Page 45

Jade

“I have to say,” I started, before stopping mid-sentence to drink the last of the champagne in my glass.

I wasn’t a huge champagne drinker, but I was getting used to the bubbly stuff.

After I swallowed, I finished my sentence.

“This wasn’t half bad. In fact, I’m thinking of asking Sherrilyn if I could be involved in planning the next one.

” I’d have asked her now since we were sitting next to each other, but she’d gotten up a few minutes ago to mingle with Mark and neither returned.

Red placed his arm around my waist as we got up, the event having all but ended. “Is that so?”

I nodded.

“I never thought I’d see the day,” he said, his eyes filled with amusement. “Jade Logan, enjoying herself at an event like this.” He exhaled. “Did hell freeze over?”

“Hell froze over when I became your fiancée,” I answered, a hint of laughter evident in my voice.

I shocked myself, if I was being honest. However, it turned out that anywhere I was with Red, I was happy.

We could have been stranded on an island with no food or water and no way off, and I still would have been at peace.

It was Red.

He was my tranquility.

He gave me a sense of security that I hadn’t felt in a while.

My pulse quickened as his thumb gently brushed up and down the small of my back in a comforting manner.

Leaning in, causing a shiver to run down my spine at the way his warm breath hit the shell of my ear, he whispered, “I can’t wait to get you home, so I can show you how much I love it when you call yourself my fiancée.”

The corners of my lips turned up, and I was about to respond when Mark walked up to us. His lips were pulled into lines so thin that if I hadn’t known any better, I’d have said he didn’t have any. His eyes were narrowed. His nose was even bright red, and just so you knew, it wasn’t warm in here.

I was no detective, but that could only mean one thing—Mark was pissed.

Oh, shit.

Mentally, my hand flew to my mouth, and my eyes bugged out of my head.

I felt sick to my stomach. I needed a toilet so that my head could become better acquainted with the inside of it while I disposed of all the contents in my stomach.

“Fuck, he’s going to say no,” Red practically muttered under his breath. Only, we were so close that I heard every word clear as day.

“Why—” My voice failed me, cracking at the end of the word. Come on, voice, don’t fail me now. I tried again. “Why wait until the end of the night? Maybe we’re wrong.”

Shit. We both knew that Mark was going to come over here pissed as could be. I also knew that it was my fault. Just as it was my fault that Red wouldn’t get the investment he needed.

Why couldn’t I be more like Sherrilyn and know my place?

I’d always felt like I’d been good at that, knowing that my place was nowhere the Lyons were.

Least of all Red. A man like Red didn’t belong with, or end up with, a woman like me.

Maybe negative thoughts weren’t good, but it was the truth, and I was nothing if not a realist. It’d kept me from getting hurt again and feeling like my heart was being split in two.

But somewhere along the way I’d gotten comfortable and given reality the middle finger. And it’d backfired big time. Or it would. I knew it would.

I was a screwup.

I always had been.

Even something as good as this I had to mess up.

“Mark,” Red acknowledged, straightening his back, seemingly prepared to tell him he knew all about our little lie.

Mark held a hand up. Okay, so we were skipping pleasantries. “What were you thinking?” he asked, his voice low, but laced with disappointment and disapproval, two things I’d heard in a man’s voice before.

It felt like a ton of bricks were sitting on my chest, and I was struggling to breathe.

“You’re going to have to be more specific in your question. I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Red answered respectfully. He knew, but he wasn’t going to be the one to say it first.

Shit. Red was so smart.

Red was one of the most intelligent men I’d ever met.

He wasn’t just book smart, he was street smart. He knew business and read people better than they read themselves. He had a sixth sense for most things and his gut never steered him wrong.

He was a unicorn.

And as much as I’d wished I was the girl who wound up with the unicorn, happy and proud she was lucky enough to land someone like Red, deep down I knew better.

“I overheard Jade talking to one of the bachelors. You two aren’t really engaged,” Mark said, his eyes shifting between us.

My back stiffened, and my palms were the sweatiest they’d ever been. If I could’ve wrung them out, they would’ve made a puddle of water right here on the venue’s meticulous flooring.

Who was I kidding? I didn’t belong here.

I swallowed as best as I could, trying to get past the giant lump in my throat. That still wasn’t as hard as what I was about to do, though.

I turned slightly and placed my hand that was holding my clutch against Red’s chest, pulling away from his embrace.

“I should go,” I said, my eyes stinging.

Wait, was I going to cry? That would have been a first in a very, very long time.

I didn’t cry. I was dead inside, remember?

And I knew what this was. I knew it was fake.

Knowing something cognitively and feeling something emotionally were two completely different things, though, and my head was at odds with my heart. It was the worst situation to be in.

“Don’t—”

I widened my eyes, silently telling him to stop, and it seemed he caught on. “The event was lovely. Please thank Sherrilyn for me,” I told Mark before walking away.

Let’s be real, he probably never would, but it was the polite thing to say and it wasn’t even about being polite this time, it was the truth. The woman was too good not to thank. She was smart and taught me more than a few things I’d never realized I needed to know.

This was the last time I’d see Mark, though, and I had a feeling earlier had been the last time I’d see Sherrilyn as well.

I would’ve thought perhaps our paths would have crossed later at some point, but they never had before Red, and I wasn’t na?ve enough to think they would again. This wasn’t my world, plain and simple.

Before I left the room and Red was out of sight, I turned back around for a second, a millisecond, really, and allowed myself one last look at him. He’d hate me after this, but it didn’t matter because our time had ended anyway.

Time was like money. You had it until you didn’t. And my time was up.

Walking out of the venue with my head held high, I pulled my phone out of my purse, a brave face on, even though the only thing I wanted was to go home and cry in my pillow. Something I never thought I’d do in my life.

I considered calling Jake, but he wasn’t what I needed now.

Jade: I need to talk. I lost Red and I don’t know what to do.

It was in moments like this I was glad I had four incredible sisters to lean on.

* * *

Reddington

Was it less than ideal that Jade had spoken to Marco about our engagement being fake and Mark had clearly overheard? Sure.

Did it change the fact that I wanted Jade to be by my side, not fleeing the venue like there was a fire up her ass? No.

“Shame your fake fiancée left,” Mark said, nudging his head forward, but by the time I looked back, Jade was already gone.

My blood boiled at Mark calling her that because the thing was, Jade was as much my fiancée as Sherrilyn was Mark’s wife.

Meaning it was fucking real. It had become real, even if Jade was too afraid to admit it aloud.

I didn’t need her to because I already knew things had changed along the way for her, too.

Honestly, I was grateful to Mark. So I didn’t give a shit about this investment any longer because he had actually given me something even better. “Listen, if you don’t want to go through with the deal, then I—”

“What makes you think I don’t want to invest in Lyons Enterprises?

” Cocking a brow, he shook his head. “Quite the opposite. I’d made my decision days ago.

” And had apparently been keeping it to himself.

“The fact that you two made up this bullshit story just proves to me how badly you want this and that you’re willing to do whatever it takes for your company makes me think I made the right choice.

Takes balls, Red.” Well, shit, now that he’s saying I have balls. . . .

Maybe I shouldn’t have questioned it, but my head was spinning, and I was shocked, so I asked the only question on my mind. “You don’t care that we lied? That we weren’t really together when this started? That I’m not a family man?”

He scratched his chin. “I didn’t buy it too much in the beginning anyway. I thought something was up with you two, but you’re together now, right?”

“Yeah,” I answered earnestly. From where I was standing, it was me and Jade. We hadn’t talked about it, but I fully intended on keeping the good thing I had with her and being by her side for as long as she’d allow me to. “I think we are.”

He nodded, clearing his throat. “Very well then. Check your email. My lawyer promised me he’d be emailing you.” Then he held a hand out, and I took it, shaking on the investment. “Looks like I’ll be investing in you, partner.” Still not quite right, but okay.