The few remaining bricks in Jace’s already cracked foundation had seemed to crumble into dust beneath him. Andre was leaving? The two of them hadn’t talked much in the days following Andre’s confession. Jace had been knocked on his ass by the one-two punch of losing Evan and finding out how Andre felt and hadn’t even known where to start. But the last thing he wanted was for Andre to bail. “You don’t have to fucking move out.”
Andre had looked up, his expression flat. “Yeah, man. I do.”
And what had Jace done? Had he insisted Andre sit down and talk with him? Had he told him that the reason he’d been quiet was because he had no fucking idea what to do with the stir of feelings Andre’s admission has caused inside him?
No. He’d turned on his heel and walked out. Like a fucking coward.
And now Jace had lost not one, but both the people who actually meant something to him.
He swigged another gulp of beer and leaned his head against the booth, the pulsing beat of the music like a hammer against his throbbing skull. He should’ve never let himself care. He’d promised himself he wouldn’t open up to anyone again, but maybe he had a deeper masochistic streak than he thought. Because it seemed his whole life he’d done nothing but fuck himself over and let down the people he loved.
“Adding alcoholism to your long list of vices?” a familiar female voice asked.
Jace’s head snapped upward just as Diana slid into the other side of the booth, her cherry-red lips curled into a sneer.
He had no idea why she was there or how she’d tracked him down, but he didn’t care. Now was not the time to have a discussion with her—not when he had more anger and alcohol coursing through him than good sense. “Go away, Di. I’m not in the mood to deal with you.”Author: Roni Loren
“I don’t give a shit what you’re in the mood for,” she said, her expression pinched. “You’re trying to leave me destitute, and I’m not about to sit back and let you.”
“Oh, give me a fucking break. Destitute?” He looked at her diamond earrings and the Rolex circling her wrist. “You haven’t worked in the last five years, and you’re living with a guy who drags in twice what I was making when we were married. I don’t think you’ll be standing in the soup line any time soon.”
“Greg’s money is not mine. He doesn’t believe in marriage, so our accounts are separate. And after all the hell you put me through in our marriage, you owe me this. I was there when you built that store. It’s half mine.”
Jace closed his eyes, counted to five. I will not yell at a woman in public. I will not grab her by her shoulders and shake her. “Leave, Diana. I don’t owe you a damn thing. We’ll deal with this through the courts.”
She pulled a manila folder from her purse and set it on the table between them. “You’re not the only one who can hire a private investigator, asshole.”
He glanced down at the folder as she peeled back the cover. On top was the photo of him and Evan on the balcony—the one that had been released to the press.
Red leaked into his vision, blinding him with the flood of rage. He gripped the edge of the table, breathing through all the things he wanted to scream.
“You conniving bitch,” he said, his voice low and dangerous.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Does this make you mad?” she asked coyly. “Now that my ex-husband is trying to take my money, I had to go find funds somewhere else. And his slutty new girlfriend was quite convenient for giving the PI fodder.”
Jace slammed his fist on the table, the noise blending into the loud music. “You call her that one more time and I swear to God . . .”
Diana flipped the photo to the side, cutting off Jace’s threat and revealing another picture beneath. He and Evan at Christmas back when she was still living with his family.
Shit. Diana knew.
Another flip. A black-and-white photo of a teenage Evan standing by a window. Jace frowned. He didn’t recognize the location, but Evan looked the same as when she’d run away, her hair just a little longer. His gaze tracked down the picture and froze. Evan’s waistline was rounded, peeking out of the bottom of her T-shirt.
He went cold all over.
Diana smiled. “Guess my PI is better than yours. Did you know your little girlfriend was investigated for a pornography ring? They have a whole file on her. Apparently, she learned her photography skills in a not-so-traditional way.” She tapped the picture. “And, huh, wonder where that baby ended up?”
Jace barely heard what Diana was saying. The sounds and lights of the bar swirled around him in a haze as things crashed together in his mind. “Why are you doing this?”
She leaned forward on the table, hawk-eyeing him. “The website gave me fifty thousand for that first picture. Imagine what they would give me for these.”
No. No way would he let Evan be exposed like that. She’d lose everything.
He pressed his fingers against his temples. “Tell me what you want.”
She leaned back, the face he once thought of as pretty looking like a twisted nightmare. “Five hundred thousand dollars. You give me that, I give you all the information I have. And I’ll relieve you of alimony.”
He stared at her in disbelief. “Half a million? You’re out of your damn mind, woman. I don’t have that kind of money lying around.”