Page 77 of Just Say When

Brax ordered two beers, pecked me on the lips, and nodded to my friends. “Ladies.”

“Hm,” James said thoughtfully, and I realized she was watching me.

And I was watching him.

I blushed. Seriously blushed. There wasn’t much that could embarrass me, but apparently, swooning over my husband was one of those things. “What?” I said defensively. “He’s got a nice ass.”

“Oh, for sure,” James agreed. “But I’m more interested in that sweet little kiss he gave you. It sure didn’t look like a kiss between mortal enemies. It didn’t look like it was for show, either. The competition is over, anyway. What would be the point?”

“Whatever,” I mumbled into my glass.

James considered me with her head tilted. “Anything you want to share with me, Essie?”

“Fine.” I took a long swallow of my drink and let the alcohol give me courage. “Maybe our marriage isn’t so fake anymore.”

“Oh, Essie.” James cupped my face, squishing my cheeks in her palms. “Maybe it never was.”

“Rude,” I said through my smushed lips.

“What’s going on?” Chloe asked, pulling herself from a side conversation with Hannah and Janie.

“Nothing,” I said quickly. “James is congratulating me again, that’s all.”

“Oh, is she congratulating you because your sham marriage is actually the real thing and now you don’t have to lie to your best friends anymore?” Chloe asked. She leaned her elbow on the bar, cupped her chin on her palm, and stared at us with those green cat eyes of hers.

James let go of my face and my jaw flapped open. “How did you know?”

“Essie.” Hannah pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, all the better to stare me down. “You happened to get engaged right after Zack is too injured to ride a horse you love so much you literally stole him, and immediately sign up to ride in the owner division? Come on, now. We all knew.”

“All of you?” I looked to Janie for confirmation.

She nodded. “We were going to take bets on your divorce date, but that didn’t work out.”

“Why?” I asked. “Did you think it would end in murder instead?”

“No.” James snorted. “Because not a single one of us thought you would get divorced.”

“There’s still time,” I said flippantly, but my stomach cramped from the mere thought of it.

People get divorced all the time. That’s what I had said to Brax, that day in his office. It was true, there was no denying that. But I didn’t want it to be true for us.

And that mean little voice kept reminding me that he had walked away from me before, and there was nothing I could do to stop him from doing it again.

“Need to hit the ladies’ room,” I muttered. When James took a step behind me, I added, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

She nodded and settled back on her barstool.

I didn’t do anything silly like ruin my makeup by splashing water on my face, but after a few deep breaths while staring my reflection dead in the eyes and reminding myself that I was Essie Fucking Price, with or without a man, I was ready to return to celebrating.

Until a rough hand clamped down on my wrist. “I want my money.”

I stared at his weathered hand, shocked by his audacity to actually touch me, and then slowly raised my eyes to Alan Gaffney’s leering face. “We all want things, Alan, but if you don’t remove your hand from myarm, the only thing you’re going to want is an ambulance ride to the hospital.”

It wasn’t an idle threat. Jack had taught me how to fight. Not just how to fight—how to fight like a girl. He had shown me how to take down someone bigger and stronger than myself, on the reasonable assumption that my attacker would be male. With Alan, it wouldn’t even be that hard. He was taller, but he had all the muscle mass of a man who spent his life on a barstool.

“Pirate is my horse,” Alan said. “When he wins, I get paid.”

“Pirate belongs to Braxton Hale,” I reminded him. “Or are you too drunk to remember selling him?”

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