The Sweetest Fling (A Stupid Cupid Book) (20 page)

Lawrence gave Ashley a look like she’d switched personalities. He threw up his hands.

“Alright. I’ll go. But, I’m not sneaking anywhere. I’ll check in on them but that’s it.”

Ashley clapped happily and reached for him. “Thank you soooo much, baby. I knew we could count on you.” She kissed him on each cheek and the forehead when he reached her bedside. “Now, off you go. And don’t be shy about asking them a couple of casual questions.”

“This feels all wrong, Ashley. I cant’ keep avoiding the truth.” Jace rubbed her shoulders as the door hushed closed and Ashley gaze nailed her still. “No matter what happens.”

“You love her. Don’t you?” It wasn’t a question so much as verification.

Feeling cornered and defeated, Jace nodded once.

“Yeah. I saw it the day at the dress shop. She loves you too, you know.” Silence stretched the moment outward. Muffled voices and footsteps outside the door swept below the empty air. “How did Bels take it?”

The sting returned to his eyes, threatening his composure. Ashley knew. And cared. Cared enough to help Claire find him. And Lawrence knew and Davis. And they didn’t hate him. And Tyler ...

“Bels? Not ... very well,” Jace said, glancing upward and to the side in hopes of relieving the sting.

“She’ll be okay. She’ll find someone. If someone doesn’t return your feelings, no matter how much you love them, want them, it’s just not worth it in the end. You can’t fake what you feel for Claire and it’s not the kind of thing that grows over time or simply goes away. It just is.”

A tear slid out. Jace swiped it away and went to the window to stare out at the parking lot below. “She left me. She didn’t want me and I can’t know for sure she won’t do it again.”

“That was then. And maybe she was just scared, you know? Love can be overwhelming, scary. It can make you feel like an undertow has grabbed hold of your entire world. People grow, Jace. She’s here now and she’s fighting for you.”

Jace sighed. “She broke off her engagement, or at least said she was going to.” He faced Ashley and paused when he saw the depth of emotion in his sister's eyes. “But she didn’t do it for me.”

“Oh, Jace,” Ashley said and reached out a hand.

“She’s been engaged this whole time. Only when Tyler told her about seeing
Oliver
.” He ground out the name. “Only then did she say she was going to end it. And finding out about her fiancé being seen with another woman hurt her. I saw it. Ashley, if she wanted me, if she loved me, then would that have mattered?” He came to the bed and sat down on the few inches Ashley made room for. His sister took his hand.

Another tear snuck out, and too many more would follow if he didn’t change the subject. Thankfully, Lawrence chose that moment to walk in. Jace straightened his shoulders, notched up his chin and stood up, ready to thank his brother-in-law. The look on his face stopped Jace in his tracks.

He didn’t want to know. But he had to find out. “What is it? What did you overhear?”

~~

Chapter Twenty

Claire had never been a nail biter, but she considered taking it up when another thirty minutes passed with no phone call and no sign of Tyler’s car pulling up to the driveway. Her nerves had quieted and raged in turns over the last hour and a half.

If she called Beverly again, they’d end up on the outs. Her friend was that exasperated.
Just go wait at the hospital.
Four calls since she’d arrived to wait was plenty to test the bounds of best friendship. Besides, Beverly had already said all the right things. Now, it was up to Claire.

She’d found the right hospital, remembering Ashley talking about it over lunch back several weeks ago. Wow. Things had changed. Fast. Now all she had to do was survive this—hours sitting next to Tyler who kept trying to flirt with her. Yikes!

“I know I already said it but you know I’m sorry, right?”

“Yep,” she said, blowing on the coffee that Mille had been sweet enough to grab Claire. Why wasn’t Millie this sweet six years ago? Claire remembered her as funny, a bit pushy, but never thoughtful. “It was already over Tyler. Trust me. Oliver will be fine.”

More than fine. He’d seemed flat out relieved when she’d gotten home and straight to the point. They were over. Probably had been the night he brought Trina home. Nah, who was she kidding? It was over years ago.

She took a long sip of the hot coffee; just cool enough to not burn off her taste buds. The bittersweet liquid warmed her throat and let her avoid talking altogether. Any second now, Tyler would say something that would break her down.

She couldn’t be the one to tell him about her and Jace. Not alone. They were brothers. He had to be here, too.

“Can I ask you something?”

Shivers of dread danced up her neck. But the warmth of the coffee spread, quieting her fears. “Uh, sure, yeah,” she’d said, rubbing her neck and noticing how little it helped.

“Truth?” Tyler looked her in the eye and a well of pain reflected from his.

“Yes,” she said, meaning no, and finding no way to change the subject.

“Seeing you after all this time got me thinking, Claire.”

“That’s not a question,” she said, drinking more of the coffee, gripping it like a life preserver. She should get up. She should run!

Tyler grinned. “Once things settle down with your ex, I was thinking, do you want to hang out?”

“Nope,” she said. “Except for maybe something totally benign and platonic. Like...grocery shopping? No. Too personal. Golf?”

“Golf?” he frowned. “Are you saying you need time?”

“Nope,” she said, drinking the last of the cups contents, noting an odd cinnamon flavor at the bottom. “This is really good coffee. It was super nice of Millie to get it. Where is she anyways?”

He looked at her as though she’d sprouted horns. “She said some things and left. Apparently, Millie hates hospitals.”

“Some things? Oh no. What things? She didn’t tell you how I stalked her down to get Jace’s work information, did she?” What? Had she really just admitted that? She put the empty cup to her lips and faked a drink.

Tyler’s eyes narrowed. “Uh, no, but I already knew that. My mom told me. ”

“I totally stalked him,” she said, then clapped a hand over her mouth.

“Claire,” Tyler said, his frown deepening. “Do you have a thing for my brother?”

She pressed her fingers over her mouth, feeling the words coming, unable to stop them. “He makes me crazy happy,” she muffled through her fingers.

Tyler sat back, clearly floored. “Jace? But...how?”

Run. Get up and run
. What was she thinking telling him like this?! It was like a need to confess had become physical. An itch she had to scratch. “At Ashley’s wedding. I met him and my whole world shifted and his did too and then we tried really hard to fight it and , but nothing happened I swear, and now I wish something had and that I hadn’t run scared back home.”

Heat rushed over her. God, she couldn’t stop! And couldn’t leave. Horrific or not, her heart wanted this confession.

“Six years ago?” he said, crestfallen. “You two...?”

Claire shook her head. “No. Not at all. Well, I tried to. I couldn’t help myself. But he loves you. Oh God, you weren’t supposed to find out this way. And now he’s all occupied. Shit. Jace will be furious.”

“Jace?” Tyler stood up. “Jace will be furious? I was at his house a matter of hours ago and trust me he had plenty of opportunity to tell me then.”

“I know! I heard all of it. I’m so sorry, Tyler, but even back in college, I liked hanging with you but never really crushed on you.”

His complexion mottled. “What do you mean you heard all of it?”

“About how I’m the only girl you truly loved, that you needed to break up my wedding.”

Tyler shook his head, hung it a little. “That’s not true.”

“Uh, yeah, it is. Not that I care. I mean I climbed out the window and left to dump my fiancé anyhow.”

His fists clenched. “You were in his house, listening.”

She nodded, putting both hands over her mouth. But the urge to just spell it all out overcame her. “Yes. In his bedroom.”

“Why didn’t you two just tell me?”

“We didn’t want to hurt you! You said I was the one. And then I got scared and left back to school and sent this stupid letter.”

“What am I some delicate flower that I can’t take the truth?”

She gave him a nervy laugh and rubbed a hand over her mouth to try to quell the tremble in her lips. But her hand was shaking too. Did he mean they’d hidden it for nothing?

Claire didn’t know what to say. What could she? Lying certainly wouldn’t help, not when she seemed unable to say anything but the truth. Too much truth. What would Jace do, how would he ever forgive her for telling Tyler everything?

It wasn’t her place.

She didn’t want to tear his family apart! Six years ago, that excuse had helped Claire run. She’d told herself that she couldn’t cause that family pain by betraying one sibling for another. And because how much she’d wanted Jace had terrified her.

“I need to find Jace.” She stood up. “He needs to know what I’ve done.”

“He already does,” Jace said from the lounge area door.

“Jace,” Claire gasped, torn between collapsing into a chair and running to him. Instead, she stood, rooted as he approached them, his expression unreadable. He came to a stop in front of Tyler. “This isn’t how I meant things to go.”

“Clearly,” Tyler said. “Don’t I feel like a colossal asshole.”

“I’m sorry.”

Claire didn’t know what to do or say. She’d done plenty.

“Claire, I owe you an apology. I’m sorry for trying to break up your wedding. You should know that I followed your fiancé for days. I spied and almost baited him with a blonde friend of mine.”

Claire frowned. Why was he telling her this?

“I got obsessed with you, knowing you were back in my life, even if it was peripherally. But, I think Millie was right. The girl I was in love with isn’t you.”

“Millie said that?”

He looked down. “Yeah. She shouldn’t have. It should have been you who told me, six years ago.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

He took a shuddering breath. “So. Did Ashley have the baby?”

Jace nodded, his arms tightly folded under his chest.

Tyler headed to the door. Holding it ajar, he paused. “You coming, bro?”

Jace looked at Claire, at Tyler. “Be right there.”

Alone with him, Claire went to him, trying to wrap her arms around him. He pulled back.

“Why did you do that?” Hurt resonated in his words.

“I tried not to. Really, I did. But the words just poured out of me. Please don’t hate me, Jace.”

“How could I ever hate you?” He shook his head and walked to the door. Much like Tyler, he paused and looked back at her. “Ashley needs me. Mom will be rushing in and smothering her any minute now.”

“Will I see you later?”

“I don’t know, Claire. I need a little time to process, see how badly all this goes down.”

Tears stung her eyes. “Yes, of course. Okay. Um, I’ll have my phone on me.”

He nodded and without a second glance, left her standing in the room. Alone.

* *

A car’s engine outside pulled Claire out of her worrying.

She peeked around from her front car seat to see if it was the silver sedan she’d been waiting for. She hoped that parking down the street combined with the darkness of night would camouflage her enough for Jace not to see her waiting.

Just in case.

Horrific. Flat out the worst possible way Tyler could have found out about them. She felt so awful for the things she’d said. Talk about open mouth insert foot. Her cell phone was dead from too many Angry Birds and she didn’t have her charger. She couldn’t even text him.

Oh, who was she kidding? She didn’t have the guts to text him. Besides, texting would be cowardly.

Nope, this groveling had to be done in person.

If the person would hurry up and get home.

Seeing headlights approaching, Claire ducked down, and watched Jace’s car pull into the driveway. Anxiety bloomed inside of her. She watched Jace for signs of fury as he got out, grabbed a bag from the passenger side, and walked into his house. She couldn’t tell much from here. It wasn’t like he’d throw his fists to the sky and scream, “Why?”

Claire felt like a stalker. A lovesick, foolish, nearly insane stalker. But she hadn’t known what else to do. She needed Jace. Had her confession ruined everything?

Prepared to face anger, hurt, even outright cold rejection, Claire stepped from her car and went to the door. One juvenile thought ricocheted around her mind. If all else failed....
Get him naked.

Get Jace naked and distracted.

Get him to the bliss that only they two shared.

What had Beverly said so many times?
Trust him. Trust yourself
.

Time to try. Without hesitation, Claire knocked. Her knuckles prickled.

She waited.

She smiled, in case Jace peered through the peephole, then decided a smile would look placating. She dropped the smile. She knocked again, harder. And waited again, longer. No answer. A powerful sadness gripped her.

“Come on, Jace,” she whispered. “Don’t give up on me yet. Answer the door.”

She lifted a fist to pound.

The door cracked open. Jace stood before her, shoulders drooped, head against the frame. He didn’t speak. Claire decided not to let him.