“And he did.”
I huffed and stood up. “Why did you come here? Just to talk me in circles?”
Creed laughed, then leaned in and held my stare. “He married you soyoucould get that trust fund. The stipulation is you had to be twenty-two and married for ninety days before it becomes yours.”
I tried for a rebuttal but couldn’t think of anything to say. That made far too much sense.
“But let me tell you something, girl. I’ve known that man since we were kids. We were out of touch while he was in prison, but when he moved here, we settled into our old friendship. I know him better than anyone except for Jinx. And I know that man has never looked at anyone the way he looks at you.”
I swallowed, still unable to form words.
“He’ll pretend he doesn’t care that you kicked him out of your life, but it’s tearing him up.”
“What am I supposed to do?” I asked, the words ripped from my chest.
“If I were you, I’d catch a ride to LA and find a way to convince him that you love him.”
I didn’t bother telling him that wasn’t possible. I recalled exactly what I’d said to Rule before he left. And those words … well, there was a damn good chance he would never forgive me for them.
“Try, Laikyn. Only a few people have tried with Rule, and those of us who did are still around. He pretends he’s a loner, which was probably true at one point. It’s not anymore. He just needs someone brave enough to show him he’s wrong.”
Creed walked to the door.
“If you want to catch a ride with us, the flight leaves first thing in the morning.”
I nodded.
“In the meantime, maybe you can chat with Knox. He’s another one of my friends who pretends he doesn’t need people. His reaction to you … I honestly didn’t expect it. For whatever reason, he seems thrilled to have family.”
He didn’t have family either?
I didn’t get a chance to ask anything else before Creed slipped out of the room.
I stood there for the longest time, not sure how I’d gone from feeling like the victim to the bad guy.
And as for whether I liked Creed Granger … well, the jury was still out on that.
* * *
Jinx
If I ever wondered what it waslike to spend a considerable amount of time with me, I learned during the trip back from Vegas.
Rule didn’t say a word. Not a single fucking word the entire time. We even flew commercial, and somehow, he managed not to speak to anyone when he was buying the ticket, boarding the plane, during the flight, or when we landed.
To be honest, it was a little frightening.
And since I could tell he didn’t want to talk to me, either, I didn’t bother texting him, telling him how I felt about all the shit that went down. In one day, we’d managed to blow up our entire lives.
Your father … Jeremiah Montgomery … he left you a trust fund.
A trust fund?
It’s the reason I married you.
One poorly worded comment and everything went to shit. Had Rule given it careful thought, perhaps he could’ve said, “I married you so you’d get the trust fund.” Instead, he’d worded it perfectly so that it sounded like he’d done it for selfish gain.
I couldn’t blame Laikyn for her reaction. I was sure she’d been taken aback and hurt by her interpretation of his words. I would’ve been. But I could blame her for everything she said after. She immediately put up a wall and shut us both out without giving us a chance to explain.
