“Always so dramatic,” he snarled at her. “If I want to hold your hand, you should let me without shoving me away.”
“Screw off, and hold your own stupid hand.”
Ouch.
“No, it’s your job to hold my hand, and you know it,” he said and grabbed her hand.
“Bite me, Stuart,” Jillian said and yanked her hand back.
When he grabbed at her again—I’d had enough. “Yo, Stu, my man,” I said, and strode up to them. “I think the lady said no.” I stopped in front of him and stared down at the little twerp. Seriously, what did Jillian see in this guy?
“And if a lady says no,” I poked him in the chest with my index finger, “it means no.”
He rolled his eyes at me and took a step back. “This is between my fiancée and me, okay? We don’t need your help.”
God, he really was a jackass.
I took a step closer to him. “I get that, but no matter if she’s your fiancée, your wife, or your bartender—if a woman says no to you touching her,” I drilled my finger into his chest even harder this time, “it still means,” I pushed my finger into him so he was forced to move back another step, “no. Get it?”
“Would you call off your dogs, Jillian?” He turned his angry face to her.
All she did was look at him, then at me—and back to him. “Trey’s right.”
He let out a sputtering cackle. “Fine, I’m sure Dad will love to hear this, don’t you?”
Jillian’s lips formed a straight line across her face.
Stu moved back further and straightened his shirt. “Expect a call, Jillian. Soon.”
After that, the little idiot turned around and walked out of there in his pompous ass manner.
“What the fuck was that all about?” I questioned my friend, who at the moment—appeared a bit shellshocked.
A few deep breaths later, she steadied herself. “It’s complicated.”
I crossed my arms and tilted my head. “I understand complicated. How about we go for a drink and you can tell me about it?”
A sad smile covered her face and she set her hand on my arm. “Sure, as long as you tell me about your complicated relationship first.”
Yeah.
That wasn’t going to happen.
I placed my hand over hers. “Jillian, what’s going on with you two? Your whole relationship has been wrong from the get-go. Why did you pick him instead of Cash?”
Her face blanched and she stepped back, letting her hand fall from my arm. “That’s not—”
The sound of my phone ringing cut her off. “Hold that thought,” I huffed and yanked my phone out of my pocket. “Ah, it’s my mom,” I said, getting a sinking feeling in my gut. I’d been wondering why she hadn’t contacted me with all the divorce crap going on between Lexi and me. I expected her and Wes to be on the first plane out once that news hit the media. But she’d been radio silent.
I’d assumed it was because they’d been having a great time with their new married life. And I sure didn’t want to be the party pooper who dragged them into our mess.
Anyway, I still had hopes that Lexi would come to her senses and take me back before I had to speak with Mom or Wes.
“Uh, this might be a while,” I warned Jillian before I hit the screen.
She nodded and turned around to walk down the aisle.
“Hey, Mom, what’s up?” I asked in as normal a voice as possible. I mean, there was a small chance she hadn’t heard what was going on—right?
She breathed out a long, tired, resigned sigh, “I left Wes.”