Chapter 13

Chapter

Thirteen

VICTORIA

After a hard night of sleep, I finally picked up my phone and took a look at it. I don’t know why I thought Devin didn’t care. The phone message he left mentioned my brother taking them on the scenic route back and that his phone died with no charger in the car. I turned to stare guiltily at my purse, where I’d accidentally stuffed his charger cord because it was still attached to my phone when we got out of the car.

By the time Devin got it charged, I had already sent a message to my brother with picture proof that I made it home safely. I knew he would have come back for me. I knew he never wanted to leave and if I hadn’t lied to him, he would have explained everything to Dallas then and there. Part of me wanted that, but the other part of me wanted to be sure that we weren’t in for a lifetime of complications dealing with Justice first. I glanced down at my phone again and pulled up the text he left for me the night before.

Devin: Something happened. I wanted to explain, but keep getting sent to voicemail. I have to go out on a date with Justice tomorrow, in public. I am going to cause a scene with her, so everyone - who isn’t our families - will know we are headed for Splitsville. I want us to tell our families everything. I love you. Don’t forget that.

Victoria: Sorry. Fell asleep last night with phone off. Let me know how the dinner goes. I am going to catch up with Jordan today. She seemed upset with my brother yesterday.

Devin: Yeah, he told us that she was very upset with him about five minutes before he rolled up on us at the gas station. You lied. Do not ever put yourself in danger again to keep our secret.

I hadn’t expected an immediate response to my text, but Devin was right. I had gone to bed angry with him for leaving me there. Even though I knew it was stupid to feel that way. It was my own damn fault. I just felt so out of control whenever other people were around us. It’s like fight or flight responses kicked in every time and I let my panic make the decisions, even when I knew it wouldn’t turn out for the best.

Not for the first time, I thought it might be worthwhile to go get some therapy. If things were going to work out between Devin and me, I had to come to grips with everything that scared me about our relationship, starting with the age difference and moving on to how to not care about other people’s judgements.

Victoria: I know. It won’t happen again.

I sent the last text to Devin and then got ready for my day. I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. It was Sunday. I could always go to my family’s house for brunch, but I hadn’t made it a habit of going there over the past two years because of all the questions about my supposed lack of a dating life. Every time I was around my family, they had questions for me that there were no honest answers to. Thinking back on it, I realized I destroyed a little bit of my relationship with the family for the sake of my secret relationship with Devin and that was one more point that should probably be talked through with a therapist.

Why had I been so willing to throw my family to the wayside and keep Devin hidden? The whole point in the secret relationship was because I thought my family might disown me for dating a younger man - my little brother’s best friend. I ended up basically disowning them instead. I had no clue what was going on in my brother’s lives. Devin had mentioned something about Houston being in a serious relationship, something my sister had informed me of as well. I still hadn’t met the girl. Then there was the Jordan and Becs drama going on with Austin.

Victoria: Are you free at all today?

I sent the text out to Jordan because I knew what it was like to have to watch the man you loved give his time to another woman. She would need a good friend to talk to because in all honesty, Austin had never claimed her as a girlfriend for a reason. I knew all about their on and off again fuck buddy situation. I knew she hoped he would come around eventually and make it more. Considering they worked together and spent an inordinate amount of time together outside of work, I thought they were finally headed in that direction too.

Like a coward, I hadn’t bothered to contact my brother because meddling in his business meant he could meddle right back in mine. While he might have been oblivious to what was going on in his own personal life, I didn’t think he was that blind to what had been going on in mine.

Thankfully, he hadn’t butted in and I wanted to give him the same grace, although it felt as though someone needed to step in for Jordan’s sake because she was like family to all of us. It wasn’t okay for my brother to keep her dangling on his hook while he waited around to see if a bigger, better fish caught the line too.

Jordan: How about dinner tonight? I could really use a friend.

Victoria: You got it. Pick your poison and let me know. We can meet up here or whatever restaurant you choose.

Jordan: We can meet at the restaurant. How about Fredrick’s? I get off work at five, since I’m doing inventory, and can walk right over.

Victoria: See you at 5.

The minute we walked into Frederick’s, I knew it was the wrong place to be. I couldn’t leave though because that would make a scene we weren’t ready for.

“I’m so sorry,” Jordan whispered. “Do you want to leave? I don’t think they’ve seen us yet.”

I shook my head. “Trust me, the bitch noticed the minute I walked through the door. If I leave now, people will wonder why.”

“You are a braver bitch than I am. Not sure I could sit through watching your brother on a date with his whore.”

I turned to see the absolute hatred that flashed across Jordan’s face as she mentioned Becs. I wish I knew the whole story there. I wasn’t naive enough to think that Jordan’s story was the full picture. If I hadn’t kept myself so estranged from my family, I might know more. That was something I would have to rectify later, but it couldn’t happen before we sat down to dinner. In the meantime, I would be there for Jordan while I tried to distance myself from the fact that our table would have a perfect view of the love of my life on a date with his fucking wife.

“So, what’s going on with you and Austin?”

Jordan’s face turned turned sour as she set the menu aside. “I think I messed up.”

“Yeah, you did, when you put up with just being a convenience to my brother.”

Jordan scowled at me for a minute and then shook her head, as if she had to bite off whatever retort she had for me. I didn’t miss the way her eyes traveled the distance to where my man sat with another woman, though. She made her point quietly. The Mercer siblings seemed to have a problem with diving into to straight forward relationships. We oozed into muddied waters and then bemoaned the drama our situations caused instead.

“I really need you to be here for me, Vic. The rest of your family is so angry with me.”

That caught my attention. “What do you mean?”

“I screwed up.”

“What did you do?”

“I-” She choked back whatever she’d been about to say as her eyes grew wide. I turned my head just enough to see Justice slip her forkful of food into Devin’s mouth. He smiled around the fork so sweetly at her that if I didn’t know the whole story, I would think they were a loved up newlywed couple expectantly awaiting the birth of their…” Nope. Couldn’t go there.

“Shit, we should leave,” Jordan offered again. I was about to agree with her when the server came over.

“Ma’am, there are two men at the hostess station who say they’re here for you,” the hostess stated.

“Me?” I questioned.

“Crap, I forgot about them. Please, don’t be mad, but I wanted to make Austin jealous.”

I glanced over at the hostess station where two men stood eyeing up our table. TWO MEN. “Are they both your dates?” I asked in a tone that begged her to say they were.

Jordan shook her head. “I heard Dallas mention that Devin and his wife would be here.”

“You knew and brought me here anyway?” I wanted to shout at her, but managed to ask the question through clenched teeth instead.

“Please, just let’s make the most of it. Look,” Jordan pointed toward the table where Dev sat with his wife. He leaned over a bit and used his thumb to swipe away whatever food had gathered on her lips. He stared at her mouth as if he wanted to devour it and that was when I made up my mind.

The last time he even thought I would go out on a date with someone else, he got drunk and slept with that bitch, which was why they were married now. I wanted him to have to see me on a date with another man while he was acting all lovey-dovey with the bitch who came between us. Their dinner was supposed to be a breakup scene, not honeymoon bliss.

I nodded my head to Jordan and the nervous hostess went back to grab our dates and escort them to us. “Just so you know, Mark knows what’s going on tonight. I told him the gist of the issues with Devin and he agreed to be your date and cause drama, but he knows it won’t go anywhere.”

I nodded my head, even though I was once again angry with Jordan because she took it upon herself to tell a complete stranger about my embarrassing situation. She must have caught the anger simmering beneath the surface of my fake calm, because she apologized.

“Sorry, I thought it would be better than leading him on and you having to fend off grabby hands and expectations.”

“We’ll talk about it later, Jordan. I’m not a fan of being blindsided and I thought you wanted to talk about the mess with Austin, since you somehow managed to anger my whole family while I’m in the dark about it.”

She had the sense to look chagrined as the men approached the table. My date for the night held his hand out to me. “Hi, I’m Mark.”

“Victoria,” I answered back as he took the seat next to me. I hadn’t bothered to shake his hand and instead picked up my wine glass to take a fortifying drink for my jangled nerves.

“Jordan explained the situation, but I have to say, I’m disappointed that this isn’t a real date. She didn’t do your beauty justice when she described you.

I know he was talking “figure of speech” stuff, but the word Justice rubbed me wrong and sent my eyes trailing across the restaurant to see the bitch whose name he’d unknowingly invoked staring daggers in my direction. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Devin though. He could eat his heart out. I was tired of being the one who had to watch as his time with her played out like a beautiful relationship while I was relegated to the shadows - even if I’d put my own damn self there.

“Thank you. I honestly don’t know why you signed yourself up for this.”

He chuckled. “Truthfully, I was trying to be a good wingman. My friend has had a thing for Jordan for a while now, but she’s been too hung up on Austin to care.”

“You know my brother?” I asked.

He cocked his head to the side and then smiled. “Ah, I see it now. I didn’t realize the woman I would have to help out tonight was Austin’s little sister.”

I shook my head and laughed. “Not the little sister. That’s Katy. I’m the oldest Mercer sibling.”

“No fucking way.” He shook his head adamantly. “I just turned thirty and there is no way you’re older than Houston.”

“So, you know all my brothers then?” I asked.

“Yeah, I do. Houston and I were on the same community league baseball team before his bar renovations started to take up all his time.”

“Oh.”

“Why didn’t I ever see you at the games?”

“I don’t know. I guess there were other things taking all of my attention.”

“Other things like the angry guy across the room who can’t take his eyes off you?”

My cheeks heated. “Yeah.”

“Jordan told me you had a secret relationship. Why would anyone ever want to keep you in the dark and flaunt that bitch around instead?”

“It started out as my fault. He’s younger than me, and I was not ready for all the judgement for dating my baby brother’s best friend.”

“Oh. Well, fuck that. If he was any kind of man, he would have told you it was all or nothing.”

“He had been trying to get me to date him for a year, I don’t think he was ready to give up so easily.”

“Seems to me he already made his choice and it was the wrong girl.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Those two are wearing wedding bands, sweetheart. Nothing says it’s over quite like your lover committing to someone else legally.”

He wasn’t wrong and with that in mind, I didn’t say no when he asked if I’d like to go to the dance floor with him. To hell with food. I told Jordan to order me something light, took Mark’s hand, and followed him out to the area that was cleared for a dance floor. It was one of the quirks of Frederick’s. The owner and his wife often had impromptu dances in front of all the customers. They also hosted an annual swing dance competition that they closed the restaurant down for once a year.

The only other couple on the dance floor was an elderly pair who had to be in their late 70s. They smiled indulgently at us as Mark spun me around and clasped our hands together on one side while his other hand wrapped around my trim waist. I had’t worn anything special, since I didn’t know I’d be walking into a blind date. Still, I had on a blue silk blouse and black dress slacks because Frederick’s was a place where you tried to look your best.

“The ones who aren’t afraid to take you dancing in the middle of a restaurant are the keepers,” the old woman told me and followed it up with a sly wink.

The tempo picked up and Mark swung me out in a surprise move that made me throw my head back and laugh as he then tugged and spun me back into his bubble. “God, you’re beautiful.” He whispered as my eyes came up to lock with his. “Devin is a fool.”

Of course he knew who Devin was. The fact that Jordan had spilled my secrets to a man who obviously knew all of my brothers and my secret boyfriend of two years felt even more like a betrayal. It made me wonder, once again, what she had done to piss my family off. I would get it out of her eventually, along with another lengthy apology for putting me in this position and spilling my secrets.

Mark spun me out and back again and by the time I was in his arms again, there was another couple dancing beside us. It didn’t even register who it was until the woman spoke - to me.

"Fancy seeing you here with a date," Justice snapped at me with a vicious tone. I ignored the bitch, but then Devin leaned in close. "What are you doing here with a date?"

"What are you doing here being hand fed by that bitch and having the time of your fucking life?" I countered.

Justice pulled on Devin, so he couldn’t answer right away. She turned and slid her backside down his front and made sure that I could see the full-body contact they had going on. Devin took a step back, but far too late.

As I lifted an accusatory brow in his direction, his eyes scanned me and my date. The frown line on his forehead creased deeper as he seemed to notice the respectful space between my body and Mark’s. Our hands were the only parts that touched besides where my other hand was placed on his shoulder and his just above my right hip.

There was nothing intimate about our dance whereas Justice had once again moved into Devin’s space and pulled his arms around her middle to rest his hands on her belly. She wanted to send a message to me and it was received painfully. Devin glanced down and pulled his hands back immediately, but the damage was done when the older lady on the dance floor loudly announced her congratulations to the expecting couple.

"You know what? I'm not feeling very well. I think I'm just going to go."

"If you ever get shy of him, and want to try this for real, give me a call."

"Sure,” I whispered. “Do me a favor?" He nodded.

I glanced back at Devin - who looked like someone just kicked his puppy - and Justice - who wore a smug smile that made me want to punch her right in the nose. “Don't ever hook up with that bitch." I pointed to Justice, who continued to stare at me before she noticed my date and ogled him as if Devin wasn’t right there by her side wearing a wedding ring that tied them together. Funny, I thought he tossed his ring in my house. Their “breakup date” was apparently important enough for him to get a replacement ring. Then again, I hadn’t seen a single sign of an impending breakup all night.

"She's got trouble and gold digger stamped all over her. Rest assured that would never happen, but I meant what I said about wanting a chance with you.”

“I don’t think I’m ready to spread my dating wings again just yet.”

Mark glanced back over his shoulder again. “Somehow, I think that’s coming sooner rather than later. I can be patient.”