My relief was palpable once we were in Teagan’s Jeep, and the club was in our rearview mirror. She was safe. She was with me. Not in the way I wanted, but hopefully we could remedy that soon.
We didn’t talk until we started walking up to her apartment. “No roommate yet, I take it?”
“Yeah, lucky for me.”
Once we were inside, the awkwardness between us felt disheartening. I wished I knew what she was thinking. Only one way to find out.
“What’s running through your beautiful head?”
She turned toward me as we both stood in her kitchen. A touch of vulnerability showed on her face. “I never wanted you to see me the way you did tonight. In the club.”
Her jeans and T-shirt made it hard to remember she’d been in the dark, back room of an illegal strip club a half hour ago.
I stepped closer to her, tucking her hair behind her ear. It was curly again, making me smile. “I get why you didn’t want me to see you there, but I’m glad I did. That place showed me the full picture of what you’ve been going through to pay for your niece’s medical care. And although I absolutely don’t want you returning to the club because I worry about the danger you put yourself in, I understand why you did it. But now, thankfully, you have other options.”
“You’re assuming your brother won’t be an asshole and Tory won’t tell him to fuck off before he even gets a chance to offer a job.”
“He’ll tone it down and figure out something. He has a lot riding on it.”
Her brow tipped up. “How so?”
“I told him the only way for redemption was to make things right with you. And the way he makes it right with you is both to apologize and to get your sister to take the job. He’ll either succeed, or he’ll make himself completely miserable trying. It’s kind of a win-win. You don’t think she’ll let pride rule her decision, do you?”
“No. I think ultimately she’ll take the job because it’s what’s best for my niece.”
“Will you call her and give her a heads-up?”
She contemplated. “I probably should.”
“Please don’t worry. Chance is the most persuasive guy I know.”
She rolled her eyes. “I have my doubts, but let’s hope in this case he is.”
“I’m sorry I went up to Vanessa’s room to get the ring. It was stupid to give her any more of my time. And I’m sorry for the text messages. I don’t know what they said, but obviously they, coupled with my brother’s asshole offer, made you leave. I tried to text and call you.”
She reached to her purse and pulled out her phone. “I kept it off because I’m down to five percent battery. I forgot my charger in the resort hotel room.”
Now I knew why she hadn’t answered any of my messages. She hadn’t even received them.
She powered her phone on and handed it over.
After I scrolled upward from all of my new messages, I read the ones my mother had sent to Teagan as me, instantly feeling anger toward her interference.
“My mother deleted your phone number from my phone. I guess it was a silly delay tactic, hoping you would leave, and I wouldn’t be able to reach you quickly enough to tell you what really happened.” I sighed, handing her phone back to her.
“Yeah, but it worked.”
“I have to ask you something. Why, after everything that had happened between us, would you believe I would get back together with Vanessa?” I guessed the answer, but I wanted to hear how she explained it.
“After the visit from your brother, I was anxious and on edge, not knowing how I was going to tell you about the strip club. By the time these text messages came in, it wasn’t hard to convince me of anything. We fessed up to our attraction to each other, had sex, and it was great, but you didn’t make me any promises. Hell, if anything, you were very clear that you weren’t ready for another relationship and were trying to avoid a rebound.”
My hand reached out to take hers. “The night of the rehearsal dinner, Vanessa came up to me, and I didn’t feel anything except annoyance. Time with her meant keeping me from you. I knew then I was completely over her and ready for a fresh start.”
Teagan’s eyes went wide. “You never shared that.”
“I know. My plan, which now sounds stupid, was to get far away from the wedding weekend and my ex, and put some distance between us and our fake relationship. I thought when we went to LA, or maybe once we were back here in Dubai, just the two of us, I could tell you how I wanted this to be real.”
