Diamonds (All that Glitters #1)(47)

She was horrified, and surely, everyone would notice. But she pushed through the benefit guests, toward the back of the room, anyway. She couldn’t believe what had happened. Tonight was supposed to be the night she and Jude worked out all their issues. They were going to be honest with each other, but she hadn’t expected it to ever happen this way!

And the look on his face when he had found out.

She choked down the pain. He’d been disgusted with her. She had thought that when she finally told him that she was still in high school, it wouldn’t matter because they would be on equal footing…equally in love.

But how could he look at me like that if he was in love with me? How could he love me if he showed up tonight to be with Felicity?

She just needed a minute to think before panic set in. She rushed into the restroom, and the room was mercifully empty. She locked herself into a stall and leaned her head back against the door as she closed her eyes.

What the hell am I going to do?

She could not go back out there with Jude and Felicity.

Yet she couldn’t leave. She wouldn’t leave. This was her event. She had done all the work to get this thing running. She wouldn’t be scared off because he was here. She would simply avoid him at all costs.

That’s possible. Right?

Her hands stopped shaking, and she straightened. After taking a deep breath, she left the stall and stared at herself in the mirror. She was strong. She was the queen. Later, she would figure out what the f*ck was happening with Jude and why he had f*cking lied to her.

She left the restroom and walked back toward the waiting room of guests. Halfway to her destination, a hand reached out from an open doorway and pulled her inside by the elbow.

“What the—” she cried.

Then, her back hit against a firm body, and a hand covered her mouth. The door was kicked shut, and she let out a muffled scream.

“Bri,” Jude whispered into her ear, silencing her outburst.

She breathed heavily in his embrace. Her body molded to his, and despite everything, she was turned on by his touch. She couldn’t help her body’s reaction to him. It had been too long since she had seen him, and even before she had gotten to know him, his body had set her off. He was still holding her against him, and she wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

How wrong would it be for him to take me right here with his wife in the other room?

God, I’m sick. She was not that person!

He had f*cking said they were separated. And she had believed him. She hated that he had lied to her about that, but she hadn’t known. Now that she did though, it changed everything. She would not be the girl on the side. No matter how she felt about him.

She wrenched herself out of his grip and faced him. “What the f*ck are you doing?”

“We need to talk. Now.”

“That is the epitome of bad ideas,” she said in frustration. “Your wife is out there! I’m leaving.”

She started for the door, but he grabbed her again.

“Not before you tell me the truth!” he said. His eyes, which had been so beautiful and comforting, stared at her with anger and confusion.

“The truth about what?” she snapped. She smacked his hand away from her.

“About you. You’re a high school student?”

“You want the truth as if I’ve lied to you!” she snapped. She couldn’t believe this was happening right here, right now. “You never asked if I was in high school, if I went to college, what kind of work I was in. You never asked how old I was! You liked the mystery, remember?”

“I met you in a f*cking bar. I shouldn’t have had to ask you how old you are!”

“Yes, because no one underage goes to bars,” she quipped.

Jude ran a hand back through his hair. “This is f*cking ridiculous. Just tell me how old you are.”

“How old are you?” she asked. Even when he had asked her at point-blank, she still had to deflect the question. Seventeen. Why is that so f*cking hard to say?

“Thirty-two.”

Bryna’s mouth hung open slightly. She had known he was older, but she had always told herself that he was probably twenty-seven. Only ten years older than her. Not fifteen. Christ!

She opened her mouth and then looked away from him. “Seventeen,” she whispered.

“Fuck!” he cried, whirling away from her. His hands were balled into fists, and he looked like he was going to punch his way through the nearest wall. “You’re a minor! This cannot be happening. We had sex.” His eyes found hers across the room. He was panicking. She could see the desperation in his face. “I took you out of the country.”

“Yeah, I was there for all that.”

“Don’t you understand?” he said, rushing back to her and grabbing her by the shoulders. He shook her softly as if to make the message clearer. “If anyone found out, I would be in a world of trouble—statutory rape, child abduction.”

“I’m not a child! And I consented to everything you did to me.” She looked him up and down.

“It doesn’t f*cking matter that you consented. If you tell anyone it happened, then I’m ruined.” He shook his head. Then, his eyes turned demanding. “Promise that you won’t tell anyone.”

Bryna glared at him. Is this what we have come to? Promises for my silence?