And the one person I want to escape it all with, the person I want to hold me and tell me it’s all going to be okay, won’t even look at me. And I can’t blame her. I know I cut her with my words, but without her in my life, it feels like nothing else matters.
“Just go talk to her. You’re a bitch to be around right now and you two should be celebrating together, not miles apart.”
Exhaling and grateful that at least I have a slight buzz to numb my impending rejection, I relent to his suggestion. “Fine. But you’d better be here for me to cry on when she tells me she hates me, okay?”
“I’ll be right here.” He nods at me and then flashes me a wink.
“Fucker,” I mutter as I stand, take a sip of my water I asked the waitress to bring me earlier, and then go in search of my wife since I lost my sight of her while talking to Silas.
A minute later, I find her standing at the bar with Shayla and Chloe, tossing back a glass of champagne.
“Ladies,” I say as the visible tensing of Waverly’s shoulders catches my eyes.
“Hayes. This party is incredible! You guys did so great with this club!” Shayla shouts over the music, clearly buzzing and in a celebratory mood, but I’m barely paying attention to her.
“Thanks, Shayla. Um… Waverly?”
Slowly twisting to face me, her eyes bounce up and down my body before landing back on my face. “Yeah?”
“Can we—can we talk, please?”
Chloe shoves her forward so she lands on my chest, and just the feel of her up against me has me melting with a need for her. “Of course you can, Hayes. Go! Go! We’ll be right here when you get back, or not, you know… in case you want to go to your room and screw each other’s brains out.”
“Jesus, Chloe,” Waverly groans as she stands, smooths down her silk gray top, and then steps around me. “Fine.”
Reaching for her hand and lighting up when she doesn’t pull away, I lead her down the hallway to Ian’s office so we can have some privacy. As I softly close the door, Waverly turns her back to me and crosses her arms over her chest.
Great. This isn’t going to be as easy as I thought.
“I—I wanted to say thank you.”
That catches her attention. “For what?”
“For helping with this club. For pushing your design when you didn’t have to. And I want you to know how proud I am of you, Wave. The club turned out incredibly.”
Her face softens, but only momentarily before her walls are up again. “Thank you.”
“It’s been fun tonight, just getting to hang out and see our friends, don’t you think?” I ask, not sure how to start this conversation with her, but hoping to ease into it.
“Well, you seem to be living your best life right now, drinking and partying just like you used to. And watching you made me realize that I’m no longer going to stand in the way of it.”
Wait. What? “What do you mean?”
“I mean, it’s time we call this what it is. You got everything you wanted out of our arrangement, Hayes. And I did, too. I got a job offer tonight, and I’m going to take it. It’s in Vegas, so I’ll be out of your life soon enough.”
Are you fucking kidding me? “You got a job offer?”
“Yes. Now we both are where we wanted to be, so there’s no need to continue this marriage.”
My stomach drops just as my blood pressure rises, making me struggle to rein in my frustration as I blow up at her. “Do you think I wanted this promotion this way? I didn’t ask for this to happen the way it did. I’m trying to be everything for everyone right now, but I can’t, Waverly. But… I can’t lose you either. I love you!”
“You say that, but you won’t let me in! You can’t see that you made your choice and let me know exactly how you feel about my presence in your life. You won’t even let me help you!” she shouts, and right now I’m grateful that the music will drown out our voices.
I throw my hands in the air. “How are you supposed to help me? You don’t have any clue about running this company. Hell, neither do I, it feels like.”
“You could at least let me in, share your worries and stress with me instead of pushing me away!”
“It’s not your concern.”
“And that’s the problem,” she says while pointing her finger at me. “Because if you were serious about this marriage, you’d know that I’d support you in any way you needed me to, as long as you made me a priority too. But you can’t.”
“What are you saying, Waverly?”
With a deep inhale, she speaks the truth resting in her chest. “Our break-up is only inevitable at this point, Hayes. Perhaps we were stupid to think that this could work. I thought for just a moment you might want to give this a real shot. But I should have known. I should have known you weren’t capable of this. I was stupid to think that this could be real.” She shakes her head as a few tears fall down her cheeks, sparking my own to build in my eyes.
She’s done? That’s it?
“This is real, Waverly. I never lied to you.”
“No, but now I’m questioning whether it’s what you really want. I know what I want, what I deserve. I’ve had shitty relationships, but I never thought ours would end up this way once we gave in. But this was only supposed to be for six months anyway, right? This was your way of showing your parents that you could handle responsibility and wanted more for your life, correct? And now you’ve done that, so
