Page 3 of The Bourbon Bargain

“You get one pass for being in a fucked up headspace over your girl, but if you ever touch me like that again, I’ll bust that perfect nose of yours in a way no surgeon will be able to fix.” He reaches out and flicks the tip of my nose with his finger. “Boop.”

I knock his hand away and lunge for him, but Payton grabs me by the arms and stops me.

“That’s enough, you fuckheads. Zander, get out of the fucking way and quit antagonizing him. Hayes, get your ass out of this office and try to salvage what’s left of your marriage before it’s too late.” He shoves me past Zander and hands me my briefcase, physically separating me from going back in to knock out my asshole of a brother.

“I swear to God, if you put half of the aggression you’re displaying into fighting for your wife, maybe you wouldn’t be in this position.” Zander’s grumbling is low and fed up, but I hear him loud and clear as I spin on my heel and leave the office.

I crack my neck and shove a hand through my hair as I stalk through the building to the elevator and punch the garage button hard enough to crack it. It kills me that he’s fucking right. I should have fought harder for Paige. If I had transferred the energy I spent this week being irritated by my brothers to mending my relationship, I wouldn’t be in this shitty place.Unless it’s too late and there’s no mending what I broke.

Fuck.

I didn’t stop her from walking out on me because it hurt. Yeah, emotionally it devastated me, but it was my ego that suffered most realizing that she would even consider it. It fucking tore me apart watching her walk away, but I couldn’t comprehend her not evenwantingto listen to me. I let her go, thinking she should have given me the chance to explain myself. That she owed me the opportunity to explain, which would have made it so easy for me to turn things around.

It’s taken me a few days to realize that maybe Paige wasneverbeholden to my right to an explanation, though she deserved to hear the truth from my lips. It was still selfish of me to expect her to sit quietly and let me validate my actions when every step to that point hurt her in some way. She was justified in her anger whereas I wasn’t, and that’s a tough pill to swallow when you’re used to getting your way and having people bow and scrape to keep you happy.

It’s my turn to bow and scrape. I owe that much to her. I owe her everything.

two

Paige

I’mgoingstir-crazy,holedup in my apartment, pacing like a caged tiger at the zoo after turning my phone off. It was ringing and pinging nonstop with calls and messages from Mama, her friends, and people I’ve never even met trying to get me to comment on the state of my marriage. I can’t stay here like this anymore. I pull on a baseball cap and set out on a walk to a nearby park just to get a little reprieve from nearly climbing the walls. I need fresh air and exercise to sate the anxious energy rippling through me like a roadside puddle disturbed by passing cars.

“Where’s your new beau, sugar? I wouldn’t let a handsome man like that out of my sight,” a woman I’ve never met says as I pass her on the street.

I guess I won’t be able to even walk around Savannah for a while without someone stopping me to ask about what should be my private affairs, either. I don’t know when my life became so interesting, but I’d like to go back to being relatively unknown. I’ve kept a low profile for years hoping to keep myself out of the Savannah gossip mill, yet here I am, right in the middle of it anyway, getting crushed for the amusement of others. Is this what my life would be like if I stay with Hayes? A spectacle for others to comment on and my reputation forever to be known as the girl who was too young, too foolish, and too hasty to marry a billionaire after knowing him for a week. It doesn’t look good, even from my own vantage point. It’s no wonder people are voicing their concerns and opinions openly to me on the street. I look like the biggest idiot, and of course Hayes gets away with his own reputation unblemished.

The most infuriating part is that everyone seems to thinkIwas the one to mess this up, and for whatever reason—maybe because Hayes is rich, or older, or a high-profile businessman—it’s somehow my fault. Newsflash: Money and age don’t make you impervious to making mistakes that you need to own up to, and Hayes has a lot of responsibility to accept for his part in whatever this is. A fight for the ages, I would imagine.Or the end of everything we had together.

While it was once a delight, right now I hate that I live off Broughton Street, a busy shopping area, with people out in droves this afternoon.What day is it, again?I look around at the shoppers with bags on their arms and see the holiday displays in the windows as I pass each store.Oh.Christmas must be less than two weeks away by now. A fresh wave of sadness and pain pierces my chest. I was going to spend my first Christmas with Hayes, and now I’m thinking I will spend it perfectly alone, since I’m not on speaking terms with Mama and Daddy, either.

As I’m passing a boutique I usually love to pop into, Liliana Bailey and Amber Cramer, two girls I went to school with, exit together with shopping bags in hand. They turn directly into my path, and I have a moment of panic, instantly trying to avert my face so they don’t recognize me. I just want to get past them quickly and avoid any kind of conversation.

Liliana snags my arm, so I have to stop, and turns me toward them. “Oh, Paige, we werejusttalking about you,“ she says sweetly, though her smile is vicious.

“Hello, Liliana, Amber,” I say with begrudging politeness. My practiced manners are the only things keeping me from being rude and snubbing them completely, even if I’m not yet ready to engage with her on whatever she is speaking about.

Of course, they would be talking about me. As the reigning mean girls at our high school and members of the social circles that keep Savannah afloat, I was always subject to Liliana’s tortuous attention and Amber’s willingness to go along with whatever cruel plot Liliana came up with. I thought I had managed to escape the worst of it as an adult. Who knows what Liliana’s jealous of this time, or if she really is just that mean.

“We were wondering how you could be separated from your billionaire husband so quickly. I mean, that’s the rumor going around, and you look like shit, so it must be true. What happened?” Liliana asks, her voice dripping with sarcastic concern.

“You had it good, why’d you let that man get away?” Amber adds with mock sincerity as she comes up on my other side, trapping me between them.

“I’m sorry, I really have to go,” I say as I duck my head. I wish I had turned in the opposite direction when I left my apartment. It’s just my luck to actually see someone I know at exactly the worst time. I try to remove my arm from Liliana’s clutches, but she clamps down harder and keeps me in place.

“How did someone likeyouget the attention of someone like Hayes Olsen in the first place? He is way out of your league, and I just don’t know what he saw in you.“ Liliana’s gaze rakes me from head to toe, taking in my jeans, chunky sweater, and the hat I threw on over my lank, unwashed hair before leaving. Her lip curls in distaste as she flicks her silky auburn hair over her shoulder.

I silently meet her cold brown eyes briefly and fidget uncomfortably. I’ve asked myself that very question. What could Hayes have seen in me?

“Oh, wait, it must have been because he wanted to buy your daddy’s hotel group. What a shame that is for you,” Liliana says, her bubblegum pink lips curving up into a mean smile. “Bless your heart. You must have been collateral damage for him to get what he truly wanted. There is no way he actually wanted to be withyouof all people.“ She tsks. “That must be it. How sad for you, Paige. If only you had a little more experience you could have kept him interested longer. But no, he got what he wanted and dumped you like yesterday’s garbage.”

Tears prick my eyes, and I am frantic to leave before she can see just how badly she’s hurt me with her words. “That’s enough, please let me go,” I plead, my eyes downcast.

“You should have stuck with Garrison Daniels when you had the chance. At least his mama and daddy would have made him stay married to you, not that he really cared about you. Gosh, you really are just a means to an end, aren’t you, sweety?” Amber says, her smile just as vicious as Liliana’s when I risk a glance in her direction.

A tear tracks down my cheek as I yank my arm away from Liliana and take shaky steps away from these horrible women who laugh as I flee. I turn a corner to get away from the busy street and my tormentors, feeling the tears sliding down my cheeks unchecked. Of course they know about Mama’s plan to marry me off. That means all of Savannah does, too, since they are notorious gossips who relish spreading hurtful rumors and truths alike.

I turn into the park and take a trail off the main path, heading into the Spanish moss-draped oaks and magnolias to find a space that’s not crowded with people so I can sob freely. I sit with my back to an ancient oak and wipe my cheeks. It’s so unfair that I am cast in the villain role. This thing with Hayes didn’t happen without both of us contributing to the fight, and I know the part I played. I walked out when he betrayed my trust when I probably should have stayed long enough to get the explanation I was due. Walking out after that may have still been warranted, but I’ll never know for sure because I acted on emotion.

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