Chapter Sixteen
Jaxson
“I can answer that,” Lincoln interrupted as he stomped back into the living room.
“I’d rather you didn’t,” I shot out, hoping Lincoln would mind his own business. I glared at Lincoln, warning him to shut the hell up. He had no trouble with the ladies finding dates. He’d always been able to pick up any girl he wanted in a bar and bring her home. It didn’t hurt that the restaurant he worked and owned had a bar and a bedroom upstairs. I didn’t want to think about all the women he had on the couch where Ariella sat.
She stared up at me with dark soulful eyes, her cheeks still red but not as flushed as she’d been earlier when I brought her upstairs to rest. “Don’t you have meals to make and guests to attend to?”I asked.
“I came upstairs to find out why you weren’t manning the bar. Guess my surprise when I found you and Ariella up in my place, already undressed.”
“It really was because I spilled water on him,” Ariella said, her voice soft and timid. Was she afraid of Lincoln? He was a big guy, same as me, same as the rest of our band of brothers who served.
“Just don’t leave a stain on the couch. I don’t want to have to replace that sofa,” he quipped before retreating out the door and back down the stairs.
“I hope I didn’t get you into any trouble,” Ariella said, her eyes had fallen toward her lap.
I reached down, my thumb guiding her chin up to face me. I wanted to stare into her eyes, see the truth, know what she was thinking. It was dangerous, investing my time and energy into a woman who might never want to commit. That was the easy part. She’d lied to me, and I still couldn’t let that go, the nagging suspicion that there might still have been more she wasn’t telling me.
My body had betrayed me, kissing her on the dance floor, and while I usually kept a level head, I couldn’t seem to do that around her.
I released my grip on her chin, unable to tear my gaze away from her, transfixed.
“You never answered my question,” Ariella whispered, staring up at me.
I let out a heavy sigh, unsure how to answer. It was far more complicated than just not having a girlfriend. She knew that she’d met Izzie. “Isabella is a lifelong commitment. Let’s just say not everyone feels the same way.”
“I don’t believe that,” Ariella whispered. She reached for my hand and nodded beside her at the empty seat on the sofa.
I collapsed onto the leather. The material sinking around my body, comfortable after a long day. “I don’t want to waste my time with a woman who isn’t interested in being around for the long run.”
“What about Emma?” she asked. “Why aren’t you with her?”
I ran a hand through my hair, ruffling it. She sure knew how to ask the hard questions. “I don’t love her.” Could the answer be as simple as that? It was the truth. We hadn’t ever been in love.
“Oh,” Ariella said, her voice soft as her mouth formed a little oh shape.
“She came to town a few years ago for a family vacation with her brother and his kids. While they went snowboarding, she came to the bar for drinks. That’s how we met. We both got trashed and ended up at my place.” It was literally as simple as it sounded. I left out the part where I had gotten hammered after my sister had come for a visit and just left. The house was quiet, empty, and I needed to dull my heart from her nagging and blaming me for our father’s death.
“Well, it’s obvious to me she wants you back.” She shifted on the sofa, pulling slightly away, dragging her legs up onto the leather and to the side, tucking them under her.
I’d seen how Emma had acted today, and I couldn’t say I was surprised. I’d been shocked when I discovered she had moved to Breckenridge for a job. After the initial anger, the disgust had worn off. She had a right to live wherever she wanted, but that didn’t mean I had to give her custody or let her see Isabella. That wasn’t a conversation I needed to have with Ariella.
“Wanting someone back implies they were theirs to have originally. That was never the case. We were never friends or lovers. We had one drunken afternoon together, and it had been a poor lapse in judgment.” It had been the only time I’d engaged in a one-night stand and look where it got me.
“She didn’t tell me that.”
I wouldn’t have expected her to. While I didn’t know Emma incredibly well, I also didn’t think she would be forthright with information, even if she and Ariella were friends. “I’m not surprised. It didn’t work to her advantage. She thinks we’re more than we are, especially after Izzie.” I didn’t want Emma. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to risk my heart with Ariella, but I would regret not trying. There was something about her that captivated me.
“What about you? Any more secrets that I should know about?” I asked.
She pursed her lips, her eyes tightening. “I’m literally an open book on the internet. Search my name, and you can find every detail of my life.”
Was it that simple? “Is that why you didn’t tell me your real name?” I asked. Was she worried I couldn’t handle knowing who she was? It hadn’t been my best day, learning that her ex-husband had been responsible for stealing investors' money. I no longer blamed her for any involvement. She’d been prosecuted and acquitted. While I hadn’t followed her case as closely as I’d followed her ex-husbands, I had done a little research after I’d discovered that she’d lied to me.
“I wanted a second chance to start over. There had been threats made against my life when I was married to that scum-sucking bastard. Bricks were thrown through our windows, and someone sprayed graffiti on the siding and doors. For months I had been afraid to go home, sleeping in my car where I worked. That didn’t last. I got fired, and while I had been acquitted, it wasn’t like they were offering me my job back. They told me I was bad publicity and too much of a risk.”
I could sense her frustration. Her tone had grown louder, more determined as she spoke. She sat up straighter and pushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear.