Page 4 of False Evidence

Still, she wouldn’t judge. She’d had drinks while chatting with Erica, and it wasn’t like either of them were driving. Plus, it was quite literally his party. He could drink all he wanted. It was just a shame that her plans for his body later might be hindered if he had too much to drink.

It wasn’t until the second course was served that she started to worry. He wasn’t slurring, but he was getting mean. JT wasn’t a mean drunk, at least he hadn’t been in the years they were officially together. But the last two years, everything had been different.

JT had a lot of anger inside him, and it was constantly searching for ways to break out. Alcohol opened a dangerous door.

Of course, as the boss and majority owner of the company, he could do what he wanted here without risking his career. And given the damage Joseph Talon had done, there was no harm he could do to his reputation that was on par with that. The owner getting drunk at his own holiday party wouldn’t impact the company in a negative way.

Still, Alexandra was on edge. This wasn’t the JT she loved. She’d had a brief glimpse of him tonight, but those glimpses were getting fewer and further between. Would that man disappear eventually?

An hour ago, Erica had asked her a question she’d never considered: if JT asked her to marry him again, what would she say?

She’d blurted outyeswithout thinking, shocking herself and making her wonder if that was what she’d been waiting for these last two years.

She thought of the man who’d smiled at her earlier and promised to do better. Who’d looked at her with heat in his eyes that dispelled the loneliness that too often filled the space between them.

That man she’d marry without regret.

But that man wasn’t sitting next to her at this dinner table. No, that man had been left in the limousine.

She felt JT’s gaze and turned to see him studying her cleavage with the strategically placed emerald surrounded by small diamonds. Then his gaze flicked across the round table to Calvin Moss, the Baltimore branch manager. “You checking out my date’s tits or the jewels, Calvin?”

The man stiffened. “Neither, JT.”

She hadn’t noticed if Calvin had been looking, nor would she care if he had. The dress and jewels begged eyes to go there. Erica had joked about not being able to take her eyes off the display.“And the big emerald isn’t bad either.”

“Cool it, JT. Don’t give me jewelry or ask me to wear dresses like this if you’re going to be an ass when people look.”

“But how will I get you to suck my dick if I don’t give you diamonds?”

Erica gasped, and Alexandra bolted to her feet. She yanked at the necklace and would have dropped it on JT’s plate, but naturally, something that valuable had a solid clasp, so all she did was risk a welt at the back of her neck.

She strode from the table as tears burned her eyes. If that was the kind of thing that came out of JT’s mouth when he’d been drinking, what was going on in his head when he was sober?

She made it to the corridor that led to the ladies’ room before JT caught up with her.

“Go away, JT.” She didn’t want to talk to him when he was like this.

“I’m not going to apologize.”

“Naturally. You never do.”

“We both know the only reason you’ve stuck around these last two years is for the money. The clothes. The gifts.”

“If you believe that, you don’t know me at all.”

“You gambled I’d change my mind about kids when you called off the wedding, but you lost that bet. I heard what you said to Erica, that you want me to propose again. I get it. You miss having full access to my wallet. You expect me to believe kids are no longer a deal-breaker for you?” He shook his head. “Right.”

He then smirked at her. “You should know,Muffin,you can’t force my hand by getting pregnant. I took care of that last year when you were in Switzerland for two months. I got cut. So no matter how many holes you poke in your diaphragm, you aren’t getting my sperm.”

Hurt seared her. A sharp, hot pain right in the chest. Not that he’d gotten a vasectomy, but that he’dhiddenit from her. Not only hadn’t he trusted her, he viewed her as conniving.

She’d spent the last two and a half years trying to help this man get back on emotionally level ground. She’d pulled the entirety of the emotional weight of their relationship tohelp him. And he’d gotten a secret vasectomy so he could fuck her without fear of fatherhood.

“Well, that’s a relief, then. When I was getting ready for tonight, I realized my period was late, and I was worried about how you’d react if I was pregnant.”

“If you’re pregnant, the kid isn’t mine. Who else have you been fucking?”

“No one, asshole. I’mrelievedbecause what you just told me means I can’t be pregnant unless your vasectomy was botched or you’re lying to me.”

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