“It’s actually about Zach,” Nate said and my stomach tumbled to my shoes. “It’s his turn to step up.”
Fuck, they’re actually going to do it. They’re about to shove him into the marriage corner.
“He isn’t ready,” I said. “He’s not over Adeline, guys. I know she was his college sweetheart and that she broke his heart into a million pieces, and I also know that it’s been six years, but it was a tough breakup. I really don’t think he’s over it.”
“A tough breakup is understating it,” Alex said dryly. “It was a complete and total shit show. We know he hasn’t recovered yet, Jesse. That’s why we’re talking to you about it.”
“Okay, I’m confused again,” I said, looking back and forth between them.
I honestly didn’t understand. Adeline was a Morris. One of the many, many grandchildren of Robert Morris, the current reigning king of an absolutely untouchable internationalbanking dynasty so impressive, it made W&S look like a rural grocery store by comparison.
While Adeline’s family wasn’t extraordinarily wealthy, her father still had influence as a local politician. Zach had been convinced he was going to marry her, even if everyone had thought he was too young and not thinking straight.
In the end, she’d left him for some bigwig her grandfather had preferred. None of which explained why they wanted to talk about that now.
“It’s a high-profile divorce,” Alex said, handing me his phone.
I glanced down at the screen, finding myself looking at an email from one of the Morris lawyers essentially reminding Alex of an NDA, of all things. An NDA that apparently forced the Westwoods, especially Zach, to stay quiet about his past relationship with Adeline.
“What does the divorce have to do with Zach?” I asked. “I don’t get it.”
“That’s because you weren’t here for the fallout,” Nate said. “You were already in Miami,ignoring the dramaif I remember correctly what you told me when I called you about this back in the day.”
I swiped my tongue across my lips. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to fire back at him, I couldn’t. Because I had, in fact, been ignoring my little brother when I should’ve been here to help. Exhaling slowly through my nose, I focused back on Alex.
“Okay. I was an asshole. I’ll accept that, but can someone please tell me what happened so that I can understand what we’re actually talking about here? I feel like you’re talking in circles.”
Alex exchanged a look with Nate, then sighed before he crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, fine. The bottom line is that we need you to get engaged as soon as possible.”
“What?” I looked directly at Alex and laughed. “You cannot be serious. Just this morning, you said any marriage of mine would end in infidelity. So unless you’re drunk right now, I don’t understand what could have changed between then and now. Like at all.”
“This Adeline shit is what changed,” Alex said, raking his hands through his hair and looking decidedly unhappy. He dropped into the chair behind his desk. “Once the news of Adeline’s divorce hits the press, which could be days or weeks, depending on how her family chooses to handle this, Zach is going to be dragged in. Again. He’s the one who needs to keep a low profile for a while, at least until we see how this situation shakes out.”
“So that means it’s your turn,” Nate said. “Ignore whatever Alex told you this morning.”
“Not all of it,” Alex said. “And the Gala will be the perfect time to announce your engagement, and with a little bit of luck, you’ll become infinitely more interesting to the media than Zach’s ex getting divorced.”
I frowned at both of them. “You suddenly think I can keep it in my pants and commit to just one woman? Because I’m the same man I was this morning.”
“You could just try to keep it your pants?” Nate suggested lightly. “That could work.”
Alex leveled his gaze at me. “You said you wanted to help your brother. You said he’s not ready. So we’re going to find you a wife. Give me a few days to put together some names.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Where’s the romance? Where’s the passion? I can’t just pick names out of a hat.”
“That’s not how I’m planning to do it,” Alex said. “If you can find someone suitable, by all means, do it. If not, we’ll find someone for you.”
He turned and strode out of the room like that hadn’t been a conversation about changing my life forever. For a long minute after he disappeared, I just stood there, so shocked and confused that I couldn’t think straight.
I finally looked at Nate. “How bad was Zach’s breakup, Nate?”
His head shook again. “You weren’t around, Jesse. Just don’t go scratching at old wounds, okay?”
With that, he walked out too, that final comment about how I hadn’t been around stinging more than I wanted to admit. Especially because it was true.
After that conversation, however, I definitely wasn’t sticking around for dinner. I was pretty sure I had a mild case of whiplash after how completely Alex had changed his tune between this morning and now. I was stunned, to say the least.
When I opened the door a few minutes after Nate had disappeared, I heard laughter coming from the dining room, but no voices emanated from anywhere else in the house. That meant I had a straight shot to the front door. Sneaking away wasn’t usually my style, but I needed space right now and there was no way Jane would just let me leave without feeding me.
