Page 47 of The Best Wrong Move

“Then how did we both end up here?”

“The universe has a shitty sense of humor, I guess.”

He softens. “I miss you, you know.” He shifts his eyes to the sand, away from my face. “I wouldn’t mind finding a quiet time to talk more . . . You know, about what happened.”

The knot in my stomach catapults into a full-blown churn. His wavering emotions are giving me whiplash. I want to wring his neck for telling me that he misses me. The nerve of this man. I have no interest in being the other woman to Juju. Not now. Not ever.

“Don’t say that. You didn’thaveto miss me.” I spit each word out like it’s laced with venom. “That’s on you. You didn’t have to say no on live television.”

“And you didn’t have to ask,” he quickly shoots back. Too quickly. Then he takes two more steps away from me toward the house.

I plant my feet and put my hands on my hips, waiting for him to look me squarely in the eye. When he doesn’t, I kick sand at his back so he’ll turn around to face me.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I nearly yell.

Rex had insisted that I was too angry to have this conversation the evening after I’d proposed, when he came to our apartment to pick up all his stuff. And I probably was. So we just left it at that. I figured we’d both take some time to cool off and then have this conversation. But then days turned into weeks, and now here we are. Finally saying what we want to say, thousands of miles from home.

“Were we really ready for marriage?” He drops my board into the sand, looking irate.

“I don’t know.” I can feel rage building in my voice. “Maybe I never should have asked, Rex. Maybe I should have laughed when my producer suggested it. But couldn’t you have saidyesin that moment, when the cameras were rolling, and I was live on air in front of millions of people, and spare me from global humiliation? We could have talked about it afterward, even changed the plan. No one had to see that part. I could have taken it all back, if you’d have let me. You didn’t have to completely cut me out of your life that day, leaving me to deal with the fallout alone. What you did left me mortified in front of the world, so no one would ever forget.”

He looks like a volcano, molten lava about to simmer over the edge.

I press him harder. “How could you do that to me?” I take a step toward him. “I thought we were—”

“How couldyou?” He interrupts, pointing at me, his eyes burning into mine. Then he takes another step toward me. “You didn’t even ask for my permission before putting our relationship out there for the whole world to see.”

Hot sand digs into my bare feet — I want to run off it, and get away from him. “Why does that matter? How could you move on so fast?” My voice breaks on the last word. “It’s barely even been a month.”

“If we could just get a minute alone,” he says in an even voice. “I could explain, before—”

“Hey, you two!” Juju calls down from the railing. She’s beaming at us from the lanai. A cloud of steam rises off her mug. We both turn and wave, like a puppet master has strings attached to our hands. He smiles broadly at her, pretending we aren’t caught in some ex-lovers’ squabble.

“Why haven’t you told her?” I hiss at him through my teeth, too quiet for her to hear.

“Hey, babe!” Rex calls back to her. I try not to grimace at the wordbabe.

It makes me want to punch him.

“Not yet,” he whispers back to me, that frozen smile still stuck on his face. “She doesn’t really do social media. She has no idea about us. I’d rather keep it that way for now. Just let me be the one to tell her.”

I walk ahead.

“You’re an idiot if you think she won’t find out,” I whisper loudly at him over my shoulder.

Then I storm back into my side of the townhome, leaving Rex to carry the weight of the board and everything else he’s fucked up.

Chapter 29

I heave the sliding door shut with a bang and grab my phone off the kitchen counter, typing out an SOS text to Dom as soon as I get inside.

Rex needs to hear the message loud & clear. Up for a little fun?

He sends back a reply.

Are you okay? Did something happen?

I groan and punch in my response.

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