I threw my hands up in the air. “Because I fucking love him, okay? Jesus fucking Christ. You don’t know me. You don’t know shit about me at all. I love him. He’s hardworking and generous. Kind and loving. Funny as hell. And even if I didn’t love him, I would never use?—”

“You love me?”

I turned to see Silas’s shocked face. His friends stood around him, witnessing my humiliation. Landry looked smug, like my admission was exactly the prize he’d hoped to win.

I’d come home to tell Silas about my feelings, but it had spiraled out of my control. I’d never meant to blurt it out like this to a manipulative jackass who’d provoked me rather than to the man who deserved to hear it directly from me first.

Foster had been right. I should have waited until after the exhibition. This stress was too much on top of all the shit I had to do for the event this weekend.

“I’m sorry,” I croaked. “I… I need to go.”

I didn’t wait for Silas’s reaction. I jumped back in my truck and drove off, leaving him standing there with his jaw open and his friends staring.

TWENTY-SIX

SILAS

Because I fucking love him, okay?

Way’s words echoed in my head like the steady beat of a bass drum. As soon as my brain caught up with my mouth, I called out for him, but he was already driving around the curve and out of sight.

“Knew it,” Landry said triumphantly.

“Fuck you!” I wanted to punch him in the face, but I shoved him instead. “What the fuck was that?”

Landry’s eyebrows lifted as he caught his balance by grabbing Dev’s outstretched hand. “You’re welcome? At least someone got one of you to admit the truth. Jesus. We haven’t even been in this time zone, and we could feel the tension between the two of you.”

Bash sighed. “You should go after him. Tell him you love him, too.”

“Who says I love him?” I snapped. “And who asked any of you for your help here?”

Kenji shook his head but knew better than to say anything. Landry did not know better. “You asked us to come help, if you’ll recall.”

“With the event,” I growled. “Not with my fucking love life.”

Zane smirked. “I can always tell when you’re super-peeved because you play fast and loose with the f-word.”

“You’re all a bunch of assholes,” I continued, ignoring him.

Bash had the decency to look apologetic. “But you do actually love him.”

“I’m divorcing him in a fucking week,” I insisted, grabbing at my chest.

Kenji made a face. “Are you? Because you’ve been sitting on the paperwork for a few weeks now.”

“I… I… I just couldn’t find the right time to ask him about it. Tell him. To tell him about it.”

Bash frowned. “It’s obvious you don’t want to divorce him, Silas. So figure it out. Yes, you live in New York, and he lives in?—”

“The back of beyond,” Landry suggested.

Bash ignored him. “But that’s not insurmountable.”

“Not now that you have satellite internet,” Kenji said.

Zane dragged the toe of his old suede trainers through the gravel. “There’s plenty of room here for a private landing strip.”

Dev’s eyebrows lifted. “He’s right.”