Page 52 of Playing A Risk
“Not only was I going to destroy his career, but I found out things about him I knew you wouldn’t like. I told him I’d tell you if he didn’t give us space to work it out.”
She shakes her head and balls her hands into fists at her side. “He told me that, but with everything else, I forgot. And I obviously know what those things are now. Fuck, Hunter. I’m so angry.”
“You have every right to be.”
“And he was just okay with that?” she asks through clenched teeth. “He didn’t fight or give a fuck about us. He just cowered away, taking the easy route out.”
She’s mad at him?
My eyes narrow. “Um…no. He dug up information about me and held it over my head.”
She sneers. “And what does that mean?”
“It means he came to me and told me to back off. He saidhe would keep his distance from you if I did too. We kind of made a truce.” I still myself because I have no idea where her head is.
She plants her hands on her hips. “What things did he find out about you?”
“He knew I was tracking you, and he saw me coming home with Isabella?—”
“He saw you with her and didn’t tell me?” She storms out of the room and down the stairs. “Not only does he keep his fucking life from me, but he keeps your affairs from me too. Un-fucking-believable.”
And we’re back to her confusing the fuck out of me.
I follow her down the stairs. “Dorothy, we both had things we were keeping from you.”
What the fuck am I doing?
I reach her on my main level and shut my mouth.
“So you threaten Jami and he just backs off so his secrets stay locked away?”
She stomps in a circle around the living room. “Here you are baring your soul, and you’ve only known me for less than a year. He’s known me forever, and that’s how he sees our relationship? Something he can just step away from because I might find out something he doesn’t want me to know.”
Fucking hell.
I never would’ve seen this coming.
My mind is blown. I thought she would run out of here so fast I wouldn’t see her leave, but somehow, this is all about Jamison hurting her more.
She continues, “And not only that, but he keeps it from me that you were here with Isabella. He knows how much that type of thing enrages me, but he still cowered away.”
I want to respond, but I’ll only make it worse for myself. I stare at her in silence, waiting for her to direct her tirade in my direction.
“It was all for his benefit. When was he ever going to trustme and tell me the truth?” She cracks in half, falling to her knees and balls up on the floor. “I never meant anything to him. All I thought was there between us was just me hoping for something more than it was. He had no intention of telling me the truth.”
I rush to her side and take her in my arms. She clutches my sweatshirt and weeps.
“Did he think I wouldn’t find out?” She takes a deep breath. “Maybe he had a plan for how he could keep me from finding out. He kept the ruse up for nearly a year. He could’ve done it for longer because I’m so stupid and refuse to look the truth in the eye.”
She buries her face in my lap. I give her the time to break apart while she allows me to comfort her.
The situation should feel like a win, but her heartbreak has me twisting in a tornado of sadness and hopelessness. I’m not sure how I can put her back together.
I step into Jonah’s kitchen an hour later, wondering if Dorothy will have left by the time I get back. “What’s the plan for tomorrow night?”
He sits at his circular table and gestures to a seat across from him. “I thought you’d have it all worked out. It’s for you and Dori. Melanie and I are just along for the ride.”
I pull out my chair and sit. “That’s only if she’s still around when I get home.”
