Page 30 of Chasing His Bride

What they don’t understand is, I don’t want anyone, not really. I’d known Jack for one week, and I fell for him despite him admitting to liking casual dates and warning me that was all we were.

His honesty is respectable. Not that I liked what he said. And I really should have kept my heart guarded because of it.

So why am I wallowing?

Why am I thinking about him permanently?

Is it already too late? Am I in love with him?

I think I am. And I hate it. Hate that my heart has been shattered into pieces. Hate that I’ve let him get under my skin.

Ava’s hand touches mine with a firm but soft touch. I glance at her, seeing her bright blue eyes sparkle as she shakes her head. “You're a strong woman. All you need is a little time and an espresso martini.”

I nod lightly, a hazy film covering my eyes. “I hate I feel like this.” Like my heart is broken in two, maybe it’s smashed to pieces. I shrug my shoulders, not understanding my feelings any longer.

“You need to get some closure,” Jade says.

“Closure?” I say.

“Date again. What you had with Jack wasn’t real, and you need to remember that. He chose you because you wouldn’t be around.”

“That’s a bit cruel,” Ava pushes.

Jade tilts her head to one side. She puts two firm hands on my biceps, looking me over with a concerned look. Her lips purse, and I can see her beautiful freckles dotting so delicately over her nose. “She needs to hear the truth.”

“I agree with Ava, you’re being cruel,” Charlie says.

Jade shakes her head. “No, Charlie. Cruel is leading someone on under a false pretense.”

I shrug. “He told me where I stood. I just never listened.”

A server appears with our first cocktails for the evening. Placing three drinks on the table, I take my drink and sip it.

“Keep drinking because tonight you’re enjoying yourself. No crying, no mulling over what happened... just drinking, singing, and dancing,” Jade says and winks.

“And I hear a delicious lawyer is very interested in you,” Charlie says. A chuckle in her tone.

I groan. “I’ve just heard and I’ve decided I’m swearing off men for the foreseeable future,” I say.

Maybe forever.

Especially since I have a knack for choosing the wrong ones.

Chapter 12

Jack

I stare at the picture on my phone, seeing a goddess staring back at me.

My wife.

Blood pounds in my ears seeing a man’s arm around her shoulder. But it’s the way he’s looking at her that makes me feel sick.

Each time I google her name; I get more obsessed. Nothing came up for a couple of weeks. I told myself when she left me, I wouldn’t seek her out. Truth is, I fail every day.

And then tonight she was tagged in an Instagram account of a girl who was also in Vegas. She’s with four girls and partying in London, not thinking about me. Desperation weighs me down and today, like most days since she left me, I feel like jumping on an airplane and hunting her, like a primal beast.

“It’s a good thing it’s fake,” Hunter says, showing me his cell with another photo.

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