Chapter 4

Chapter

Four

VICTORIA

Two weeks passed in complete emotional turmoil for me. Two weeks in which I never saw Devin. There weren't any calls, and though he had been sending texts, I couldn't bring myself to look at them. It felt like an insult to have him simply text, as though what we once had wasn't worth more effort than that. I supposed it wasn't the minute he said, "I do" to another woman. Still, I couldn't get what Katy said out of my head. What if Justice had set this all in motion and there really hadn't been a reason for them to marry?

I shook the thought off, again. The truth was, they were married, and all he bothered to do was send me texts. Even if the baby wasn't his, the chances that they hadn't consummated their marriage and refrained from doing so over the past two weeks were slim to none. He'd already gone there after all, or at least he was in a position intimate enough with her that he thought there was a possibility they could have made a baby together.

"Hey, sexy lady! What's shakin'?"

I glanced up to see my brother's long-time best friend, Jordan standing there in front of me. I must have been zoned out and lost in my thoughts for a while to be taken so off guard by her sudden appearance.

"Wow, you were really lost in thought, huh?" She asked after taking the seat next to me. It was the first time I'd been out in public since finding out about my boyfriend’s marriage to another woman. I couldn't sit around my office any longer, though. The mouth-breathing jackass I worked for had been openly salivating over my legs again, making me regret my choice in wardrobe.

"I…" My brain shut off. It refused to allow me to tell people that I was "fine" one more time. That wasn't the truth. In fact it was so far removed from the truth that I began to wonder if the people who asked ever really cared about me at all. Couldn't they see the heartache? I felt like it projected outward from me, ready to incinerate any sign of happiness that passed me by.

"Vic?" Jordan asked as she put her hand on top of mine in a comforting gesture. That was when the dam broke and the waterworks began.

"Shit," Jordan peeled a $20 bill out of her purse and threw it on the table and then she wrapped me up in her arms and pulled me from the restaurant I had only poked at my lunch, and hadn’t taken a single bite, but it was no loss. By the time we got to her apartment, I was all sobbed out.

Jordan drowned a poor washcloth in cold water and handed it to me. “For the swelling.”

I gladly accepted it and draped it over my eyes, so I couldn’t see the damage all the tears had done to my silk blouse. The wet splotches would dry eventually. Besides, I wasn't going back to work. There was no way I could deal with my slime-ball boss again after breaking down.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jordan finally asked. I broke down and told her the entire story from the beginning to the sad, pitiful end.

"What is it with you Mercer siblings not knowing how to hold onto a good thing?"

My head snapped up. "Excuse me?"

She waved away my angry retort. "Sorry, that was me projecting my feelings. First, I agree with Katy and Devin, the secret keeping was too much. Now, even if you two get back together, you'll have to keep it a secret even longer because it takes a year in this state to get a divorce, and annulments are only granted in very specific cases."

"How do you know that?"

"A girl I went to high school with had to get an annulment when her parents found out about her wedding. The guy she married didn't realize he needed her parents permission because she was under age. She was 17 at the time and he didn't bother asking for her hand. The parents threatened to charge him with statutory rape until he proved that she used a fake ID that said she was 18."

"Sounds like it was fraudulent anyway, since she used a fake ID to marry him."

Jordan shrugged her shoulders. "They still had to apply for an annulment from the courts. Either way, even if it is possible for them to get the marriage annulled it can take months to get that done. If you two get back together, you'll have to hide that until after the marriage has officially ended or everyone will think you were the other woman who broke a marriage up."

My miserable groan was the only response available. I hadn't put much thought into what would happen if Devin and I reconciled because it didn't seem like something he wanted, considering his lack of effort in trying to explain things to me or work anything out.

"It doesn't really matter. He's obviously happy where he is now."

"I doubt that very seriously. Your sister wasn't the only one who noticed the heated gazes between you two. I almost called you out a couple times, thinking you were trying to step into Devin's relationship with Justice. I wish you had told me sooner. I could have been there for you, so this wasn't something you were doing alone. Plus, someone really needed to give you good advice to keep that scheming woman out of the mix to begin with. Back when we were in school, she was always chasing after Dallas or Devin, hoping to land either of them. When it looked like Dallas wasn't going anywhere in life, she upped her game with Devin. Then, her parents sent her away for the first two years of college until she dropped out and came crawling home. Looks like that was just in time to sink her filthy claws into your man."

"I didn't know any of that. Why didn't he tell me there was history between them?"

"Probably because he is just as blind as Austin is when it comes to taking a hint from a woman."

"What's going on between you and Austin?" I asked to shift the focus off me for a while. Jordan had just dumped a bunch of information in my lap, and I honestly didn't know what to do with any of it. So, I buried it to unpack later when I was alone.

"That stupid bitch from college is back."

"The home wrecking slut that tried to steal him from you before?"

"That would be her. Things were finally going good for us again. We were back on track and he was even giving me that look. I know in my heart he was going to propose. Then she showed up in his life again thanks to that party planner the guys hired for the bar."

"Wait," I stated, completely taken off guard by what she'd just admitted. "You thought Austin was going to propose to you? As in a marriage proposal?” I had to clarify. “I didn't know you two were seriously dating."

"We've dated off and on since high school."

"I knew you were friends with benefits when it was convenient for both of you, but…"

"That's just what he tells people, so it won't look as bad if someone new turns his eye and he drops me again, like he did with Becs."

"What the hell? Are you serious? First of all, why would you put up with that?" I was appalled at my brother’s behavior if that was the case. Jordan had been his best friend for life and she’d become a part of our family. It was right that he continued to string her along in that way. A shameful part of me wondered if I was any better, considering the way I wanted to keep Devin a secret.

"Because I love him,” Jordan answered. “I hoped that one day he would love me enough to realize we're meant to be. We were almost there…"

"I need to put a foot up my brother's ass!" I demanded.

"No!" Jordan yelled and stood up. My eyes tracked the movement as she paced across the floor of her living room. "I don't want you to say anything. If he comes back to me, it needs to be because I'm what he wants."

"What if he doesn't?" I asked her, knowing that in some way, I was asking myself the same question.

"Then I guess it wasn't meant to be," she admitted quietly. After a breath or two, she threw her shoulders back and shook that thought off. "No, actually, that just means I need to up my game and fight harder!"

"That's the spirit!" I cheered her on. Jordan had been involved in our family for many years, so I hoped that my brother could pull his head out of his ass and do right by her. Besides, they were already best friends. That meant they could be good together in the long run.

We sat quietly for a bit before I turned to Jordan, who had finally parked her butt beside me on the couch again. "What do you think I should do?"

"It's up to you. If you love him, then you have to fight. Just know that when you do, the secret will still be there, unless you just don't care about what other people think of you. Considering who you work for, that might be an issue."

The ball of breathing slime that I worked for was a shark of a divorce attorney. Jordan was right, know matter what, Devin and my previous relationship would have to remain a secret, but so would anything we had going forward until after he managed to get an annulment or divorce. That was if he even wanted to leave Justice. Who knew?

"Thank you for unknowingly rescuing me from a depressing lunch."

"You needed to cry it out and talk to someone who would understand, Vic. I'm always here for you. Austin isn’t my only friend in your family, you know?"

"I know. Thank you. I'm going to head back home after I call work and explain that I got a nasty case of the shits after eating lunch."

"Ew, why?" Jordan asked as she pulled a face.

"Serves that asshole right for leering at my legs in this skirt all day. Now, he can imagine the shitastrophy that happened during my lunch break instead."

"He might be into that."

"Ew! That's disgusting!"

"So is your boss," she countered.

I nodded and got up to leave, but not before I wrapped my friend in a giant hug. "I hope Austin realizes what a gem he has with you."

"Me, too. Maybe Devin will have the same epiphany and we'll both end up with our happily-ever-afters."

I left with a lighter heart than when I'd arrived. Maybe things would work themselves out. The first thing I had to do was go home and read a bunch of text messages to see if the man I loved was worth the fight.