20. Jessica

20

JESSICA

" H ow dare you!" I said, anger making my voice surprisingly quiet. I wasn't yelling and screaming. Maybe because I was too aware that we were almost in public. The pool was in the center of a courtyard. The pool and shuffleboard courts were surrounded by decorative landscaping and then a covered walkway. Hotel rooms formed a horseshoe around all of it, with the room doors accessed from the open air, covered walkway. The lobby area, dining and party rooms, and the bar turned the horseshoe into an almost closed circle. But there was an open walkway from the parking lot to where we had gathered.

Over Ryan's shoulder, I could see people in the lobby through large glass walls. Sooner or later, someone was going to come outside, either to play in the pool or to go toward their rooms. This was not going to be a private discussion for much longer. I didn't know what to do or say to end it. I was so enraged, I kept snarling.

"I may not have money, and my backside is curvier than average, but I am not some cheap piece of fat ass. I may not have been in the best position regarding finances or fitness at the moment, but you are being an asshole."

Dylan stepped in front of me, as if he could protect me. He was there defending me. Completely defending me.

If I wasn't fully in love with him before, I was now. Ryan's words were horrible and vile, and Dylan didn't seem to care. Caring was the wrong word. Dylan cared for me. But Ryan's words about me weren't swaying Dylan against me.

"You need to walk away, right now." Dylan's voice was low and menacing.

"Why? So that you don't have to listen to Jessica and me going over old times, like how she helped secure certain trade intel, and if that information were to get leaked somehow, she would certainly be audited and?—"

"They only bother if you profit from that information. Trust me." I let out a bitter laugh. "If someone comes after me about insider trading, I'll be sure to point them in your direction."

"If I go down, I'm taking you with me," Ryan retorted.

"No one will believe you. Look at me, Ryan. I'm out. I have no assets. My actions were questionable, morally reprehensible. In the end, I gained nothing from them. There are no secret bank accounts, no offshore investments. Nothing. You don't have anything on me other than my past, and that's no longer a secret. Dylan knows all about us and how I did things to help propel your business forward at the expense of others." I turned to face Dylan. "I told you everything. I did."

Ryan let out a sharp laugh. "You told him about how you would get freaky in the elevator, knowing security would be watching us?"

"Ryan," I snarled through clenched teeth. I shot a quick glance around the pool and let my gaze rest on Max for a long moment before returning my attention to Ryan. "The kid has ears. Shut up. Will you leave us alone if I confess to every transgression, every potentially depraved bit of sexual favor you demanded from me? Fine. We did it in elevators. I was young and thought it was exciting. Turns out I was simply perverted and got off more on the thrill of knowing some security guard might see more than your supposed prowess." I tried to keep my voice low enough that Max wouldn't hear, and hopefully, if I used big enough words, he wouldn't have a clue about what was going on.

I turned to Dylan. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry it took me so long to trust you and tell you the truth. I'm sorry I created this situation. If I had only told you that I knew him when you first asked… I cheated, I lied, and I stole information. I helped to financially hurt companies. When I realized I was hurting actual people, I stopped. I changed jobs. I walked away from Ryan. But he wouldn't let me go."

"You think I was going to just let you walk away and snitch on me? You were so stupid," he said.

I couldn't look at him or Dylan. Yes, I had been stupid, so very stupid. I hate all of this arguing, especially in front of Max, especially where someone could call security or the cops on us at any moment. I stared at the concrete under my sandals.

"Yes, I was. I was stupid and I trusted you. And you turned me into some kind of, I don't know what the word is I'm looking for, but it wasn't nice. I didn't like myself, and I certainly didn't like you."

"You liked me just fine, as I recall. Don't fool yourself, sweetheart, you're just as conniving and manipulative as you ever were." Ryan turned his attention to Dylan. "I wouldn't trust her if I were you. She was good at what she did. She made deception and fraud look like child's play."

"Jessica, it doesn't matter. You're not that person anymore," Dylan said.

"But I was that person," I cried.

"Hey, look at me." Dylan put his hand on my chin and tilted my face up so our gazes met. "We have all done stupid things in our past. As long as we don't keep doing the same things and we learn and move on, I believe we can become different people. I believe you are a different person than who you were when you were with Ryan and doing those things. If I thought you were the same, I wouldn't trust you with my son. I wouldn't feel the way I feel about you."

Ryan slowly clapped his hands together in a mockery of applause.

"Such a touching scene. The reformed fraud confesses her culpability and begs forgiveness, and the weak beta male forgives her because of love."

Ryan stepped up, placed his hand in the center of Dylan's chest, and shoved him.

Dylan's fist shot out of nowhere and slammed into the side of Ryan's head. Ryan swirled around from the force of the blow. He clapped a hand over his eye where Dylan's fist made contact.

I screamed.

Ryan sprang for Dylan and grabbed him around the middle, pushing him back.

"Stop it! Stop it!" I yelled.

I'm not sure what happened next, but they broke apart. Dylan staggered back, and Ryan swung for him. Dylan side-stepped, the hit completely missing him.

I don't know what I was thinking, but I saw Ryan start to coil again as he got ready to throw another punch at Dylan. The next thing I knew, I was there, wrapping my arms around Ryan's arm, holding on to him for all I was worth to stop him from hitting Dylan.

"Stop it! Stop it!" I pleaded.

Ryan brushed me off like he was wiping lint from his shoulder. "Get off me, you worthless bitch."

I grabbed onto him and held tight. "No, you need to stop this right now."

He pushed at me, but I did my best to hang onto him like sticky pine tar.

"Fuck, Jessica. What is wrong with you? Get off!"

"I'm not going to let you hit him," I snarled.

"It's okay, Jessica, let him go." Dylan sounded a lot calmer than I think any of us were.

"That's it," Ryan growled. "I'm calling the police. You and your crazy girlfriend can deal with my lawyers. You assaulted me, and she is insane."

"Why are you doing this?" I pleaded.

"Your boyfriend just hit me. Are you blind as well as dumb?" Ryan said.

"That was self-defense." Dylan's snarl just added to the overall noise.

"Stop it," I said. "You know what I mean. Why are you harassing me? Why are you threatening Dylan? I thought you were the one who approached him?"

"Get him away from me." Ryan pointed at Dylan.

Everything was so confusing and jumbled up. Max was crying somewhere behind me, and I had to stop these two grown men from having a full-blown brawl.

I glanced up at Dylan. He was rubbing the back of his hand.

I had to stop this. "What can I do to make this all stop right now?" I asked both men.

"Leave him. He doesn't get the girl in the end," Ryan said, nodding toward Dylan.

I stared at Ryan. None of this had been because the men were fighting over me. I knew that. None of this could be about me, could it? I didn't understand.

"If I go with you, will you drop this?" I asked. I didn't know where the fortitude to go forward came from, but I was running with it.

"You leave with me right now, and I'll drop any charges, I won't file a lawsuit, and your man can figure out how to run his own damned business into the ground," Ryan snarled.

"Fine." I let out a huff. I picked up my tote bag that was full of things for the pool, sunscreen, towels, and the room key. I pulled the room key and my phone out of the bag. I handed the key and the tote to Dylan.

"You don't have to do this," Dylan said.

"Do you really want your son to see the police show up here and arrest you? Can your business afford to have him dogging your heels for years, trying to ruin everything?"

Dylan's nostrils flared as he took long, heavy breaths. "You're choosing him over me?"

I rested my hand against the side of his cheek. "No. I'm choosing our future."

Dylan put his hand over mine and leaned into my palm. "You're putting yourself in danger."

I glanced at Ryan. The red mark around his eye was already starting to darken into a bruise. "I'm already in danger. I don't know, maybe I can get him to calm down and talk to me."

"Jessica," Dylan said.

"I'll come back," I told Dylan. I glanced over my shoulder at Ryan. "I'll be back. You take care of Max."

I swallowed hard and stepped away. Before I could say anything, Ryan made a low rumbling sound in his throat and wrapped his large hand over my wrist. His grip was hard, painful as he dragged me away.

"Jessica!" Dylan called after me.

It was all I could do to shake my head. He had to let me go. He had to let me do this for him.