I was trembling as I addressed the crowd. But not with nerves. With anger.
I couldn’t believe he did this. I couldn’t believe I was so stupid not to have seen it earlier.
I just hoped it wasn’t too late when I publicly withdrew my support.
Next to me, Trevor was livid.
His jaw was clenched, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. But it wasn’t until I told him I quit that he finally jumped to his feet and grabbed my arm. “You can’t just quit, Jess. You’re invested. You’ll lose everything.”
I swallowed hard against what it would mean as I said, “Then I lose it.” I tried to shake him off, but he clamped his hand around my arm tighter and squeezed.
“We had a deal,” he hissed.
“No. We didn’t, Trevor.Youhad a deal with your other investors.” I wasn’t afraid of him. I was disgusted. “You used me from the start. You convinced me you were in love with me. Who does that?” The memory still made my stomach turn. “And when that fell apart, you still didn’t stop. You pivoted and leveraged my money and my trust. You used my belief in this town to push through what you wanted.”
I swept my free arm through the room.
“But you lied. To me. And to this entire town.” My voice didn’t shake. “This was never about affordable housing or responsible growth. It was always about greed and profit. What’s worse is you tried to hide it in the fine print, thinking no one would be smart enough to catch you.”
“Jess, you’re making a big mistake,” he growled. “Huge. You’re going to lose everything. You’re ruined. I’ll make sure you?—”
“You underestimated me, Trevor.” I cut him off, completely uninterested in what he had to say now, or ever again. “It’s you who made the mistake. A very, very big one.”
There were a few shouts of support around me.
I try to wrench my arm back, needing space from him, but he was stronger than me and only tightened his grip. “Let me go.”
He didn’t. “You’re going to regret?—”
“No, asshole.”
Trevor whipped around to see Preston behind him.
“That will be you. I believe she already asked you to let her go.” Before Trevor had a chance to respond, Preston’s fist connected with Trevor’s jaw. “Keep your hands off her.”
Trevor released his grip on me as he stumbled backward, catching himself moments before crashing into a couple nearby.
Instinctively, I rubbed the bruise that was already startingto form on my arm. My eyes locked on Preston. “You didn’t have to do that,” I said, my mouth hanging open in surprise while Trevor sputtered a string of profanities beside me.
“I know.” Preston ignored Trevor, looking straight at me. “You had the situation well in hand, like you always do.” His lips curled up in a little smile. “But nobody puts their hands on my woman.”
“Yourwoman?”
He nodded without hesitation and stepped around the knocked-over chairs to stand in front of me. “I know you said you needed time, and I’ll give it to you if that’s what you want. But I need to tell you that I don’t need any time to know exactly how I feel about you, Jess.”
I took a step toward him. “And how exactly do you feel?”
He answered me with a kiss. His arms pulled me into him as if we were the only two people in the world and not standing amid hundreds of our friends and neighbors.
It wasn’t until someone cleared their throat that we broke apart.
“Oh, I see what this is,” Trevor spat, his voice full of venom as he held his hand to his split lip. “You’re sleeping with the?—”
“Don’t make me punch you again, asshole.” Preston turned to him. My ex-asshole wasn’t a small man, but Preston towered over him.
“This townneedsthis,” Trevor said. “You’re making a big mistake. This development will bring money in. Money youneed.”He looked around the crowd in an effort to gain support.
“Wrong.” I stepped up. “What we need in Trickle Creek is affordable housing. A point I’ve been trying to make with you for way too long. But you refused to listen. Or you listened long enough to get me to agree to your bullshit.”
