Page 8 of Slow Burn (The Boston Beauties)

I smiled with a slight snort of a laugh; she wasn’t wrong. ‘You’re going to have to give that recording up if you want me to consider changing anything in that prenup.’

I picked up a strawberry and dipped it in the chocolate, ‘Eat before it cools off.’ I popped the strawberry in my mouth, pretending to ignore the suggestion she made about deleting the recording I had made of us during one of the few times we’d actually been together. I could agree to deleting the one she knew about, it wasn’t like she knew I had a few different videos of her. Yup, I was a prick.

Jess stood up and went to the bar. Sonja saw her and rushed to where Jessa was pouring herself a drink. ‘Miss Cahill, is there something I can get for you?’

Jessa smiled her polite smile. ‘That’s fine, I saw that you’re busy cleaning up from the evening. Everything has been perfect, thank you so much. I’m able to get the drinks for Matt and me.’

Jessa made herself a Dark and Stormy, with extra limes, and a rum and coke, extra rum for me. I had a feeling we’d be drinking a lot tonight to sort everything out.

Over the next few hours, there were a lot of tears on Jessa’s part. A lot of yelling on my part, and a lot of rum on both our parts.

In the end, I conceded that I would give up the video—the one she knew about—and she agreed to make me co-owner of the Hyannisport house, and to put her trust fund into a blind trust to be signed over to any children we may have in the future, and to use the interest payments from the trust to supplement our income or pad our savings. Her trust fund wasn’t the biggest part of the con, but it wouldn’t hurt either. The main thing was to expose Mr. Cahill’s dealings and implicate some of his business associates and friends in scandals—knowing Steve Cahill was the reason they had been introduced to me. Part of the con was to ruin his reputation as payback and shrink his social and professional circles.

I was feeling sleepy, likely due to how late it was and the copious amounts of rum I drank tonight. I wasn’t sure how Jessa was still coherent. I don’t remember walking to my berth, I don’t remember if Jessa came down with me, where she slept, or even if she slept.

The next thing I knew, I woke up, fully dressed from the night before, on top of the blankets, and from there everything went downhill.

Fast.

CHAPTER 4

DREW

‘Is it really necessary that we scrape all the paint off before we paint?’ Breton huffed for what seemed like the 90th time this morning. He looked exhausted and was distracted, seeming only to make conversation with me because it was the right thing to do. He wasn’t acting himself, but I didn’t know what was up with him today. Knowing him, if he wanted to talk about it, I already would have had an earful.

‘Yes, it needs to be as even as possible,’ I grunted out. ‘So, when we paint over it, it won’t look like shit, all bumpy and uneven.’ I was still in a foul mode since waking up Saturday morning, alone in bed. I’d fallen asleep holding an emotional Jessa after she cried herself to sleep in my arms. When sleep finally claimed me, I didn't hear or feel her leave the bed. When I woke up, I had a feeling of loss. I hated any time we were apart, even when I knew she was at work, school or hanging out with her friends. I just wanted to spend as much time with her as I could, I simply loved her company. Not only did she make me happy, I had a sense of wholeness when she was around.

Even having her in my bed that night, it wasn’t about our body chemistry. Sure, my body had responded to her proximity, it always did, but she needed my arms, my ears and my heart that night. I’d always give her what she needed when she needed it. What we had was special; it was intimate in a way that went beyond anything physical.

I kept holding on to what she said, that when she came back, we would be able to have a real relationship out in the open. I hated the sneaking around and keeping the truth from her parents. Especially her father, my boss, who’d been so good to me over the past few months. He was a man I respected, and I hated deceiving him the way we had been.

When I awoke, I knew where she had gone, whom she was going to see, and it upset me more than anything ever had. As a result, I’d been in a foul mood ever since. But really, I’d been a grumpy bastard for a week now, ever since Jessa told me that she was planning to go away with Matt this weekend.

It was the final straw. I could take a lot, but I was also a proud man. I wasn’t taking a backseat with Jessa, especially to a guy who didn’t deserve her. She tried all last week to get me to talk with her, but I just couldn’t. I wanted her too bad.

Late Friday night, or more like early Saturday morning, I woke up to her sitting next to me on my bed. She was cryptic; I knew she wanted to say more, but in the end, she just asked me not to give up on her. Like I ever could.

The only thing that was keeping me going was the promise she made to me before falling asleep in my arms.“The next time you see me, I’ll be free of him and we can finally be together, as I wish we could have been all along.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant, how she would be free of him, or how she was going to do it. As far as I knew, the wedding hadn’t been canceled yet, and all systems were still a go.

Fuck. It made me mad just thinking about the possibility that she might marry that asshole next weekend.

However, it appeared she had a plan. Perhaps she was breaking things off. I could only hope and pray, and that was saying something, as I wasn’t a religious man.

I hadn’t been sleeping well at all this weekend, so I’d been up working on the side of the garage since 7:00 this morning. Breton swung by around 10:00 to see if I wanted to go out to brunch with him, but I really wasn’t up to it, so he made a run to Dunkin’ Donuts then started helping me with the garage, scraping and sanding—albeit, complaining the entire time. He didn't have to help me; I didn't even have to be working. Steve and Colleen had been telling me to take time off, but I didn't really have much else to do. Besides, I needed to keep busy and my mind somewhat occupied on something other than Jessa.

A large black sedan pulled into the driveway. Two men in suits got out and walked towards us. ‘Who are they?’ I asked Breton, and he just shrugged his shoulders as if he really didn’t know. He grabbed a rag to wipe off his hands and walked towards them.

They both showed their badges to Breton and my heart sank. I knew, I just knew it had to do with Jessa. I could feel the bile rising and took a few breaths to calm myself.

‘Good morning, we’re looking to speak with Steven and Colleen Cahill,’ one of the men said.

Breton nodded, steadying himself. ‘Is this to do with Josh?’

Josh. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding and resumed trying to calm myself down by concentrating on breathing in and out. Not that the death of Josh was good news, but my thoughts went straight to Jessa. I just wanted her home with me, and until that happened, I would be anxious.

Josh, yeah, they could be here for him. I was hoping there was some kind of break in his case. I tried to convince myself of it, but it wasn’t working, I was too obsessed with Jessa and upset that she was away and alone with Matt—it unsettled me.

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