Page 137 of The Bad Wedding Date

“The bad. May as well get it all out of the way while I’m like this.”

He wiped at my tears again, his face soft as he looked me in the eyes. “The bad news is that your man Fraser is everything you’re thinking he is right at this very moment.”

“A liar, a dangerous man, and a master manipulator?”

“All of the above.”

“Oh, good,” I whispered, my heart shrinking another size at Jonah’s confirmation.

“But…” he said, pausing as he held my gaze. “He’s also everything else you thought he was before you found out about what he’d done to me.”

I frowned at him, unable to process what he had just said given the fact that Fraser had taken and threatened him with God only knew what.

Groaning and rolling his eyes, Jonah looked at war with himself before he tilted his head to the side and blew out a breath. “The guy had you on a pedestal, Char. You rang, he jumped. Your name was mentioned by one of the men, he barked. The others, they called him on it in front of me, too. They told him to be careful, but even I could see how far-gone Fraser was with you.”

All I could do was blink up at him. My voice stunned into silence.

“I’m not encouraging you to forgive him here—not even a little bit—but I do think you need to know how he felt about you. His stories may have been lies or omissions of truth, but something tells me his feelings… they were very real, and you have no idea how much it pains me to tell you that. But I can’t deny how much I loved hearing you talk about him on that phone call before you found out about all this. You were happy, Char. For the first time since I met you, actually. That was something. It really was. So, I figure if you’re going to walk away from him, you deserve to know everything, including the side of him I saw that somehow reassured me he’d do anything to keep you safe.” He ran a hand down my back, letting it fall to the couch behind me in defeat. “It was the only reason I took the deal he offered me to stay quiet.”

“Deal?” I scowled.

“He begged me not to tell you what had happened. At first, I think you were meant to be nothing more than a job to him. Somehow, along the way, I think you made the guy fall in love with you. He was willing to give me anything to stay quiet. I saw it clearly. The thought of losing you terrified him, and that gave me all the power I needed to walk away.”

“You didn’t worry about me in all of this? How I might feel when I found out you’d both lied to me?”

He shook his head, his mouth downturned. “Not once I spoke to you on the phone and heard how happy you were. What he’d done to me didn’t matter anymore.”

“Jonah, that’s ridiculous—”

He quickly pressed a finger to my mouth, cutting me off. “Sometimes, sweetheart, the best things in life come to us in the most fucked up of ways. I liked hearing you light up when you spoke about him. What happened to me seemed insignificant. Telling you didn’t seem to serve any purpose. I knew he wouldn’t let anything happen to you, and honestly, that’s all I wanted. It’s all I needed, too.”

Unable to take anymore, I rose to stand, brushing down my clothes and wiping at my eyes as I looked down at Jonah. “I love you so much,” I told him, “And I’m so glad you’re okay… but no one gets to decide what lies are best for me anymore. Not Fraser Scott. Not my family. Not my exes. Not even you, Jonah,” I said, sounding calmer than I felt inside. “I have to go.”

He stood, too, the worry clear on his face as he took me in.

“Where to?”

“Home.”

“On your own?”

“I think my own company is the only thing I need for a day or two.”

I somehow kept back the words I really wanted to say:

My own company is the only kind of company I trust right now.

It wasn’t Jonah’s fault I’d fucked up everything for everyone without even trying, but it was my responsibility to get our lives back on track.

It was time to pretend Fraser Scott didn’t exist and never had.

Some experiences had to be treated like a dream—a well-played trick of the mind that once made you feel alive when really you were fast asleep.

45

Fraser

“He’s spiralling,” Joey said from somewhere above me.

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