Sweet Deal

Chapter Eighteen

Shelby turned back to Jake and Gianna, her own heart doing a tap dance beneath her ribs, a chill gripping her as if someone had just turned the A/C in the bar on full blast. A million questions flooded her brain, backing up and spilling over each other. What were they doing here? Why were they together? What? What?

Okay, she knew he already knew Gianna, because he and Andrew had planned to go into business together. But the way they were sitting there, side by side, heads close together, looked intimate. It made her stomach hurt.

Andrew slid off his stool. Shelby put out an arm to stop him, but why she had no idea. It was his wife, sitting there with another man. He shook her hand off, fire blazing in his eyes, his mouth a grim line, and strode toward the small table.

Jake and Gianna hadn’t apparently noticed them either, but Jake looked up as Andrew approached and came to a halt in front of the table, his hands curled into loose fists.

Shelby scrambled down off the stool and trailed behind Andrew. Was he that furious to see his wife with another man? There couldn’t be anything going on between Gianna and Jake. Could there?

But it hurt to see him with another woman, she had to admit, even though she tried to tell herself nothing could be going on. Even though technically she had no stake in this. She and Jake didn’t have a real relationship.

Except, after the night after the funeral, she’d realized maybe Riley and Myra had been right and she had been in denial about the truth. Now she knew she was in love with Jake.

Andrew, on the other hand, had a right to be pissed. The way Jake and Gianna had been sitting there and talking so intimately didn’t look like two strangers having a casual drink together. It just didn’t make any sense.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Andrew demanded, earning a couple of startled glances from the three men at the next table.

“Andrew!” Gianna’s head whipped around and her hand flew to her throat, her dark eyes huge. Shelby’s throat tightened and she pressed her lips together. She turned her gaze to Jake. He blinked at Andrew, but of all of them, he was the only one who seemed unaffected. Then he looked at her. Their eyes met.

Shelby stared at him, every question bouncing around in her brain surely showing on her face. And a flicker of something—what?—passed over Jake’s face.

What the hell was going on?

Okay, this wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he’d agreed to have a drink with Gianna.

Shelby stood there staring at him with such confusion and pain in her pretty blue eyes it felt like a knife in his own chest. And Andrew…hell, the guy was ready to burst out of his skin with rage. When Andrew turned furious, hurt eyes on his wife, another twinge of remorse snapped inside Jake. Maybe he hadn’t really thought this through. Yeah, he’d thought if he had a drink with Gianna, which would be only a drink and would be completely innocent, he’d be able to convince her that maybe she and Andrew should get some counseling or something. He’d thought that if they fixed their marriage problems, maybe Shelby wouldn’t have to worry about Andrew anymore. He’d never thought Andrew would come along, or that he’d look so…decimated by seeing them together.

And so did Shelby. He hadn’t thought about her knowing about this, either. She looked so hurt and bewildered, which kind of confused him. Did she really care that much? About him?

“Andrew, relax,” Jake said to the man who used to be his friend. “We’re just having a drink.”

“No.” Andrew shook his head. “Uh-uh. You don’t have ‘just a drink’ with the person you were once in love with.”

Shelby’s gasp had everyone turning her way. Her eyes widened, but she never took them off Jake.

“In love with?” she asked, voice quivery and soft.

“Shelby…” Jake began, but wasn’t sure what he was going to say.

Andrew scowled at her. “You didn’t know?”

Shelby shook her head slowly. She still didn’t take her eyes off Jake, and perspiration broke out beneath his shirt and suit jacket. He ran a finger inside his collar. The tie was already loosened, the top button undone, but it still felt constricting.

“You and Gianna…?” Shelby’s face drew into lines of confusion and disbelief. He could see her agile brain processing things. “I knew you two knew each other…but…I don’t understand.”

“This is fucking nuts,” Andrew snarled. “Gianna, what the hell are you doing here with him?”

Oh boy. Jake waited for more shit to hit the fan when Gianna told Andrew what she’d told him. She bit her lip, glanced at Jake. His whole body went tense.

“We ran into each other on the sidewalk outside,” Jake said quickly. “She suggested having a drink. I thought, what the heck? We’re old friends.”

“Friends!” Andrew snapped. “Bullshit.” He slapped both hands flat on the table, the impact sloshing the wine right out of Gianna’s full glass. He ignored it. “What the hell are you playing at, Jake?”

“I’m not playing at anything.” Jake tried to swipe up some of the spilled wine with a paper napkin before it ran off the table, his heart still jumping. Jesus, Gianna was the one who was stalking him, begging to see him.

“Oh for—” Andrew’s jaw tightened as if he was grinding his teeth. A vein pulsed at his temple. “You know you are, you sonofabitch. You’re still not over her. Maybe you had some twisted idea of getting back at me by going after Gianna, but you’re an asshole for doing this to Shelby. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.”

White-hot anger rose inside Jake at the accusation but he fought for control. “Andrew…be careful…” Acutely aware of both Shelby and Gianna taking all this in, Jake tried to warn his old friend not to say too much with his wife there. If Andrew showed his feelings for Shelby right in front of Gianna, well, there was no way Jake was going to be able to avert that fucking train wreck. He cast a look at Shelby again.

A frown creased her forehead. “Get back at you for what?”she asked slowly. “What went on between you two? You told me you were thinking of starting a business together. Why would you want to get back at him?”

“Because of me,” Gianna spoke up. Her fingers trembled and her voice shook but she lifted her chin and spoke up. “Jake and I were in a relationship. We were thinking about moving in together. Jake and Andrew were best friends and we all spent a lot of time together. It’s true, they were going to start a business together, and then Andrew and I fell in love.”

Shelby made a small noise that struck Jake like a hammer blow and made him wince. He looked back and forth between Gianna and Shelby, watched Shelby’s throat move as she swallowed, saw her eyes close.

“I broke up with Jake, married Andrew and of course, that put an end to their business plans.”

Shelby’s head slowly moved from side to side. She covered her mouth with one hand. “I can’t believe this.” She turned those blue eyes, now shiny with tears, on Jake. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“Because…because…”

Why the fuck hadn’t he told her that?

Because he was a stupid fucking dickhead idiot, that’s why. He’d only been trying to help, trying to keep Andrew from hurting her and possibly hurting Gianna. He’d been stupid to not be upfront with her at the start. But none of that came out, his heart racing so fast he could hardly breathe, sweat pouring off him enough to fill the damn beer mug sitting on the table in front of him, a dark, scary feeling of doom creeping over him.

He must look guilty as hell to Shelby, and okay, yeah, he did feel guilty. Fuck, he was such an asshole, but even more than guilt he felt terror—terror that he had hurt her, that he might have messed up the best thing that had happened to him in…well, ever.

“Oh hell,” Andrew said to Shelby. “I thought you knew.”

Jake shot Andrew a glare.

“Shelby.” He pushed to his feet, the chair scraping back on the wooden floor. She stepped back from him, eyes flashing, mouth tight. “Shelby, please, let’s talk…”

“Are you kidding me?” she cried. Jake was vaguely aware of the attention they were receiving from other bar patrons. But who gave a shit? “Were you using me to get back at him?” Her eyes narrowed. “You bastard!”

“Wait a minute,” Gianna said. She frowned at Andrew. “Using her to get back at you? Oh my god! So that’s why you’ve been working such long hours!”

“Oh no.” Andrew held up a hand, shaking his head. “You are not turning this on me.”

It was like watching a train wreck.

Jake turned his attention back to Shelby, hating the look on her face. He wanted to deny her accusation, tell her it wasn’t true, he hadn’t been using her.

But the truth was—he had. Not the way she thought—but he had been using her.

Shelby could hardly hear over the roaring in her ears, a red haze floating in front of her vision. Pure rage swelled inside her so huge she actually felt a need to do physical violence. She wanted to lunge at Jake, hit him, punch him, scratch him. The pain in her chest took her breath away, squeezing her so tightly.

“You fucking bastard,” she said again, this time quieter, through lips stiff with control. And she turned on one spiky heel and walked out of the bar. She could hardly see anything in front her, almost blind with fury, and bumped into one person, stumbled over another’s foot. She didn’t even try to apologize, just had to get the hell out of there.

On the street, she set off walking, the fastest steps she could in her heels, almost running down the sidewalk, clutching her purse under her arm. A coolness on her cheeks told her she was crying. People shot her strange looks, but she didn’t care.

She flew across the street, heedless of the red light and the honking car that narrowly missed her, wondering if she was going to throw up right there on the sidewalk of downtown Rocky Harbor, her stomach hard and tight.

Last night she’d been ready to tell Jake she loved him.

The wrenching pain made her sob out loud, and she stumbled into the parking garage where her car was, clattered up two flights of concrete stairs, panting, sobbing and cursing under breath.

How had he known who she was? How had he known she worked for Andrew? To be able to insinuate himself into her life like that? That picnic must have been very convenient for him. A small growl rose from her throat.

And no wonder Andrew had been pissed off when he’d seen who she was dating. Why hadn’t he said anything? He’d just changed the subject, and then Jake had lied.

He’d outright lied to her!

Well, okay, more by omission, but still it was the same thing. The only reason he’d wanted to keep seeing her was because he thought Andrew wanted her and he wanted to pay him back for stealing his girlfriend.

Another sharp stab of pain lanced through her as she started her car and roared out of the parking structure way too fast. She had to get home. Before she fell completely apart.

Inside her apartment, she shut the door, locked it, walked into her bedroom and threw herself facedown on the bed and inhaled the scent of…Jake.

The citrusy bergamot and lime scent of his shampoo and body wash and the unique male scent of his skin marked her bedding. With another sob, she kicked her shoes off and rolled herself up in the covers, her nose buried in the soft sheets, torturing herself with the memories his scent evoked in her, letting pain wash over her.

Hadn’t she cried enough the last few days? Dammit, this was too much.

She’d even dared to dream she and Jake could have something as special and rare and beautiful as Adam and Kiara had.

A fresh wave of sobbing overtook her and she cried until the covers were damp with her tears.