The Engagement Game (Engaged to a Billionaire) (16 page)

I jog back to where Sadie is sitting.
 
She gasps when she sees the look on my face.
 
It must have been bad.

"What happened?" she asks.

"He's gone," I stammer.
 
I hear myself talking from far away.
 
Other than that, my mind is disconnected.
 

"Who's gone?"
 
Sadie waves a hand in front of my face.
 
"Who's gone Kat?"
 
I don't respond.
 
"Is it Earl?"
 
She snaps her fingers.
 
"Kat?
 
Are you under hypnosis or something?
 
Snap out of it."
 
I couldn't.
 
My life was falling apart right in front of me.

Chapter Twelve

I walk to my car, hands shaking as I fiddle with my keys.
 
I wanted go home and get in bed with a bottle of something strong.
 
Maybe I would wake up and realize this was all in my head.
 
I didn't almost sleep with Jack, then get engaged to Rex, then find out my best friend was about to have my future fiancé's baby.
 
No.
 
This was a movie on autoplay in the background.
 
I was really passed out on my couch in a box of Cadbury chocolates.

"Kat!"
 
No more surprises.
 
Please.
 
No more surprises.
 
"Kat!"
 
I turn around to see the face I'd been searching for all day.
 
The one that confused, tortured me, and made me question the obvious.

"Jack."

"Did you-"

"Yeah."
 
I hang my head.
 
"I heard the news."
 
I avoid making eye contact.
 
It wasn't cruel.
 
It was . . . a self preservation technique.
 
Seeing the look on Jack's face would make me cry and then I wouldn't be able to stop.
 
Next thing you know I'd be half-naked in his bedroom.
 
Whoa.
 
"Was it quick?"

"Too quick."
 
The tone of his voice is different.
 
Not as lively as it normally was.

"I'm sorry."
 
A pressure builds behind my eyes.
 
As Jack takes a step closer I hesitate.
 
I can smell aftershave on his cheeks and the brisk movements of his biceps remind me of the night I'd fallen asleep in his arms.
 
"Jack, I can't do this."

"Do what?"
 
He knew what I meant.
 
This.
 
The weird game we were playing with each other's emotions.

"You know what I mean."

"If this is about what happened-"

"Stop," I gulp.
 
I unlock my car.
 
"Jack."
 
I look down at the pavement.
 
"I'm getting engaged."
 
I didn't sound as good as it had felt a few days ago . . . before Jenna's bridal shower.

"You're serious?"

"Yeah," I quietly nod.
 
Jack bites his lip and shakes his head.

"Geez Kat," he mutters.
 
"Are you sure that's really what you want?"

"Of course I'm sure," I raise my voice.
 
Maybe it was the extra coffee, sleepless nights or paranoia.
 
I didn't intend to yell at Jack the day of his father's death.
 
"You couldn't possibly understand!"

"Oh I understand just fine," he answers.
 
His chest puffs out like he's about to take on a UFC fighter.
 
"You'll marry anyone as long as they've got the cash."
 
He cringes after saying it as if wishing he could take it back.
 
I'm startled, and even angrier than before.

"Excuse me?
 
I'm
not the one with no job who can't take a wrinkly shirt to the freakin' dry cleaner!"

"I have a job," he snaps back.

"What?
 
Trying to salvage piece of crap condos you probably spent your life savings on?"
 
Jack goes silent.
 
I swallow the rest of my words.
 
He opens his mouth but quickly closes it.

"Just trying to be a friend," he says quietly and hands me a brown paper bag.

"Jack . . ."
 
He leaves me a frustrated mess.
 
I open the bag and pull out a plastic baggie.
 
A sandwich?
 
How comforting.
 
My nose crinkles as I take a closer look and realize it's not
just
a sandwich.
 
It was a ham, cheese, and potato chip sandwich - my grandma's cure for a horrible day.
 
The pressure in head releases.
 
Another tear and another regret.
 
I'd just pushed away the last real friend I had left.
 

*          *           *

I was about to play dirty rotten trick.
 
One that would surely ruin me but I felt like I was already ruined.
 
I had nothing left to lose.
 
Scratch that . . . I had about a
billion
things to lose but none of that mattered if Holly was carrying Rex's baby.
 
It was decision time.
 
Did I really want to be the ignorant wife that stood by while her husband entertained his mistress?
 
That wasn't me.
 
But that was where I was headed.

It was like the time Holly told me she saw Chad and this volleyball chick Sally at the movies together.
 
I didn't believe her but Holly made it her mission to prove it to me.
 
She took a picture that made me want to stay home sick all week.
 
That wasn't the worst part.
 
The worst part was when I let Chad slide by on the excuse that the two of them were lab partners and there wasn't another time for them to meet and do homework.
 
Yeah.
 
High school Kat was stupid.
 
She was inexperienced.
 
Blinded.
 
And adult Kat was turning out to be the same.
 
As much as it sucked to say goodbye to the wardrobe I'd already bought in my head, I was headed down the
Sally
road.
 
Holly was just kind enough to be the first rock.

"What's wrong, love?"
 
Rex still looks perfect.
 
He still makes my heart flutter and my arms feel tingly.
 
I still want to call him my husband and plan the princess wedding that would make all my exes jealous.
 
So why the hell was I messing with all that?
 
Backstabber or not, I still cared about Holly.

"Nothing," I force a fake smile.
 
Yet.
 
Rex and I sit among flashing cameras, one of our first official outings and I'd invited the one guest I shouldn't have.
 
Holly.
 
Any minute now she would walk through the front doors of the
Paris Cafe
and wonder why I'd asked Rex along to our private dinner.

"Mum will be by later with a few specifics," Rex carries on.
 
I take a sip of wine, my stomach ripping itself to shreds.
 
Oh Kat.
 
You're about to commit social suicide.
 

"Specifics?"
 
Since our agreement, Helen had gone awry planning everything down to the letter.
 
My future was being designed for me.
 
Who knows for how much longer?

"Yes," he replies.
 
He grins and stares at the form-fitting cocktail dress his stylist had picked for our first public date.
 
"The menu, the guest list . . ."

"Right," I answer.
 
Rex stares down at his phone.

"Sorry."
 
He answers a call in the middle of the restaurant, ignoring rude glares from surrounding tables.
 
I was getting far too antsy.
 
Maybe I should stand up and call the whole dinner off?
 
I catch a glimpse of something blond.
 

Too late.
 

Holly was here and I suspiciously watch the shocked look on Rex's face.
 
He hangs up, concentrating on me.
 
Holly waltzes in wearing a flowy dress that draws attention to her slim shoulders.
 
She looks nervous and she looks pale.
 
She doesn't walk with usual bounce and chip on her shoulder.
 
This is the right thing to do.
 
It's gonna be fine. . . or disastrous!

"Holly."
 
I'm the first to say her name in front of a trigger happy photographer.
 
Rex stands up as Holly approaches the table.
 
She looks at me, her eyes are blank.
 
The same way they were the time she admitted to me her parents were getting a divorce.

"Holly," Rex repeats.
 
He watches me as I smile and ask Holly to sit with us.
 
I can tell he's uncomfortable.
 
He fidgets with his collar and takes a large sip from his glass.
 
Holly gives me a look before slightly licking the excess lip gloss off her bottom lip.
 
Eff.
 
She really is pregnant.
 
My stomach bubbles.

"Rex," Holly replies.
 
"Kat."

"What brings you
here
?" Rex asks.
 
Holly glances at me.
 
I clutch the knot in my side.

"I invited her," I say.
 
Rex's wide-eyed look wasn't short of what my imagination had thought up.
 

"Why?"
 
Rex looks nervously at the crowd of photographers near the front windows.

"Because," I continue on.
 
You don't have to do this.
 
Just say you made a mistake.
 
Send Holly home.
 
"The three of us should talk."
 
The words come out and I can't have a redo.
 
That's it.
 
It's over.
 
I feel Holly's quivering hand squeeze my knee under the table.
 
I look at her, wondering how to start.
 
If I
even
should start.

"Perhaps we should move this conversation somewhere private," Rex mutters.
 
Holly's hand shakes a bit more.
 
I look to Holy again.
 
She discreetly shakes her head.

"Go ahead Holly," I respond.
 
Rex is on the edge of his seat now, and his reaction makes my muscles tense.
 
Holly holds her chin up, most likely battling an inner demon that claimed baby blackmail was the more rewarding route.

"Rex."
 
Holly sinks her shoulders, on the brink of hyperventilating.

"What's going on?"

"Rex," Holly repeats.
 
"I'm pregnant."
 
The news still stings.
 
I knew Holly wasn't lying.
 
She wasn't saying things just to make me feel like a zero.
 
I could hear the fear in her voice - her realization that everything was about to change.
 
Everything.

What did I expect Rex to do?
 
Deny it.
 
Act like she was loopy.
 
Insist
on talking this out somewhere else.
 
I wait for the horrified look or mercy glare in my direction.

"No," Rex shakes his head.
 
He raises his voice.
 
"No, you're not."
 
Holly's eyes go wider.