Dangerous Exes (Page 49)

“You think he’ll like it?”

Her smile fell a bit.

“Oh God, he’s going to hate it, isn’t he? It’s too risqué with the plunging neckline, and the lace makes it look like I’m going to prom—”

“Isla.” Blaire put her hand on my arm. “It’s absolutely perfect.”

“It’s over eight thousand dollars.” I winced.

“Great, let’s get five!” she hissed under her breath.

“Blaire?”

“You look amazing and he’s going to lose his mind.” She grinned. “And they lived happily ever after.”

“You’re not . . . upset that I’m marrying Jessie, are you?”

Her jaw dropped. “Isla, no! I love his best friend, the Jessie train has plowed—” She stopped herself. “Bad choice of words. The Jessie train has moved on to greener pastures and I couldn’t be happier for you. Promise.”

“Okay, if you’re sure?”

“Positive. Now go change so we can swipe his card.”

I laughed and very slowly made my way back to the changing room and put on my jeans, tank top, and black blazer. When I was finished, I pulled my hair into a low ponytail, grabbed the heavy dress, and returned to Blaire.

Her purse and phone were lying there, but she was gone.

Her phone lit up.

I glanced down, if Colin was sending her dick pics I was going to poke out my eyes.

She had several missed texts from him, and then Mayday mayday, what’s for dinner?

I laughed, typed in her code, and wrote back, Make your own dinner, by the way, this is Isla.

I clicked out of the message and saw Jessie’s name.

It was an invasion of privacy, plus they were talking about a surprise the other day, but then I saw “two million” and panicked.

Time stood still.

For five seconds while I read, time stood still.

I didn’t realize I was shaking until Blaire pried the phone out of my hand and helped me sit.

The bell to the store rang as Jessie barged in.

He locked eyes with me.

And the dreaded words fell from his lips: “It’s not what you think . . . I can explain.”

Tears blurred my vision as he approached me.

“Get away,” I hissed.

“Isla.” Jessie crouched in front of me and tried to pull me into his arms. I jerked away.

“We’re in public on Rodeo Drive, lots of cameras,” Blaire said under her breath. “Jessie, I’ll bring Isla home so you can talk.”

“Promise?” He didn’t look like he was going to leave.

“I swear.”

“Okay . . .” Jessie stood and then kissed the top of my head. “I love you, Isla.”

Too. Late.

Chapter Fifty-Five

JESSIE

I was losing my fucking mind.

I gave the girls an hour to get back to the house.

It had been five.

Five. Hours.

I called Isla’s cell every few minutes and left an apologetic message with instructions for her to call.

Hell, at this point I’d even take a messenger pigeon with a note saying she was alive.

Nothing.

I tapped my phone against my thigh, willing it to ring.

Then texted her again.

I’m sorry.

I’m so sorry.

We need to talk.

It’s not what you think.

Isla?

I love you.

Isla: YOU DONT DROP AN I LOVE YOU VIA TEXT YOU COMPLETE JACKASS!!!!!

What came after that contained enough curse words and memes to make my mind explode.

But at least she was talking to me.

Me: Isla?

Isla: I’m turning my phone off now.

Me: Where are you? Are you safe?

Isla: Maybe you should ask your little hacker, she seems to know everything anyway.

Damn it! How much did Blaire tell her?

They didn’t even have the full story!

Would it matter if they did?

I wiped my face with my hand and called Colin, he answered on the first ring.

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I’m going to say!”

“Uh, yeah, I do, you’re going to ask where Isla is, and you’re going to call in some sort of dickish bro code, and I’m going to punch you in the balls.” He said it so loud I held the phone away from my ear.

“The hell are you talking about?” I gripped the phone between my fingers so hard they went numb. “I just want to explain to her. I was trying to do the right thing!”

“You mean after doing the wrong thing?”

“Exactly.”

“You’re actually making our gender look dumber than it already is, you get that, right?”

“Damn it, Colin! I need to see her, I LOVE HER!”

He sighed into the phone. “I can’t, man, just know she’s safe.”

“It doesn’t matter.” My control fucking snapped as the panic and anxiety that had been attacking me finally hit full force. I fell to my knees and stared at my very clean kitchen.

And my very white and powder-blue walls.

All the things I hated about myself, all my insecurities, all my failures stared right back, and I had no one to blame but myself.

My house was the mirror of my soul.

Completely, utterly empty.

I hung up the phone and threw it against the wall, not caring that it sounded like it shattered into a million pieces.

A few hours later, my doorbell buzzed.

I was going to kill whoever was on the other side of that door.

I ran to it and tore it open just in time for Goo-Poh to slap me across the cheek.

Apparently I was getting killed first.

Chapter Fifty-Six

ISLA

Colin gave me a wide berth.

I blamed all men.

And he was a man.

I wanted to hate him too since he was guilty by being the best friend, but he kept my wineglass full, and the sharp pain in my chest was at least lessening enough that it didn’t hurt to breathe anymore.

I forced Blaire to tell me everything.

And I was livid.

Livid.

He said he was going to destroy me.

And he did.

Just not in the way he set out to. No, it would have been easier had he kept it all business and ruined my contacts, my reputation. But men like Jessie Beckett, they went straight for the heart.

And I knew mine would never be the same.

Because I gave him all the carefully protected pieces without knowing that he couldn’t be trusted with their care.

I wasn’t getting them back.

They were too damaged.

And so was I.

Colin’s phone started ringing.

Texts from Jessie kept coming on my phone.

And then Colin left the room.

Yeah, I bet Jessie was trying to get information out of him, too bad Colin loved Blaire too much to cave. I heard her threaten him twice already.

I tilted my glass back, not even tasting the red blend, and wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.

“Okay.” Blaire pulled the bottle from my other hand. “Not to be the devil’s advocate, but you read the texts as he arrived, what if he was coming to tell you?”

“Does it really matter?” I spat. “He still went behind my back! He slept with me while knowingly working with that woman!”

“Right.” Blaire nodded. “But if he loves you, which I think he does, why would he still do that? Something isn’t adding up. I’m not saying forgive him, I’m saying at least listen to him. I’d like to think he’s not that much of an idiot.”

“He is.” I grabbed the bottle. “Believe me.”