Page 52 of Miss Belief

Turning to face me, she beat me to it. “It’s okay. Go. I know it was Vanessa texting you at the restaurant.”

Shit. Although Teagan was my fake girlfriend, I experienced very real guilt. “I won’t be long.”

She waved me off. “Take as long as you need.”

“Will you wait up?”

She cocked her head to the side as if surprised by the question. Guess I was too, but I supposed I needed her to know I had every intention of coming back to the room.

“Guess it depends how late you’ll be.”

“I won’t be long.”

Vanessa was waiting for me downstairs in the lobby on one of the sofas. She stood as soon as she saw me approach.

“It’s ridiculous to meet down here when I have an entire suite to myself where we could talk in private.”

Had her voice always reminded me of nails on a chalkboard? I remembered a time when I’d sought to soothe her complaints, but now I found myself annoyed by them. “I’m not going up to your room. And I have only a few minutes.”

“Why? Because you want to return to your new girlfriend? I hope you know she insulted the bride and your mother tonight. Is she the type of woman you want to be with?”

“She stood up for herself when both of them decided to go out of their way to insult her. Now please say what you need to say.”

She sat down and scanned the lobby as I took a seat across from her. This was as private as it would get.

“I needed you to know your brother set me up.”

I’d heard this excuse before, but honestly, I hadn’t been calm enough to absorb the details. “How, exactly, did he do that?”

She looked excited I’d asked. “He made me think he wanted to be with me, but then staged the timing so you would interrupt us. But I never actually went through with it.”

“Because I walked in on you both, not because you didn’t want to.”

“I was anxious and stupid, and I had cold feet or something about getting married. But I don’t any longer. Now I know without a doubt how much I want to be with you. How much I want to be your wife. You’ve proven your point by bringing your little date with you. Congratulations, I’m jealous. It’s what you wanted, right?”

To some degree, there was a small part of me petty enough to admit it was. But a larger part of me found no satisfaction in her jealousy. “Vanessa—”

“I still love you, Reid. You’ve always been my forever. Since we were in middle school when you gave me a white flower and told me you thought I was beautiful.”

The flower had actually been pink. Not sure why that tidbit stuck out now, but it did.

“We have so many years invested in each other. No one knows me better than you do.”

This was probably true, but had she taken the time to truly get to know me? Or better yet, accept me for who I was? A flash of Teagan and me playing Mario Kart on my couch came up in my head.

“Vanessa, I—”

“No, don’t say anything. Just think about it. Know I’ll be here, waiting for you.”

“I need to go.” I was caught between frustration and anger, which meant I was better off keeping quiet. We had a wedding to get through, so upsetting Vanessa with harsh words would not make the rest of the weekend go smoothly.

“Okay. We’ll plan to talk again soon?” She stood up and leaned in for a kiss but settled for my cheek when I turned my head.

My steps couldn’t take me away fast enough. But I was so focused on getting back up to the room to Teagan, I walked straight into the one person I had no desire to talk to.

Chance.

He merely lifted a brow as he looked beyond me to where Vanessa stood. “Your new girlfriend aware you’re down here talking with the ex?”