Page 59 of Extra Witchy

“For cheating on you.”

I had no fucking clue.It shouldn’t matter now. Itdidn’t.

Though he tried not to give anything away, he must’ve failed because she said, “Shit. You didn’t know. But Titus saw us together. I thought—”

“Trev! Sorry I’m late,” Dante called to him from across the bar. The guy strolled through the crowd with an awe-inspiring confidence that drew second and third looks.

No surprise because hewasa handsome man, dark-skinned, brown eyes, clean-shaven with black hair worn in short twists. He dressed like he came out of a catalog too. In fact, Dante made Trev secretly feel like a hairball that a stray cat horked up in the yard.

When he got to the table, he eyed Sarah with obvious perplexity. “Who’s this?”

Trev finally found his voice. “No one,” he said coolly.

She flinched.Good.

Dante turned to Sarah with a practiced, lady-killer smile. “Tell you straight up, you’re wasting your time. My man Trev is married, and his wife is a four-alarm fire.”

He could’ve kissed Dante on the lips, seriously. Suddenly, the situation felt wholly different—not disastrous, just…annoying. Managing a smile, he said to Dante, “All true. And no worries, I kept busy.” To Sarah, he added, “Want to see my wedding photos? We kept it intimate because Leanne thinks it’s better to save the money for our life together than to waste it on a single party.” He let that sink in because he knew damn well Sarah had spent forty grand on her glorious, perfect gala. “But the pictures turned out fantastic.”

“No thanks,” she said tightly.

Yeah, this isn’t working out how you thought, huh? Figured you could rub my nose in it and make me even sorrier I lost you? Nah. I’m not that guy anymore.Possibly, he was being unfair to her, and maybe she truly did want to make amends, but from his perspective, she’d just injured him further by revealing past infidelity, piled on top of a brutal breakup.

And Titus knew…

“I heard you’re changing your name,” Dante said, as Sarah turned.

That froze her in her tracks. He could tell she was still listening.Okay, this is sort of fun.

“Just submitted the paperwork. We’re both hyphenated now. Trevor Vanderpol-Montgomery has quite the ring, doesn’t it?”

“Sounds like yacht money,” Dante agreed with a laugh. “How’s her campaign going for city council, by the way?”

Bless Dante, all his ancestors,andhis descendants. He must be doing this on purpose.

“Extraordinarily well,” he said in a voice that carried. “The numbers on her socials are excellent, and she’s gaining ground on Dan Rutherford.”

“Nice work. You want to take over my accounts too?” Dante gave him a nudge and a broad smile that plainly said he did know something was up.

“We’ll talk.” As Sarah walked away, he leaned over and gave Dante a hug, whispering, “Thanks, man.”

His friend stared after Sarah, brows furrowed. “Yeah, I got a definite vibe, none of it good. Did I back you up okay?”

“Couldn’t have been better,” Trev assured him.

“That’s your ex, I’m guessing.”

He nodded. “Theex.”

“The one who broke you?”

Once, Trev might’ve argued about that or denied it. In fairness to Sarah, he had been a mess, and there was no need to re-tread old ground. He sipped his beer and said, “Enough about me. We got together because you needed advice, am I right? I’m your guy. Tell me everything.”

“Long story. You sure?”

Trev nodded.

“Okay, so it’s like this…” Dante began. “I’ve been…seeing Margie lately.”

---