Chapter Nineteen
Fannin
“Girl. You can’t stay mad at him forever,” Shelby says from the other end of my couch, attacking a pint of ice cream.
“Ummm, I can. And I probably will.” My own ice cream isn’t faring much better than hers as I dig out all the caramel candies.
“Has he called?”
“Yes. Constantly. And sent flowers. And gifts. And candy. And every other damn thing you can deliver.” Placing the empty carton down, I snag my glass of Moscato.
Three days ago he turned my life upside down. I thought I had met a man whom I could trust. A guy who would help me through my problems, not become one. I never cared that he was a bartender. I only cared about the woman I was when I was with him. I haven’t felt that way about myself in so long. Adam did a number on me. More than I like to admit. Jasper made me forget about all that when we were together. Never for one moment did I feel inadequate or undesirable. Quite the opposite. He went out of his way to tell me how beautiful I was, showed me how much he wanted me. Even the things that nobody else liked about me, he did.
“He hurt me, Shel,” I admit. “I understand the why’s. I mean, I’m not a billionaire, but I understand that he’s been burned and was just being cautious and has more to lose than I do.”
“Yeah, like a billion dollars more,” Shelby teases.
I laugh at that. Leave it to her.
“Not only that, but I feel like he also took away my confidence in my ability to do my work. Like what if all Theo’s enthusiasm was because I was fucking the boss?” I take a huge swallow of my wine. “And I’m pissed at Theo’s ass too. I understand that Jasper is his friend and boss, but they lied to our faces. Aren’t you mad?”
“Well, I’m not happy with either of them, but I’ll get over it. Easier for me since I wasn’t trading the V for the D because of the B.” She nudges me with her toes. Making me laugh again at her crazy ass. But only for a moment.
Unable to sit still, I pop up and take our garbage to the kitchen, grabbing another bottle of Moscato on my way back into the living room. I have a feeling we’ll need it. “Fannin, it’s like this—he lied, he shouldn’t have, but aside from Charles, I’ve honestly never seen a guy have his girl’s back like Jasper did for you. He was legit a one-man wrecking ball when it came to you and anyone doing you wrong.”
About to argue with her, she stops me.
“A total stranger and he had your back thirty seconds after meeting your ass. That’s gotta be some kind of damn record. Then, he had Adam taken off the account five minutes after that shit with him and Bethany happened. You told me how he stuck up for you at the wedding. And then let’s not forget that he’s not afraid of the pootytang.”
I choke on a mouthful of wine. “Oh my God. You did not just call it that.”
Shelby shrugs, “Whatever. You find a man willing to go down on you on your lunch break, you marry his ass.”
“But what if he’s a liar?” I ask sullenly.
“And what if he’s not?” Sipping from her glass she watches me with raised brows.
“This is why you should never mix business with pleasure. Twice now I’ve been burned.”
Shel snorts. “Let’s be real, you weren’t getting any pleasure from Adam.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” My lip curls in disgust.
“Look, all I’m saying is that he didn’t lie about another woman, wasn’t sneaking around behind your back—”
“He lied about who he was, Shelby!”
“He lied about being a billionaire and a job title. You knew his name. You ever try to google him?”
I shake my head no. “I didn’t think I had to.”
“Go get your laptop. Let’s see what would have happened if you would have.”
Reluctantly I get up from the couch to get my computer, handing it to her while I fill our glasses.
“Jasper James. Where did you say he was from?”
“Islay,” I say, remembering the night he had me taste the whisky that reminded him of his beloved island.
“Jasper James of Islay and the Iron Thistle Whisky distillery. Here we go. Wow.”
“What?” I snuggle in next to her, peering at the screen to see what has her sounding so impressed.
“That’s the family home,” Shelby says pointing at what could only be described as a castle. A fucking castle. “Says here that the distillery has been in the family for over one hundred years.
“We know all that. Hundred years, same family, biggest distillery in all of Scotland, blah blah blah. Do you see Jasper’s name anywhere?”
“Right here, says that the only son of Annis Hewat-James and Sean James, the heir to the Iron Thistle distillery took over as CEO and majority shareholder of the company a little over two years ago making him the most eligible bachelor in all of Scotland.”
I snort in disgust. Shelby continues reading. “Here’s another one, Jasper James of Islay the youngest board member the company has ever had at the age of thirty-two.” Scrolling and reading she stops when she comes to a picture of Jasper at a charity event a beautiful woman on his arm.
“Lorna.” Seeing them together hurts more than it should. It makes me insanely jealous, mad, and sad all at once. He doesn’t look any different. Still like a hot as hell beast. And her. She’s stunning. Long red hair, voluptuous womanly curves that put mine to shame. They make a gorgeous couple.
“THOT. She’s isn’t even that damn pretty,” my best friend says indignantly.
“I think you’re too old to say ‘THOT.’ In fact, I’m certain you are.” I bump her shoulder.
“Don’t tell me what I’m too old for. I say what I want. THOT.” All I can do is shake my head and laugh. This is why I love her. Why I always have. More sister than friend. Always here when I need her and always making sure I laugh through the pain.
Closing the laptop, she folds her hands over the top and leans back into the soft cushions of my couch. “So it was all right there for you to see. One little google search and you would have known it all. It’s not like he changed his name, or didn’t tell you where he was from. Hell, we’re both kinda dumb for not putting it together our damn selves.”
She’s right. I do so much research when I take on a new client that I can’t believe I didn’t find the connection. I guess I was researching the wrong things. Focusing more on how to grow the company’s newest endeavor rather than going to its roots.
“So now what?” Searching her face, I look for guidance. Did I overreact? No. I most certainly didn’t. Not in that moment. Not when he knew how badly I had been hurt before.
“So now you have to decide if you want to move forward in a strictly business sense since this is now your account and the expansion is a go. Or if you want to pull up them pretty big girl panties you like to wear and forgive him for a huge fucking lapse in judgement and then make him make it up to you. All. Night. Long.” Shelby waggles her eyebrows at me and gyrates like a damn stripper.
“You’re too much. You know that, right?”
“I’m never too much. You just don’t know how to handle me.”
Shelby hands me my wine glass and raises it in a toast. “Here’s to boys who have broken our hearts and to the men that picked up the pieces. Even the ones who lie about being mothertruckin’ billionaires.” Before she touches her glass to mine she looks at me half-disgusted. “Only you would find yourself a rich white boy with a sexy accent who loves to eat pussy.”
I groan and clink her glass with mine, taking a long sip.
“He really does, Shel. And he’s so, so good at it.”
“Marry him. Marry his ass right now.”
If only it were that simple.