“She’s right. His actions are not your fault. Let’s not even waste our breath talking about him anymore. He’ll pay eventually. He’s probably realizing at this very moment that his career is absolutely fucked, so I have to be happy with that.”
Anna grins. “I received the revised script for this week. They are not even giving him any on-screen time. His death will be talked about by the rest of us, but that’s it.”
“Yup, and any offers he had on the table will be rescinded. I wish I could be a fly on the wall when he discovers his agent has dropped him too.”
“Wow, remind me never to fuck with you or your family,” Evie says with wide-eyed wonder, and Selena squirms ever so slightly on the spot. I smile with satisfaction and slowly sip my glass of champagne as I wait for Ash.
ChapterEleven
Jacinta
It takes Ash about an hour to join us, and when he does, he’s not alone. He has Shane, Alex, and Jace with him. I jump up out of my seat in surprise, but I have to stop myself from greeting them as enthusiastically as I want. Instead, I go for a peck on the cheek and reluctantly introduce them to the other people in the group—not because I’m ashamed or anything like that. I just know Selena is going to set her eyes on one or maybe more of them, and that drives me wildly jealous. And, sure enough, I can see her eyeing them, but when the three of them sit down together and Shane wraps his arms around each of them, her eyes almost bug out of her head.
Smirking, I watch Jace snuggle into Shane and whisper in his ear while Alex chats with Anna next to him. I’m so distracted that I miss Ash, and suddenly, he’s there in front of me, pulling me to my feet and kissing me like I’m the reason he scored the winning goal. I’m breathless, and my heart is pounding when he pulls away. He’s smirking like he knows what he’s done, but maybe I’m affecting him just as much if the bulge that’s growing in his pants is anything to go by.
“My lucky charm,” he declares, keeping his arms around me. “It’s all thanks to you that we won.”
I snort my amusement and roll my eyes. “Hardly. But it was a great match. You ride like you were born in the saddle.”
“Ah yes, my British aristocratic upbringing was good for one thing at least.” You can’t miss the sarcasm in his voice. “The estate management degree that Grandmother made me get is pretty much useless, though, so cheers to that.” He steals my glass of champagne and drains the rest of it before pulling back and wrinkling his nose. “Dom? Who purchased this pig swill? Darling, I thought you knew me better.” I turn to look at Selena, and she blanches.
“Oh, that was what the bartender gave us when I asked for some champagne,” she lies to him despite knowing we all heard her order it.
“Do you like my surprise?” he quietly asks me, nodding to the other three men.
“Yeah, I do, but why?”
“Because I know you’ve been spending all your time with me and haven’t been seeing them, and that’s not fair to them. They are being kind enough to deal with all my crap. It’s only fair that they get to see you too. If you want, I’ll cover while you sneak off to one of the bedrooms with them.”
“Really?” I can’t hide the surprise in my voice, and he grins ruefully, running a hand through his elegantly coiffed hair, giving it that well-fucked look.
“Yeah, babe. I mean, seriously, look at the three of them. I’d kill to swap with you.” He sounds kind of wistful, and I know he has many regrets about how he and Alex ended things. I don’t blame him. Aside from being absolutely delicious, Alex is also a wonderful person, and the other two shine just as brightly as he does.
“You know, I may just take you up on that,” I tell him.
The drinks flow and the food continues to be served, but I touch very little of it as person after person stops by our fire pit to chat with Ash and congratulate him on the win. Halfway through the evening, Ash takes a phone call. He moves off to the side so he can speak privately, but my eyes follow him. I’ve somehow become low-key obsessed with this man, and our charade is no longer one on my behalf. This isn’t going to end well. Someone is going to be hurt just like Alex warned me from the start.
I signal for a waitress to bring me another drink as I watch Ash argue with whoever is on the phone before the color drains from his face. He looks at me with panic, but he smoothly plasters on a fake grin after hanging up.
Before I can ask if he’s okay, loud music pumps out of the speakers as the DJ starts his set, and the patio area becomes a dance floor. Ash grabs my hand and tugs me into the crush of people. I let him, and we grind on one another as everyone else in our party joins us. Not far away, Alex, Shane, and Jace are dancing together, and between what I’m seeing and what Ash is doing, I’m all kinds of turned on.
Before I can act on Ash’s suggestion, there’s a commotion off to one side, and we stop dancing to watch Camilla Carlos push through the crowd. Ash’s hand tightens on my waist, then he whispers, “Please forgive me, but if I don’t do this, Edie will be married to the sheik within weeks.”
He spins me around, then, to my horror, he gets down on one knee. Grabbing my hand, he looks up at me. The music stops, and everyone gathers around to watch. I can feel the insidious prickles of their stares and the echo of their whispers as Ash clears his throat.
“Jacinta Summers, these last few weeks have been nothing short of magical. I’ve fallen madly and deeply in love with you.” He reaches into the pocket of his jeans, pulls out a black velvet box, and opens it, holding it out to me. The ring inside is a canary yellow princess-cut diamond. “Will you do me the honor of being my wife? Will you marry me?” Gasps happen all around us, and I swallow the urge to bolt off the dance floor. As horrible as this is for me, I can see his body is tense, his eyes pleading with me to say yes. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Camilla recording the whole thing on her phone, so I conjure up a watery smile and nod my head.
“Yes, yes, of course I’ll marry you.” Ash stands up and sweeps me into his arms, kissing me like I’m his savior before pulling away and slipping the ring on my finger. Cheers fill the hushed air, then we’re surrounded by people wishing us congratulations. Thankfully, Camilla gets pushed into the background by the excited crowd.
Everyone surrounding us makes me feel trapped, and I hold Ash’s hand in a vise-like grip. All the voices and touching and being crowded has my stomach rolling with nausea, my senses freaking out, so I look for a way to escape. Seeing a gap in the crowd, I pull away from him. “I’ve just got to pee really quickly,” I tell him through gritted teeth, and without waiting for an answer, I hurry away. Detouring past our fire pit, I grab my handbag and beeline for the inside of the mansion in search of a quiet bathroom to have a breakdown.
Before I can make it to the bathroom, Ash catches up to me. He’s quickly followed by Jace and Alex. They pull me into a nearby unused office, and just as Shane closes the door, Riku slips in too.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I scream at him. “Did you think to run that by me? Or the guys? Can you imagine what it felt like to witness that?” I pound on his chest with my fists, so fucking angry at him on their behalf.
“Hey, man, what was all that about? It looked like you set her up.” Alex sounds reasonable on the surface, but there’s a hint of sadness in his voice that makes Ash hunch in on himself.
“My grandmother rang and told me if I didn’t ask Jacinta to marry me, then my sister would be married to that sheik this time next week. She demanded it from day one, but I’ve been putting her off. She wanted me to propose a week ago, and I kept saying no, but I can’t risk my sister. She won’t hesitate to do as she promises.”
