Part of Your World(89)

When I didn’t answer, he turned and started for his truck. I didn’t chase him. I couldn’t.

I was drowning and I couldn’t breathe.





Chapter 33

Daniel



I got in my truck and sat there, too shaken to drive.

She’d been living with someone else. This whole fucking time. That George Clooney guy who shook my hand, was he the surgeon? The ex?

That was the ex?

I understood now in full color what she meant when she said our lives didn’t fit. Because if this kind of guy was what her people were used to, I never stood a damn chance.

And why the hell did he shake my hand?

I didn’t think she was cheating on me. But how could she not tell me that guy was living in her house? And her brother was married to Lola Simone? She never thought to casually mention that her sister-in-law was one of the biggest rock stars on the planet? What else hadn’t she told me? Where the hell did her friends think she went every weekend? Where did that Neil guy think she went? If she needed to lie to them, fine, but she didn’t need to lie to me.

I knew there was more to this, but my brain couldn’t work through it. My thoughts kept jumping around the whole awkward, horrible encounter, from the blank looks on Gabby’s and Jessica’s faces to the guy who was fucking laughing. And the worst thing of all was I think that was her dad. I recognized him from the History Channel documentary.

I didn’t show up there to meet her family and friends. I wouldn’t do that without her permission. I was just trying to prove to her I meant what I said. I’d put in the effort, make this work. It didn’t even occur to me that everyone else would have the same idea and be there to congratulate her. I didn’t know she worked with Gabby and Jessica or her ex because she’d never told me. Apparently she didn’t tell me anything.

I felt betrayed, and it wasn’t even rational because what else did I expect? She said she didn’t see a future with us. She’d been very clear with me on that. She’d planned on ending it, up until last night, so I don’t know why any of this surprised me. But to see it with my own eyes was something else.

How could we be in love and mean so much to each other if nobody in her world even knew who I was?

All of this just solidified what I already knew. I really didn’t exist for her outside of Wakan. She had a whole different life, one I had nothing to do with, and she had no intention of including me in.

I was shaking too much to drive, so I sat there, trying to calm down.

Then I heard a tap at my window. A brown-haired woman in black scrubs stood there, eyeing me.

“Are you Daniel?” she said through the glass.

I blinked at her. Then I rolled down the window. “You know me?”

“Yeah, I’m Bri. I’m Alexis’s best friend. I thought that was you. She didn’t tell me you were coming today.”

“I…” I cleared my throat and started again. “I surprised her.”

Her eyes got big. “Oh. And what was that like?”

I shook my head. “Not good.”

“Nope. It wouldn’t be. Mind if I sit?” She nodded to the passenger seat.

“Sure.”

She came around the back of the truck and let herself in. She slammed the door and pivoted to look at me. “Tell me what happened.”

I dragged a hand down my beard. “I came to bring her flowers. She had that chief thing today. I found out she’s living with some guy—”

“Neil?” She scoffed. “That guy’s a dick. First of all, she’s living with Neil like you live with cockroaches. She hates it, it grosses her out, and she doesn’t tell anyone because it’s embarrassing. They co-own the property. He won’t leave. He wants the house, so he’s squatting there like a hobo against her wishes. They’re going to court for it in a few weeks and then one of them will move out. Next.”

I swallowed. Okay. That was good. That was something.

“Gabby and Jessica were there—”

“The wicked stepsisters. I hate those bitches. Ali hasn’t hung out with them in months. She didn’t like how they treated you that one weekend. They don’t matter. Next.”

“There was some older guy and an older woman. Gray hair. Serious. He wouldn’t shake my hand.”

She sucked air through her teeth. “Those were her parents. Wow, you went through a portal right into the seventh level of hell.”

I laughed, even though it wasn’t funny.

“Look, I don’t know what all was said and done when you walked in there, but I’m gonna tell you this. None of it was her fault. Her brother, Derek? He moved out of the country to avoid introducing his wife to those people. This is not a you thing, it’s a them thing. If I know Ali, she’s probably freaking out right now.”

I felt my blood pressure going down. “Okay.” I tilted my head. “Is her brother really married to Lola Simone?”

“Yup. She never talked to you about Derek?”

“She did. She told me all about him and that he was married. She just didn’t tell me who his wife was, she just called her Nikki.”

“She didn’t even tell me until I saw it in the tabloids, and I’ve known her and Derek for ten years. She’s trustworthy and she keeps promises and she’d respect their privacy, even to you. She’s good like that.”