Page 10 of Dearly Betrayed

“Disgusting.”

“I’m just saying, try to calm down and think. He’s in a bad spot too, remember?”

“I don’t care about his spot. I only care about mine.”

Which maybe isn’t fair, but it’s the truth. Jayson Costa can be pissed all he wants, but I was willing to give this a shot, and he decided to smash that hope to pieces.

At best, it’ll be a joke. Two people pretending, going through the motions, but living separate lives. At worst, he’ll make my life hell. I can’t tell which will happen, but either one doesn’t appeal.

I wanted something better from a match, a real partner, a husband.

At the very least, someone I could learn to deal with.

Costa won’t ever be those things. No, with him I’ll get one miserable, ugly year, and then a separation that goes against my stinking faith. Not that I won’t go through with it, but still.

As we leave the boardwalk and another cold, freezing rain begins to drop, a plan forms in my mind. An ugly plan, but I’m at the lowest point in my life, and if I don’t do something to regain a shred of my dignity then I won’t know how I can continue.

Rian won’t like it, but hell, he never likes any of my best ideas.

Chapter5

Jayson

Living in a casino has perks, like the abundance of bars, gambling, and distractions.

I drink whiskey. I shoot craps. It’s my family’s place and all my money goes back into my own pockets in a roundabout way, making the stakes that much lower, but at least I’m not thinking about Fallon Grady, my future wife.

That gorgeous fucking girl.

She walked over like she wanted to burn the boardwalk down. Green eyes staring hellfire straight into my soul. Her curly red hair bounced with each step, the wind blowing some into her face. A strand was stuck in her mouth, pressed between her pouty, pink lips the whole time we were talking. I couldn’t stop looking at that mouth, wondering what it would be like to be that strand of hair. I wanted to crush her lips with my own, kiss her hard, make her moan, bite and nibble on her tongue.

I didn’t know she was drop-dead gorgeous. Nobody fucking told me.

Well, Adler did say she was pretty, but that wordprettydoesn’t do Fallon justice.

Even under a puffy coat, I could tell the girl’s got an incredible figure. I got a hit of it when she walked away—her skinny jeans clung to her perky, firm ass, and my cock was half hard just looking at her.

Which only made the guilt that much more crushing.

She’s one of them. The people that murdered my best friend, that killed my soldiers, that tried to destroy my family. It’s easy for Adler to make peace—he wasn’t the one on the front lines. He wasn’t the one killing and dying.

I shouldn’t think about Fallon like this. It doesn’t matter if I’m physically attracted to her in a way I haven’t experienced in a long time. No matter how beautiful she may be, she’s still a Grady, and I still despise everything she represents.

Which makes this all the more confusing, because I enjoyed my conversation with her.

I find myself at a bar around ten at night. Drowning my sorrows isn’t right—more like drowning myself entirely. I order another drink when two people appear, one on either side of me, climbing onto the empty stools.

I look over and Conlan’s grinning back on my left. He’s the youngest Costa brother and the second to get married. His little girl, Tessa, is two years old now—I’ve only met her a few times, to my shame.

On my right is Erick, my final brother, leaning on his elbows, almost smiling. He got hitched a couple years back, and his little boy, Luca, was born a little over a year ago.

“You look like shit,” Conlan says.

“Good to see you too, little brother.” I squeeze his shoulder. “And you too, other little brother.” I put an arm around Erick and give him a quick hug, which he doesn’t return, the reserved bastard.

“He’s right. You look terrible.” Erick doesn’t hide his concern. “Adler told us you met with her.”

“I take it that didn’t go well.” Conlan’s eyebrows raise.

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