Page 76 of Forever Wild

I shake her hand off me, my heart pounding as hatred rages through my veins at the gall of this fucking woman.

“I don’t miss you, Alexis. You cheated on me. I’d actually be shocked if you ever liked me at all.”

“Come on, baby, you know that’s not true. We were in love. It’s why the breakup was so unbearable…for both of us,” she says, batting her thickly coated eyelashes at me.

I go to step around her again but she moves with me. “That wasn’t love, Alexis. It was roommates who had sex.” I glare at her. “Plus, I’m dating someone new now.”

“Oh really?” Alexis’s gaze searches the dining area. “Is that right? A new girlfriend?” She finds Bryn, the one woman sitting alone, and her mouth becomes an evil slash. “And look at that, she clearly needs your money. Looks like a match made in heaven.”

That does it. “Fuck off, Alexis,” I say, moving around her. “Not everyone is a moneygrubbing whore like you. Bryn is smart and funny and doesn’t give one shit about my wallet or how famous I am. She is a better person than you could ever imagine being, and she makes me happier than I’ve ever been before.”

Alexis doesn’t even flinch. “Oh, please, Jameson. We both knew what we were getting into with that relationship. It was clear from the beginning. I was good for you and your career. So what if I entertained myself with other guys when you were gone?”

Is she kidding me? How can she possibly think I knew what I was getting into or that it was okay for her to “entertain herself with other guys” while I was gone? Fuck that.

“We were not on the same page. There is no way you thought I was okay with you fucking every athlete you could find in our fucking bed, Alexis. You are a piece-of-trash human, and even though I should’ve seen it earlier, I could not be happier now that you’re out of my life.”

She glares at me, venom seeping from every pore. “You wouldn’t know a good thing if it smacked you straight in the dick, Jameo. I guarantee you that girl is after your money or your fame, just you wait. No one puts themselves through a golfer’s schedule if all they are looking for is love. If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s likely just because she’s good at playing the game. Good at hiding her intentions while playing the loving girl next door. Trust me, she’ll fuck you over worse than I did.” With that, Alexis stalks back toward the dining area, her heels clacking with each step.

Alexis is wrong. That’s not Bryn at all. She is sexy and smart and has never cared about my wallet or my fame.

When I get back to the table, Bryn is focused on the check, calculating the tip. “I added a twenty percent tip, hope that’s okay. It felt like anything lower would be bad for your image, but I also didn’t want to spend more if that’s not what you normally give.”

“I usually go a little higher, but I’ll throw out some cash as well.” I pull a couple bills out of my wallet and put them down on the table. “Let’s go.”

Bryn looks up at me, confusion pulling at her features. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” I grab the pen, signing the credit card receipt without sitting down. Alexis is wrong about Bryn, but that doesn’t mean I want to stay in this building with my ex any longer than necessary. I definitely don’t want to give Alexis a chance to spew her hateful comments toward Bryn directly.

I grab Bryn’s hand, tugging her out of the booth. “Ready?”

“Sure. Let’s blow this popsicle stand.”

Chapter thirty-nine

Bryn

Jameson pulls me from the restaurant, his mood drastically altered from when he left to go to the bathroom. Hopefully the sushi isn’t hitting wrong. I’ve got plans for tonight that do not include my boyfriend spending time intimately getting to know the toilet in our hotel room.

Once we are out on the sidewalk, I catch up with Jameson’s long stride and ask, “What’s going on, Jameo? You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I”—he runs his hand not holding mine down his jaw—“I ran into Alexis outside of the bathrooms.”

I pull him to a stop, moving us out of the way of the other people walking by. “You ran into Alexis?” I mentally scan through the people I had seen in the restaurant. It hadn’t been a large place, but it had been divided into two rooms. I don’t recall seeing anyone who looked like they might be Jameson’s ex, but in all reality, I hadn’t really been looking.

He nods.

“Did you guys…talk?” Obviously they did. He wouldn’t be this upset from just seeing her, but I also don’t know how to tactfully handle this conversation. Dealing with exes is not something I’ve had to do before, since Peter had never had a serious girlfriend before me.

He nods again. “Yeah. I mean, sorta. Basically, she just told me she missed me and how we both knew that we had an open relationship—which, for the record, we both did not fucking know that—and how good she was for me.”

Alexis is clearly even more screwed up in the head than I originally thought. I mean, it’s one thing for her to have convinced herself that she was good for Jameson. I mean, they were dating when his career really took off, but to have convinced herself that Jameson knew she was sleeping with all those other guys? He’s still scarred from finding out about it.

“What did you say to her?” I ask, my voice trembling enough to give away my unease. Logically, I know Jameson would never get back with Alexis, but deep down, in the part of my soul where logic holds no sway, I can still hear Peter’s last words to me, telling me I would never be good enough for him. I may be falling for this man, but could he ever, truly, feel the same way about me? The girl who builds walls with her words and sarcasm, terrified of anyone ever tearing them down, more afraid that the prize inside isn’t actually worth anyone ever trying.

Jameson leans down, rubbing his thumb along my cheek before giving me a light kiss. “I told her I was dating someone else who was better than she could ever hope to be.” His dark green eyes find mine, softening. “And you are. I am so lucky to have you in my life. I—I love you, Bryn.”

Smiling almost bashfully, he leans in to kiss me again, but I pull away, not willing to go one more second without saying it back, without expressing what I feel in every fiber of my being, with every beat of my racing heart.

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