Page 93 of Fairy Tale Lies
Jacob’s response was cruel, and Trisha flinched before smoothing her features. Greta didn’t have an ounce of pity. It was impossible to have sympathy for a viper.
“Now, if you’ll excuse us.” Jacob didn’t bother to wait for a response. He gave Trisha his back and guided Greta from the ballroom to a deserted hallway.
It doesn’t matter. Let it go.
She found she couldn’t.
“Did you sleep with her?” she hissed, her tone dripping with contempt.
“I didn’t realize I was supposed to give a list of the women I’ve been with,” Jacob snarled.
She stopped and yanked her hand from his hold. “If the list is too long, could you at least mention the ones who want to humiliate me in public?”
“Oh, come on. I wasn’t hiding my past from you. I was with Trisha a while ago, before we met. It didn’t work out. Why would I mention her?”
He was right, but the encounter left her raw with too many emotions; surprise, guilt, jealousy, and humiliation were warring for dominance. “Why her?”
“Why Blake?” Jacob growled, running an agitated hand through his hair. “Do I question your choices? Or ask for a dossier of your past?”
“Oh, please.” Greta glared at him. “You know Blake is my only past. I haven’t been busy, like you. Why would you ever date someone like her?”
Jacob’s features became stone. “She was offering it. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. What reason did she give you? I was after something, right? Clients, money, what?”
“It doesn’t matter what she said.” Greta broke eye contact. Guilt at her fleeting suspicion had her trying to shift topics. “I thought sex meant more to you. Was I wrong?”
“Like hell it doesn’t matter what she said.” He took a small, hard step forward, almost bearing down on her. “Don’t play games with me. Sex and my morals aren’t what have you upset. Come on, be honest. Tell me what’s really bothering you.”
She was acting like a jealous harpy and needed to stop interrogating him. Too bad, irritation overrode reasonableness. “How did you two even meet?”
“You know how someone like me would meet someone like her,” he sneered. “Her father’s a client of mine. I was delivering one of his antiques.”
“Damn, Jacob, sounds familiar.” Her mind shouted to stop talking. Her heart bled unwarranted betrayal.
“Damn, Greta, that hurts.” He shoved his hands in his pockets; his broad shoulders drooped. “What? Did you buy Trisha’s theory? The one where I troll for wealthy women to what, seduce them to further some cause of mine?”
Greta’s anger popped like an overinflated balloon. Fitting, since it had the same amount of substance. She was hurting Jacob and, for what reason? Because he’d been intimate with a woman she despised?
Big deal.
He disliked Blake and had ample reason, yet Jacob didn’t behave like a petulant brat.
She reached for him. He moved away but then leaned in close, his eyes flashing with anger.
“When it came to Trisha, I should’ve listened to my gut. It screamed we were a bad match. She loved taking her mongrel guy around to her snobby friends. Trying to shock them, I guess. At the same time, she acted like I should be in awe, privileged to be allowed around such wealth and splendor. As if I gave a shit,” he spat. “I didn’t need her money or attitude. I dumped her. I guess it still stings her pride. Fuck--” Jacob looked away. When he spoke again, he sounded defeated. “I had my doubts with you too. Maybe I should have listened to them.”
His words shredded her heart and made her blood freeze.
Had she let her jealousy shred his love for her?
Closing the space between them, Greta wrapped her arms around his chest and tucked into him. It was like hugging a statue, cold and unforgiving.
“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I can’t stand Trisha, and I let her comments get to me. I don’t believe a word she said, I swear. It is more picturing her with you--well, it made me want to claw at her face. I wasn’t thinking straight. Will you forgive me?”
~ * ~
Forgiving simple jealousy was easy. Greta’s lack of trust was what tore at his heart like a dull, rusty knife. Jacob had caught a flicker of guilt in her eyes; Greta believed Trisha’s spiteful lies. That was hard to forgive. Even harder to forget.
Problem was, he didn’t know what to do.
