Which is likely half of why I ended up nearly marrying Chandler despite all of the not-great things he’s done to other people I love.
My friends.
My brother.
God.
Icannotbelieve Chandler set Theo up to take the fall for something he did ten years ago. Theowent to jail. For somethingChandler did.
And I’m mad at Theo for not telling me and for not fighting back in court and for justtakingit.
For not believing in himself.
For not believing that I would’ve believed in him.
Jonas squeezes me tighter. Is this an act? Or is he actually a nice person?
“You can go,” I say again. “Truly. I don’t need help. I just want to be alone for a while.”
“Have you been alone the whole time you’ve been here?”
He doesn’t saysince your wedding, so the man gets points for thinking on his feet while he smells like an intoxicated tree. “The airport was…uncomfortable.”
“Here?”
“No, in Hawaii.”
“Did people—”
“It’s fine.”Don’t think about it, Emma. Do. Not. Think. About. It. “It’s fine. It’s over. I’m here. Everyone’s leaving me alone. It’s lovely on the beach.” In the early mornings before anyone else is around. “And the house is very comfortable. It’s a good place to—”
Nope.
Not finishing that sentence.
But my brain whispers it to me anyway.
It’s a good place to think about everything you’ve ever done wrong in your life while you recover from a broken heart and wonder why your friends put up with someone who’s as big of a backstabbing idiot as you currently feel like you are.
“To heal,” Jonas says quietly.
I shudder and my eyes get hot and my nose stings. “To try.”
He squeezes tighter.
And it feels so good to—no.
No.
I’m done blindly trusting people.
So I shake him off and put some distance between us. “Did you really trick your wife into getting married so she’d quit Hollywood and have designer kids with good genes with you?”
He winces, then winces harder like wincing reminded him that he has a hangover.
And I desperately try not to wince right along with him. Who asks a stranger a question like that?
You do, Emma Monroe. You do now. Don’t be a sucker again. Do. Not. Be. A. Sucker.
