Page 71 of The Compass Series

CONNOR

I t had been two weeks since I told Aaliyah not to marry my business partner, and I still stood by my request. The day before Jason’s wedding, I learned that he was even more of a trash human than I could’ve imagined.

I couldn’t stop him from drinking because he showed up at my house already drunk and high.

He came five hours later than he was supposed to and crashed in my guest room.

Then came the morning, when I realized how much I truly hated him.

Jason Rollsfield was, without a doubt, a piece of shit. That was nothing new to me. Still, when I woke on his wedding day, I was somewhat shocked at the level of shittiness he’d proven himself to be.

I woke up early in the morning to the sound of something shattering. I sat up straight in my bed, shaken up a bit from the sudden crash, when I heard two voices. That was almost more alarming than the sound of the crash.

“Shh! Don’t wake him,” Jason said, causing me to wonder exactly who he was speaking to in my house.

What kind of person invited others into a home that wasn’t theirs?

Jason, of course. I couldn’t wait until this man moved out to California to run the branch there.

Sure, I had my fears of him screwing up, but I wanted him as far away from me as possible.

My curiosity pulled me out of bed, and I walked into the living room space, where I found three things that stressed me out.

First, my top-of-the-line bottle of whiskey that’d cost me hundreds, the one I was saving for when I closed the deal on my passion project, sat on the kitchen countertop, opened and almost empty.

Second, an expensive lamp a client had gifted me for our closing deal on their property was shattered on the floor into a million pieces. Lastly, Rose.

Yep, that was right. My new intern, who was pretty much a day over nineteen, was standing next to the broken lamp in my living room.

When she looked up and noticed me noticing her, she froze like a deer in headlights.

Her eyes bugged out, and her skin paled.

I wasn’t sure which looked more damaged—her or the lamp.

Her brown hair was tangled and wild. She was wearing Jason’s blazer from the night before, and if she was wearing shorts of any kind, they were too short to notice.

All I saw was bare legs—bare legs I had no want or need to witness because she was my fucking intern.

Why the hell was my intern in my penthouse with no pants on?

Rose went ahead and did what she had always done so well: she began to ramble.

“Oh my goodness! Mr. Roe, I’m so, so sorry! You can totally take the price of the lamp out of my next paycheck. And, uh, oh gosh, if you’d like, I can pick up the pieces if you tell me where you keep your trash bags in your house. And oh my gosh, what a be-beautiful home you have, and, and?—”

“Rose.”

She swallowed hard and stood still. “Yes, Mr. Roe?”

“Leave my house.”

She blinked a few times. “Of course, Mr. Roe.” She began walking toward the front door, and I called out to her.

“Before you exit, please get dressed in whatever it is you wore over here. I don’t need people seeing you leave half-naked.”

“Right. Of course. Sorry, Mr. Roe. I’ll be gone in no time.”

I couldn’t believe she’d even spent a moment in my home. What had she been thinking? No—what had Jason been thinking?

After Rose slithered out of my house, I stared at Jason as if he were the biggest villain I’d ever crossed paths with.

He held his hands up in surrender. “Hey, don’t look at me. She came on to me.”

“She’s nineteen years old, Jason. Plus, it’s your damn wedding day!”

“Don’t remind me,” he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose as he walked to my kitchen, swung my fridge door open, and took one of my water bottles. “Shit, my head is pounding.”

Not shocking, seeing as how he’d drunk enough for a party of ten.

“What the hell are you going to do? About the wedding?” I asked, hating every piece of him but also thinking about Aaliyah. This was going to crush her.

“I mean, fuck. I don’t know, Connor. I fucked up last night—well, and this morning, but maybe that was it. Maybe that was my final bachelor moment, you know? I had to get it out before settling with Aaliyah.”

Settling? As if she wasn’t the damn prize in their current situation. If anything, she was the one doing the settling.

I brushed my thumb against my chin and sighed. “You should tell Aaliyah.”

“Tell her what?”

“About Rose.”

He snickered out loud and huffed. “Yeah, okay, Connor. That’s how I want to start my wedding day.”

“You don’t want to start a marriage with that kind of lie.”

“If I tell her, there won’t be a marriage. She’ll hate me.”

“Maybe, but if anything, she deserves to know the truth. Just think about it, all right?”

“Yeah, I will.”

“Good. Now go take a shower. You smell like whiskey and ass. I’ll be back to grab you in a bit. We have to get a move on.”

He headed off to take his shower, and I shook my head, glancing over at the thong lying across the floor. I supposed Jason had found his something blue for the day.

When fifty minutes had passed and I’d gotten showered and dressed in my suit, I headed back to the guest room to retrieve Jason.

The whole time I was getting ready, I couldn’t stop thinking about Aaliyah and the shit situation she was about to be in by marrying an ass like Jason.

She deserved better than him, and I very much doubted he would tell, which made me feel shitty.

Because if he didn’t, I had every intention of doing so.

Did that mean I was breaking some kind of bro code? Maybe, but I couldn’t explain it. For some reason, deep down in my soul, I felt as if my loyalty was in Aaliyah’s corner and not Jason’s.

“Jason, hurry up, will you? We’ve got to get a move on,” I called out as I walked into his room, thinking he was still in the shower.

When I didn’t hear a reply, I called out his name once more.

Again and again.

I darted over to the bathroom to find it empty, and I swore my stomach dropped. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed his number—no luck. I called his number once more.

Again and again.

As I searched the space, I noticed a note sitting on the nightstand.

I can’t do it.

I hardly even know this girl. What the fuck am I doing marrying her?

Let everyone know.

Tell Aaliyah I’m sorry.

-Jason

The letter crumpled in my tight grip, and I sighed, knowing today would be the worst day of Aaliyah’s life.