Page 54 of Reckless Encounters

We start walking through the field, and I ask, “What made you want to get into real estate?”

“When my baseball career went up in flames, all I had was a bullshit degree in business. But I was determined to make a name for myself in the city. One people would know.”

My lips to the side. I’m kind of surprised by that statement, but don’t know if I have the right to say it.

“What?”

“Huh?”

“You are doing that twisty thing with your lips you do when you are trying to stop yourself from saying something.”

I roll my eyes at his accurate assessment. “It’s just the way you have always made comments about money to me. It seems unusual that it was so important to you back then.”

He stops at the bottom of the old broken front steps, pondering my statement.

“I had something to prove back then. My mom had just passed, and I was pissed at her family for how they always treated us, needing an outlet to place all my blame and anger.”

I nod. That makes sense.

“There were other driving forces too…” He stops himself, shaking his head and looking off toward the river. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to tell you this shit.”

My heart speeds up at the anguish in his voice, and Quinn’s words about a girl hurting him come back to mind.

“I was engaged once.”

Oookaaay. I did not expect that. I bite the inside of my cheek to make sure my mouth isn’t hanging open in shock.

Parker must read the shock on my face. “Yeah, I know it’s hard to imagine me engaged. But I was. She was my high school sweetheart. We dated all through college.”

So many puzzle pieces fall into place about this broody man.

“What happened?” I whisper.

He lets out a sardonic laugh. “It wasn’t your typical breakup once she realized I wasn’t going pro. No, worse than that. She made me feel like she was with me, no matter what. Told me numerous times she didn’t care about that.”

I wait on bated breath for the but that’s coming with this story. I’ve only ever had casual boyfriends, so it’s hard to imagine this man in a situation so far beyond that.

“But what I didn’t know was two summers before that, she had hooked up with a rich prick and it had continued going on from time to time.”

She wanted to have her cake and eat it too. Well, I hope the cake is small and stale now. Bitch.

“How did you find out?”

“Typical shit. I’d been in a funk because it was my mom’s birthday week, the first one since she passed. My fiancée was out in the Hamptons. I dragged my ass to a party she had originally invited me to because I was trying so hard to be who she needed me to be, when in reality, I was falling apart.”

My chest literally aches from the pain I can feel wafting off him. What kind of person treats someone that way? Someone you are supposed to marry and cherish forever. I hate her.

“Sounds like she wasn’t being who you needed at that time. You were the one struggling.”

“I was more than struggling, and now I see that. She held my hand through the funeral, but she wasn’t really there for me as I would have expected. And it took me walking in on her riding another guy’s dick to see it.”

I could vomit.

“Let me guess, she begged and pleaded, saying it was a mistake.”

“On multiple occasions.”

I wonder if she still does. My stomach coils again at the thought.

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