Before You (Before You #1)(78)
“I don’t believe you,” Bre whispered.
“Do you know why his dad cut him off from everything and refused to support his music career?” Katie said, putting her hands on her hips.
Bre shrugged, trying to act nonchalant, but she feared everyone in the room could hear her heart beating. “Yes. His dad wanted him to work with him. He refused. I don’t know what this has to do with anything,” Bre said, her voice trailed off as she shook her head.
“Well,” Katie smirked. “That’s only part of the story. My dad and Jax’s dad are business partners. They want the business united, and that’s where Jax and I come into the picture. That was the other part of the ultimatum. We get married.”
Bre gnawed on the inside of her cheeks to hold in her gasp. She didn’t like where this story was headed. “They hoped you would marry. So what?”
Katie rolled her eyes condescendingly. “As you know, Jax loves music and his dad wanted him to give that up, but that’s not the case anymore. As long as we marry, his dad will support his music career, and that means the band will be signed immediately.”
“You want him to marry you as part of some deal when he doesn’t love you?” Bre snapped.
“Jax was never opposed to marrying me. Why do you think he had me act as hostess for his Labor Day party?” Katie flipped her hair behind her shoulder. “Because he knew we would get married at some point. He loves me. We’re like you and Cam. We’ve been together since we were kids. We always knew we would get married.”
Bre’s throat constricted. Admittedly, Katie was always around, and even though Jax denied they were together, he never pushed her out of his life. “If you’re together, why the other women?”
Katie smiled faintly. “I didn’t want him to feel trapped, so I encouraged him explore his options, but I knew we’d end up together.”
“I don’t believe you. He wouldn’t do that…” Bre pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to regain her wits. If Jax asked Katie to marry him, he wouldn’t have been with her last night. He wouldn’t have told her he loved her.
Katie held out her hand. “He even gave me a ring the other night in front of his dad.” Katie looked toward Cam. “You saw me going into the building with Jax’s dad a couple nights ago, right?”
Cam grabbed Bre’s hand, pulling her toward him. “Don’t touch me,” she said, desperate to run out the door, but she was frozen, staring at the ring on Katie’s finger, taunting her with its shiny brilliance.
“Jax told you they stopped by, remember?” Cam said, softly.
Bre shook her head. “I still don’t believe it. Just because she has a ring doesn’t mean Jax gave it to her. I trust him. He doesn’t have any reason to lie to me.”
Katie pulled the ring off her finger and dropped it into Bre’s hand. “Here, read the inscription. It’s self-explanatory.”
Bre recoiled at her touch and then squeezed her fingers around the cold metal, letting it bite into her skin. She didn’t want to look. She knew Katie wouldn’t have given it to her if it didn’t confirm what she said, but like a car crash, she couldn’t stop herself. Swallowing hard, she opened her hand, held the ring between her thumb and index finger and lifted it to the light.
K&J Forever.
In shock, Bre dropped the ring on the floor, where she watched it roll to a stop next to her feet. Her vision blurred and her breath shattered. She couldn’t move. She watched Katie pick the ring up from the floor, and when she heard the door open, Bre turned to look at her.
“Bre,” Katie said, her eyes blinking condescendingly. “You’re a cute, simple girl from a small town—a new flavor for a privileged guy like Jax, but he would have forgotten you just like the rest of them within a couple months. In the end, he always comes back to me because that’s where he belongs. He knows it. I know it, and now you do, too.”
The door slammed and Bre flinched, willing the tears burning the back of her eyes to disappear. She didn’t want to cry here, not in front of Cam, not now. Cam pulled her into a hug, but she didn’t feel anything but numbness. Her hands hung limply at her sides as he squeezed her tightly. She couldn’t process anything right now because processing it would hurt too much.
Dimly, she realized Cam was running his hand down her spine trying to soothe her, but the days of him being her savior were long gone. Cam lied to her and cheated on her and Jax… she didn’t even know what Jax did. He’d never promised anything. In fact, he readily agreed to keep their relationship secret. I guess she understood why. They both had their reasons, and apparently his were bigger than hers. She choked on a sob and she felt the edges of her vision blur. Oh God, she was a meaningless fling, just something to check off a list before he married Katie.
Bre pushed Cam away and walked toward the door. “I need to be alone. I can’t talk right now.”
Cam pulled her back to him. “You’re not going anywhere. Let me take care of you until you feel better.”
“No,” she whispered, afraid to look at him, because she knew she’d fall apart if she saw the pity in his eyes.
Chapter Thirty
“Bre, I love you. We’ll get through this. We always do.” Cam wrapped one of his hands around the nape of her neck, gently rubbing her muscles as he nuzzled into her, kissing her behind her ear. He loved the way she smelled. “I hate that he hurt you. I could kill him,” Cam’s voice was gentle. Since the first time he saw Bre after she moved in next door, he had an overwhelming need to take care of her. When he saw her crying under a tree in her yard on her tenth birthday, her big, beautiful golden eyes red and swollen, he promised he’d never let anyone hurt her again. He’d f*cking failed on so many levels. He felt sick about how cruelly he’d treated her this past year. It would haunt him for the rest of his life.