Page 37 of When the Last One Falls
“Have a good evening,” she said quietly before walking off, and it took everything in me not to chase after her.
“Isn’t that your wife?” Shera asked. “I really would have liked to meet her, Brantley.”
Not ready to admit the state of my marriage, I suggested. “Let’s go see what you were looking at.”
Shera’s dark brown eyes widened. “Oh, crap,” she rushed out. “Was it supposed to be a surprise for her?” Her face grimaced theatrically. “Sorry.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured her. “It’ll be fine.”
With the strength of a hundred men, I turned in the opposite direction of my wife, then walked over to see what piece Shera had been gushing on about and to make sure that Magnus wasn’t throwing a fit over the price. No matter how much money Kingston Industries had, Magnus was Magnus.
Minutes later, I was refereeing between Magnus and Shera, and it was just the distraction that I needed.
Chapter 25
Keris~
Rejection wasn’t fun, but I’ been expecting it when I’d made the decision to show up here tonight. After refusing to take my calls, return any of them, see me, and even one embarrassing incident of being asked to leave the Kingston offices, when this event had shown up on Faron’s calendar, he had insisted that I show up and confront Brantley face-to-face. Knowing that Dylan and Huntley would be here helped to instill some bravery, but they were also attending with their husbands, so refusing to be a fifth wheel, I had come alone.
Though, Brantley hadn’t.
I wasn’t sure why I’d been surprised to see that woman walking up to him, but I had been. He had made it clear that we were married in name only now, and he’d been clear about opening up his bed to other women. Maybe it was because I had expected to see him with Rochelle. I had expected him to run back to her, but I guess he hadn’t been lying when he’d said that she hadn’t been the only woman in his phone contacts. I’d made that statement about other men in the heat of the moment, but it was obvious that Brantley hadn’t said anything in the heat of the moment that night.
Suddenly, there was no question about if Beau had been lying or not. Brantley was going to divorce me, wipe his hands of these past couple of months, then move on like a closed chapter in his life’s book.
It was also clear why he was giving me back the mines. With my parents out of debt, it’d be easy to secure a loan to start mining, the efforts providing enough to pay for all of Linsey’s medical costs. Sure, I’d probably have to take a leave of absence at the gallery until I got everything situated, but I knew that Faron would be fine with that. For years, decades even, the mines had been untouched, but now I was going to mine them, and the very idea felt rather overwhelming. I knew nothing about how to mine caves or whatever.
As soon as I reached the bar, I signaled for the bartender, asking for two shots of tequila. After these, I was going to find Dylan and Huntley, say my goodbyes, then go home and pack my stuff. I didn’t care if I had to sleep in the streets, though I knew that sounded super dramatic. I’d be crashing on the couch at my sister’s until the rooms were situated to accommodate me.
After taking the first shot, a voice that reminded me of smooth bourbon hit my ears. “We have to stop meeting like this.” I looked up into Ares Cormac’s golden gaze. “I’m starting to worry about you.”
“Two shots of tequila aren’t going to put me under,” I assured him right before throwing back my second shot.”
“I guess that depends on if you’re throwing tequila back every night or not,” he retorted.
“Did you just call me an alcoholic?” I asked, letting out a hollow chuckle because I very well might turn into one at this rate.
“Keris?”
My eyes found his again. “Yeah?”
“Go home with me,” he said, and my head jerked a bit with his unexpected directness. For some reason, this felt different from the last time, and I didn’t like it.
“I am not going home with you, Ares,” I finally replied. “I already told you that once.”
“Why not?” he asked candidly, and I could feel a hysterical laugh bubbling in my chest.
Why not, indeed.
Looking up at the gorgeous man, apart from the sliminess of our first encounter, there really was no reason not to go home with him. Brantley had obviously moved on, had plans to spend the night with his date, so there was no real reason not to take Ares up on his offer. Sure, he’d been a supreme asshole the first time that we’d met, but now that I knew the history between him and Brantley, I knew that none of it had been personal. He’d been trying to hurt Brantley, and their relationship was no longer my business.
“There’s absolutely no reason for me not to go home with you,” I answered honestly. “In fact, though I could be wrong, you even look like you might be worth going home with.”
I thought that he’d get cocky, but he didn’t. “Once I found out who you were, I dug up everything that I could find on you, Keris,” he said, surprising me again. “What I found tells me that you are very much worth going home with. In that dress, you’re worth whatever wrath Kingston might want to bring down on my head.” Before I could comment on that, he added, “But since he’s busy entertaining another woman, I can’t see him really bothering with what I’m doing with his wife, can you?”
That stung more than I’d been prepared for.
I had accused Brantley of wanting to keep up appearances, but now it wasmethat was hurt because our secret was no longer a secret. After tonight, no one was going to be surprised by our divorce, and love really did fucking suck. Why did people sign up for this shit?
