The Fidelity Files (Jennifer Hunter #1)(29)

My heart was racing and I could feel my body start to slip into panic mode. My eyes darted toward the valet stand, where I saw a small black trash can. I took one giant stride and tossed the paper in the trash. "I'm saving you from doing something you'll regret."

Sophie put her hands on her hips and glared at me. "Something I'll regret? You don't think I'll regret marrying someone who might one day cheat on me?"

Her words once again turned the blood in my body ice cold, and I felt like someone had stuck me inside a meat locker and bolted the door shut. It was exactly the reason I did what I did. To avoid regret. To offer answers to those who wanted them... those who needed them. Women just like Sophie.

But those women weren't Sophie. That was the thing. They were nameless, practically faceless. They were easily forgettable.

Well... almost.

I couldn't let my best friend suffer through what I had seen so many women suffer through. Not a chance. Besides, Eric wasn't even the cheating type. I was almost positive about that. True, I had never met him, but I had a sixth sense about these kinds of things...even from a distance.

I had a superpower, damn it!

Although, the more I tried to ignore the fact, the more it haunted me: the real reason I had thrown away that number. And it was a very selfish reason.

Sophie couldn't know.

She couldn't find out.

I had to keep the secret. And tossing that thing into the nearest trash can was the only way I knew how.

"Miss." A voice came from my left. I looked up to see one of the valets in his red jacket motioning toward my awaiting car. "Your car is here." His tone hinged on aggravation.

"One second!" I snapped back, causing him to cower slightly and step away.

Sophie tossed me a concerned look. "Jen, what's gotten into you?"

I bit my lip and tried to smile. "What do you mean?" But who was I kidding? I knew damn well that I wasn't fooling anyone.

"First you don't react to my engagement announcement, then you freak out when I tell you I want to hire someone to make sure Eric is a trustworthy guy before I marry him, and now you're yelling at some poor, innocent valet for no apparent reason. This is definitely not you."

She was right. It wasn't me. I wasn't sure who the hell it was. I took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I've been under a lot of stress at work," I lied quickly. Ah, yes. The legendary work scapegoat saves the day again. "Look, let's talk about this some more later. It's a lot of information to take in all at once. I just need time to digest it."

"Okay..." Her voice trailed off with uncertainty.

"Just promise me you won't do anything or call anyone until we've talked this through."

Sophie lowered her head and fidgeted with her valet stub.

"Promise me!"

"Fine, I promise," she finally conceded.

There was a moment of awkward silence between us as I attempted to collect myself. "Hey, I know! Let's get together for drinks tonight and celebrate your engagement!

The mention of her engagement immediately brightened her face again, and she smiled. "Totally! I'm in!"

"Great!" I exclaimed, forcing every ounce of excitement I could muster into my voice. "You can bring Eric! I'll finally get to meet . . ."

Her face sank again as she shook her head. "Eric left this morning. He really did have to work this weekend."

"Oh."

"But he's flying me out next weekend," she added hopefully.

I placed my hand on her shoulder. "Well, that's good news."

She nodded. "But we can still go out."

"Definitely. I'll call Zo? and John on my way home and we'll all meet up."

But I didn't call them on my way home. My mind was turning faster than a tornado and my thoughts seemed just as destructive. A major crisis had been averted...at least temporarily.

How on earth would I convince Sophie not to go through with this? Or should I even try?

My meeting with Roger Ireland only a few days ago was repeating over and over again in my head. I heard my own voice playing on an endless loop: "It's best to test them before they get married. If all my clients had done so then maybe I wouldn't see half of the things that I've seen."

Sophie was doing exactly what I would have advised her to do had she been...well, anyone else but her.

I thought about my options.

The first one was to just tell her the truth. This is what I do. That's my phone number on that piece of paper and I've been leading a double life: my own and some imaginary girl's named "Ashlyn." It would certainly solve the problem of having to watch my friend go through with something as stressful as a fidelity inspection. There was no way she would want me testing her fiancé. That was a given.

But was I really prepared for her to know? Would she even understand? Would she forgive me for keeping it a secret for more than two years? And would I have to tell the others as well? Zo?? John?

Just the thought of that made me feel sick to my stomach.

I moved on to option two: Convince her not to go through with it. Eric is a trustworthy guy; he'd never cheat on you. This is a ridiculous idea!

That seemed like the more viable option. But it would require more lying. And not just small "little white lies" like "I'm in Boston because a company is in the middle of a billion-dollar acquisition and their investors just backed out." Oh, no. These would be much bigger lies. Because they went against everything I believed in. Everything I stood for.