He was an owner of the Mau Loa? It didn’t add up. He lived out of a run-down cottage, with a Jeep and a surfboard. She’d seen no evidence of any material items to prove he had much more than a pot to piss in, much less had the kind of net worth he was talking about.
“I’m a silent partner, V, and I don’t even own half. But I own enough to make sure I have a real comfortable nest egg should I ever get injured and can’t fight anymore. And it’s enough to break the policies for my sister and her best friend if I need to.”
“Wow.” Staring at a nick in the paneling across from her, she let the familiar feeling of betrayal spread through her like a virus. “I can only imagine the laughs you and God only knows how many other staff members had at my expense all week.”
“Vanessa, that’s not how it was at all. No one there even knows I’m an owner. And to be honest with you—”
“Now he wants to be honest,” she mumbled.
“I planned on telling you the truth when I bought you the drink at the bar, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was afraid you’d be pissed and wouldn’t give me the time of day after that.”
“You were probably right.”
“See? So—”
“It doesn’t matter. You lied to me, Jackson. And not just once, but every second of every day. And even worse, you made me lie, even after you knew how I felt about it,” she shouted. “I’ve heard of guys doing some crazy things to get in a girl’s pants, but you take the fucking cake.”
“That’s not what I—”
“Bullshit! Listen to how pathetic your excuse is. You couldn’t stand the idea of not spending time with me, so instead of being yourself and trying to get back in my good graces, you manipulated the situation so your chances were better.”
She pressed her fingers into her temples to quell the pain that had been a dull ache when she got her sister’s text, but which was now about as dull as a scalpel. Taking some deep breaths through her nose, she tried sorting through the myriad of thoughts spinning in her head…and made a shocking realization.
“My God,” she said softly, dropping her hands and looking up at him. “I broke all my rules for you.” Lying, relinquishing control, dating a man who used his fists when angered, dating a man whom I’d thought wasn’t financially stable, willing to see him more than three days, and I shirked my responsibilities for work on multiple occasions. And then of course, there’s the big one, isn’t there? “Every. Last. One. I need to get out of here.” She sprang from the couch and brushed by him on her way to the door.
“V—”
True to his M.O., he grabbed her arm to prevent her from leaving until he decided the conversation was over. But she wouldn’t go along with it this time.
“Let go of my arm, Jackson, or so help me God I will claw your goddamn eyes out.”
His jaw clenched and nostrils flared as his instincts no doubt warred with her command. But after a moment, he released her.
“I’m going to call a cab and wait for it outside. If you so much as step a toe over that threshold, I’ll scream bloody murder until half of Oahu comes, do you hear me?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m getting my things and going to Nashville, alone and without your money. At this point, it would feel like a payment for services rendered,” she said thickly as she begged the tears in her eyes to wait just a little longer, “and I made it a point to never go into the family business.”
He flinched, the look on his face a mix of shock and pain, like he’d just been sucker punched below the belt. But she refused to let it affect her and turned to leave. That was it; she was done. There was nothing left to say.
Then again…
She met his eyes in the reflection of the glass. Her voice shaky. “You were the only person to ever make me break Rule #1.”
“I don’t think you ever told me that rule,” he said, his voice scratchy and barely audible.
She glanced back, and damn it if the motion didn’t jostle the hot tears loose to spill over her cheeks. Swallowing past the painful lump in her throat, she smiled wanly and said, “You’re right. I didn’t.”
The slam of the screen door against its metal frame echoed in the night sky, the death knell for both their perfect day and the small bit of hope she’d harbored for their future.
“What do you mean she checked herself out?” Vanessa demanded in her best prosecutor voice as she stood in the security line at the airport. “She has a concussion. Aren’t you supposed to hold her there for observation?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but there’s nothing more I can tell you,” said the annoyed night-shift nurse. “She refused further treatment and checked herself out about thirty minutes ago.”