment and regret. “Nothing between us?”

I hiccupped as tears started streaming down my face. “I…I tried…” I shook my head. “Please understand. I just…I just couldn’t.”

“I would have helped you.” Those big brown eyes dragged up to meet mine, pools of anger and sadness. “I wouldn’t have cared. If you’d just been honest with me. If you’d told me first.”

“I didn’t,” I sobbed. “I didn’t mean it. I didn’t want to hurt you.”

Two fingers slipped under my chin, drawing my eyes up to meet his one more time.

“The only thing that could ever hurt me was a lie.” Then he dropped my chin and turned toward his family. “Let’s go.”

I watched as the four of them filed out of the planetarium, leaving me there, floundering under a sky full of stars that seemed to be laughing as they slowly winked out. I buried my face in my hands and cried until I didn’t have anything else to give.

Then I picked myself off the ground and somehow made it out of there, keeping my head down as I passed guests on my way back to the exit.

Leave. I needed to leave. Where I’d go…well, I’d think about that once I was outside.

“Joni?”

I turned at the sound of a familiar voice and found Xavier Parker’s tall form striding down the hall.

“Where are you going?” he asked, and his eyes flashed as he took in my condition. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” I couldn’t stop from crying all over again. “I need to leave.”