Fidelity (Infidelity #5)(88)

The ten days she was with that asshole… that crazy motherfucker… I was beside myself. She’s mine and has been since the day I saw her at the pool with that floppy hat and sexy smile. I loved her so much it hurt. I didn’t deny it.

I’d told her thousands of times.

Maybe our relationship moved fast, too fast, but that didn’t make it wrong. When something was right, it was right.

Theoretically I understood that now wasn’t the time to propose. Hell, she’d taken some huge-ass diamond ring off her finger a week ago and thrown it at Fitzgerald. There had to have been a proposal that accompanied it in the first place.

And then there was the other day at the law office.

Fuck!

The mere thought of Fitzgerald and his proposal made me rabid as in foaming at the mouth and ready to kill. The fucking audacity to propose marriage. Like in a million years she’d have said yes?

Then there was the damn will. The marriage stipulation. If I proposed, there’d always be the question of whether I’d done it for the money, for her inheritance. I didn’t need her damn money. I didn’t want it.

That house… castle. Others would speculate. We’d know the truth, but that wouldn’t quiet the rumors. I’d lived with rumors after Jo’s death. I didn’t want to do that to Charli.

Besides, she had school. We needed to get home. Spencer was locked away and there was the restraining order against Fitzgerald. I imagined Charli in that hospital bed. She’d tried to hide it, and I suck at emotions, so I let her think she had, but she’d been crying. Ever since the night I took her back to New York, she’d been emotional and crying out in her sleep.

I wanted Spencer to suffer, to have a taste of what she’d gone through. Even of what Chelsea had suffered.

It wasn’t just emotional. It had taken a physical toll.

Charli needed rest and Lana’s cooking. She needed security and routine. She needed to get back to her schoolwork and ridiculously large law books. The last thing she needed was another marriage proposal.

I glanced toward the door to her room. The two men outside her door weren’t trying to be inconspicuous. Their black suits screamed bodyguards.

Did I have time to go get coffee? I didn’t want to not be here when that door opened.

My mind was all over the place.

Closing my eyes, I recalled Del Mar.

And then it hit me. That was my new plan.

We’d go back. Just the two of us. No business or friends. This time if a resort whore made a move on her, I’d be the one who not only stepped in, but who had the right to do it. Wait, no. No public pool. We’ll book the presidential suite again with our own private pool and balcony.

I pictured the whole thing. An evening on the balcony, the sky aglow with an orange sunset, French wine, and a real proposal. Down on one knee. Maybe her mom could give me advice on a ring.

It brought a smile to my face.

I had a plan.

Christmas was a month away. No. She’d want to spend that with her mom. Next summer, after the dust settled.

I closed the app and walked to the nurse’s desk. “Excuse me, do you know how long Dr. Beck will be with my… girlfriend?”

The nurse looked up from the computer screen. “Girlfriend… as in a girl who’s a friend? You’re cute.” Her eyebrows jumped. “Handsome, too. Too bad she’s engaged. It was all over the news.” Before I could respond, she went on. “No. I don’t know. He’s not usually here this late at night.”

“She’s an old patient of his.”

“He’s a great doctor. I mean, most of the younger ones would never come in like that. But I guess this is pretty special, a Montague and all.” She lowered her voice. “You hear all kinds of rumors, but she seems pretty normal.”

I smiled. “I think she’s more special than normal.”

“No, I meant that as a compliment. With all the stuff that’s been on the news. It’s just too bad that she was with that guy.” She shook her head. “Crazy. I’m not supposed to say that, but like I said, it’s been on every news channel.

“You’re pretty special to be helping her out—with him in jail and all. I wouldn’t blame her if she decided to get rid of it. He’s nuts and that can be hereditary.”

A punch to the gut. The kind that knocked you to your knees and made the world go black. Not enough to enjoy the reprieve, but the kind that sent shock and pain to every nerve throughout your body until you screamed just to know that you still could.

That was what this woman had just done to me. I stumbled backward.

“What are you talking about?”

She lifted her hand. “Sorry, man. I figured she’d said something to you. You two seemed close. Don’t tell her I told you. I could really get in trouble.”

“She’s… his?” I couldn’t form a complete sentence.

“Really,” she said. “You know nothing. I know nothing. Just a baby. I don’t think there’s been a paternity test. I was only assuming.” She shook her head. “Nothing.” Her lips came together. “Remember… .I’m the Jon Snow of information. You heard nothing from me.”

I pushed away from the counter, Charli’s hospital door the only thing on my radar.

The guards moved aside as I shoved it open. “Charli?”