The Bet, page 8
I knew what was going to happen. My parents were going to get divorced. It would be bitter. And I would never speak to Mom again.
I'd never want to see her face again.
I'd hate her guts. Forever.
A dark, ugly feeling filled my heart. Tears of frustration stung my eyes. I didn't want to feel anything. I didn't want to think. I just wanted to be numb.
I needed another drink.
I glanced at Jacob. He was still talking. Probably about how I shouldn't be drinking. I was glad I couldn't hear him.
As soon as his band went onstage I was heading straight for the bar for a refill.
So much for things not being bad enough for alcohol.
Chapter 8: Marshal
I was acting like a jealous ex, stalker, psycho. You name it. But I couldn't help myself. I blew out a breath as I entered the Blu Bar on Sunday night. I'd checked Sloane's new boyfriend's band's website for their next gig. They were playing here tonight. Hopefully, Sloane would be here too.
I could have waited until tomorrow and tracked her down at college, but I wanted to see her today. Goodness knew why. If she was here, she'd be here because of Jacob. They'd kiss, she'd be all over him, and it would break my heart. Maybe a part of me wanted the pain. It might motivate me to move on. It might cause me to stop harboring the hope that Sloane and I would get back together.
I spotted her as soon as I entered the club. She was hard to miss. Her black dress was a little bolder than I was used to seeing on her. Her hair was tied back in an elegant twist.
She was with Jacob.
My belly soured, but I was glad to see that his arms weren't around her, or anything.
What's it to you? I asked myself.
I found a seat by the bar and ordered a Coke. It wasn't as busy as a Saturday night, but there was still a decent-sized crowd. Scantily clad women jiggled back and forth from the bar. I kept my eyes well away from cleavages and exposed thighs.
A few months ago, I would have had a field day, staring, feasting my eyes. Now, I didn't want to see.
Why couldn't women just cover up? Why did they think they had to show so much. It wasn't always that sexy. And it didn't help a guy maintain Christian thoughts.
I sipped my Coke, amused at myself. I could complain about the scantily dressed women if this were church. But it was a club. I'd be nuts to go to the beach and complain that it was sandy.
A few minutes later, Jacob left Sloane to join his bandmates who were at another table.
I momentarily considered going to Sloane when Jacob and his bandmates disappeared backstage, then decided against it. How low was I going to stoop? Even just tracking her down tonight was low.
Sloane rose to her feet. My heart skipped a beat when I realized she was heading towards the bar. I looked away from her and turned around. Better if she thought I hadn't realized she was in here.
A moment later, she was standing beside me. "Can I have a prosecco?" she asked a bartender.
I almost fell off my seat. Sloane was drinking wine?
I must have heard wrong.
"Prosecco, honey?" the bartender asked.
I glanced at Sloane. She was nodding.
Good grief! What was going on with her?
"You okay?" I asked.
She looked at me, and then jumped. "Marshal!"
"Hi."
"What are you doing here?"
"Isn't this a public place that's open to anyone over the age of twenty-one?"
Sloane's gaze narrowed. "I find it a little strange to think we would just happen to be in the same club twice in one weekend."
"What are you trying to say?"
"Nothing. But I happen to remember that you can be a bit of a stalker."
"Don't flatter yourself."
Sloane looked offended.
I figured she'd walk away from me if she wasn't waiting for her drink.
"I'm looking for gigs for my client," I told her. It was true. I was going to speak to the management before I left and schedule a slot for Talia. "I thought I'd check this place out for her."
"Whatever. Don't speak to me."
I watched her for a moment. What I'd done to her was bad. But couldn't she just forgive me? I really was sorry. Couldn't she see that?
It's a lot to ask, I told myself. There probably wasn't a single person out there who'd forgive what I'd done. I'd betrayed her. I could have put her mom's business in jeopardy. It might still be in jeopardy. I was worried about the product launch. I'd been praying that my dad wouldn't do anything stupid. Like leak information about the product before the launch.
Two women minced over and ordered beers. Their boobs were an inch away from bursting out of their blouses. One wore a skirt so short I could see her black panties. I fixed my gaze on Sloane.
The bartender handed Sloane her drink.
I didn't want her to walk away just yet.
"You stand out in here like a princess at a dumpster." I waited for her to tell me to shut up, or to flounce away without sparing me even a glance.
Instead, she paused, her beautiful eyes fixing on me for a moment. She sighed. "I'd love to be a princess, living in a fairytale, singing to animals." Her eyes took on a dreamy look for a second. Then, she blinked and it was gone.
She was going to walk away.
Don't let her walk away.
She took a step away.
"Uh, you're right about me."
Sloane paused. "What do you mean?"
"I, uh, did track you down tonight. Friday was by chance. Tonight isn't."
"Do you seriously think that's romantic, or are you deliberately trying to freak me out?" she asked, frowning. "Are you going to break into my apartment in the middle of the night, next? Do I have to start locking my windows and doors?"
She was tipsy.
I stood up. "Those heels you're wearing look painful. Sit down."
Sloane snorted as she sat on my bar stool. She glared at me before taking a sip of her wine.
"Can I ask why you're drinking?"
"Listen, Jacob has already given me enough grief about it, so don't you start too."
Ah. So she and Jacob weren't as loved-up as they'd appeared on Friday. "How long have you been together?"
She shot me a look. "None of your business."
"It can't be that long—"
"I said it's none of your business."
I looked down into Sloane's angry, dark eyes. In an instant, the anger melted away and tears gathered in her eyes. She looked away. "I'm sorry. Sorry for…yelling at you."
"Are you okay?"
She wasn't listening.
"Hurting people, hurt people, and all that." She covered her face with her hand. "Oh my goodness, I'm a mess."
Now, I was concerned. "What's going on, Sloane?"
She lowered her hand and then took a sip of the wine. When she lowered the glass she exhaled slowly. "Nothing." She gave me a bright smile. "I'm fine. Everything's great."
Getting Sloane back wasn't going to be easy. That much was crystal clear. And maybe I shouldn't want her back in the condition she was in, but I did. I hadn't been lying when I'd told her I loved her.
However, she obviously had a lot of issues to sort out. She was still going off the rails, still so far away from God. But God help me, I couldn't get her out of my heart. She was better than this: drinking, being some wannabe boyband's groupie. Okay, maybe the boyband part was just my jealousy talking, but I wanted her to be stronger than this.
"Whatever's going on with you, you shouldn't be using alcohol to deal with it."
Sloane just looked at me for a moment. Then she put down the glass. "How do you know?"
"It's obvious to me that you're drinking for a reason, not necessarily because you want to."
"Jacob just lectured me," Sloane muttered, her gaze lowering to the counter. "He didn't figure out there must be a reason why."
Since getting her back was probably out of the question for now, I figured I should just push aside my feelings and try to be a friend to her. Regardless of whether we could ever get back into a relationship, I cared about her and I was saddened to see her in such a state. "What's wrong, Sloane?"
Her eyes became guarded.
Of course. I was the guy who'd betrayed her. So why would she ever tell me anything important again?
"Is your mom still missing?"
"She's…away. She's not missing. She just doesn't want to come home."
"Oh?" I wondered if that had anything to do with Sloane's drinking. I knew how badly she'd been affected by finding out about her mom's affair. "Are your parents splitting up?" Another thought struck me. "Has your dad found out about, uh, you know…"
Sloane picked up her drink and took a long swig.
Yup. The drinking was her way of trying to cope with whatever was going on at home.
The music in the club stopped abruptly. We looked over at the stage. Jacob and his band were onstage getting themselves set up.
"Where did you meet him anyway?" I asked Sloane.
"At work."
I tutted. "You should never date someone from work. When you break up, you'll still have to see him all the time."
Sloane rolled her eyes.
"Hello, you guys," one of Jacob's bandmates hollered into a microphone. "How y'all doing tonight?"
"I should go back to our table," Sloane said.
"Why?"
"I want him to see me supporting him, not talking to my ex."
"He can't see us from over there. It's too dark."
Sloane considered it for a moment.
I decided to keep talking. She couldn't walk off if I was talking. Well, she could, but I hoped she wouldn't.
"They're really good. I didn't know the songs they sang on Friday. Do they write their own songs?"
"Yup. Jacob writes most of their songs."
Jacob began to sing. His voice filled the whole club.
A wide smile stretched Sloane's lips. I watched her begin to sway slightly.
"So, is this why you like him? Because he can sing?"
"I like him because he's hot. I didn't know he could sing so well until Friday night."
I nudged her. "Such fickle reasons for a relationship. I bet it won't last."
Sloane looked amused. "How much do you want to bet, Mr. Casino Billionaire?"
"That's my dad, not me. I don't have any casinos or billions."
Sloane rolled her eyes.
"But I'll take you up on that bet. I say fifty grand."
Sloane's eyes widened.
"I bet fifty thousand dollars that you and Jacob don't last."
"How can you be so sure?" Sloane asked. "He's pretty much the perfect guy, the kind of guy I want to marry. Smart, talented, trustworthy."
That stung a little. Obviously, she didn't consider me trustworthy.
"Funny," she continued. "Christian—"
"He's a Christian?"
"Yeah."
"Then what was all that sexy singing and dancing about on Friday?" I glanced at the stage. Jacob's microphone was on a stand tonight, unlike the other night when it had been wireless, giving him the freedom to move around the stage.
"You find my new guy sexy?"
"No. You and all the other girls in the room did though."
Sloane rolled her eyes. "It wasn't sexy singing at all. They're a Christian band. Afterwards, they had a few people ask them about Jesus."
"They are no way a Christian band."
"They are."
"Well, how did the people in the club know that? I didn't hear no Jesus in the songs."
Sloane was smiling. I was glad she was lightening up. "There was a lot of Jesus in the songs," she replied. "They even mentioned the Holy Spirit."
"What's the Holy Spirit?"
"Not what, who."
"Huh?"
"You call yourself a Christian and you don't even know about the Holy Spirit yet? How long have you been saved again? Haven't you been reading your Bible, attending any discipleship classes?"
I reached out and punched her bare shoulder lightly. "Come to think of it, I think I might have heard about it in church."
"The Holy Spirit is not an 'it'. The Holy Spirit is a He. He's a person."
"Right." I wished she was saying all this because she was genuinely into God and not because she was just trying to tease me.
"What's up?" she asked. "You look all dull all of a sudden. I'm only joking. I'm the last person who has any right to call someone else's salvation into question."
"No, I know you're joking. I just find it a little sad because you know so much, Sloane. Why aren't you saved? Why haven't you made your way back to God?"
"Because it's all in my head and none of it is in my heart," she muttered, her gaze straying back to her glass of wine.
"Oh, Sloane."
"I'm fine. I'd rather be real rather than be a hypocrite who everyone thinks is oh so holy, when nothing could be further from the truth. Anyway, I'll take your bet. Fifty grand?"
I decided to let her change the subject. "Fifty grand. And there's more."
"What?"
"I predict that you'll be the one to break up with him."
"Thanks for that prediction. I'll make sure I don't." She drained the rest of her glass and then lifted a hand to the bartender.
"You're going to get drunk crazy if you don't slow down."
"That was only my first glass."
"Yeah, right. You were already tipsy before it." I turned to the bar. "Get her a water. No more wine."
I expected Sloane to argue, but she didn't.
For the next thirty minutes, she took tiny sips of her water while she watched Jacob. And I watched her.
When the band finished, she sighed and then looked at me. She stilled when she found my gaze on her.
I should look away, but I didn't. I smiled.
She gave me a small smile back and then put down her glass. "Thanks for saying I should have water."
"Don't mention it." I looked at my watch. It was probably about time I left. I was so glad I'd come. I hadn't imagined that tonight would go so well. I hoped things would get better between Sloane and me now.
"Are you leaving?" she asked.
"Why?" I asked, hopeful. "Do you want me to stay?"
"Well, I have to get back to Jacob now."
"So I was just a fill-in guy for while he was busy singing?"
Sloane smiled, her eyes growing wistful. "It's been nice talking to you, Marshal."
"And you, too. I kinda miss you, you know?"
She was quiet.
"Is there no hope for us at all?"
She looked away from me. "Trust is very important to me. As is faithfulness—"
"I never once even looked at another girl while I was with you. And I wouldn't. I'm not like my dad."
"I'm not saying you are," Sloane replied. "But after what you did, I feel like you could do anything." She shook her head. "I can't believe I'm even speaking to you."
"If I had a time machine I'd go back and undo everything."
Sloane smiled, but it looked sad. "I appreciate that you're sorry, Marshal. I just don't think I'd ever be able to trust you again. I almost gave up all my hopes and dreams for you. I can't give you the chance to hurt me again. If we get back together and you hurt me again, I'll be so mad at myself."
The alcohol had made her brutally honest.
I nodded. There was no point in me trying to reason with her. In fact, if we got back together I would constantly worry about whether my dad was going to use the information about her mom's next product, and what would happen to our relationship if he did.
For now, I figured I should just wait and see what happened. If my dad didn't use the information, I would be back, and I would chase Sloane until she forgave me and let me in.
I held my arms open.
Sloane paused and then rose to her feet and gave me a quick hug.
"See you around," I told her.
She nodded and then walked away.
Chapter 9: Lottie
It was Monday morning, so I should be at work. But I wasn't. I was in a new hotel suite. I didn't think the police would disclose my location to Kurt, but I'd moved just in case.
It'd been years since I'd taken a full day off work. My work was a passion that consumed me. But for the past week, I'd shut it out. I had so much to do for my upcoming product launch, and I had a speech to prepare for an opening address I'd be giving at a beauty awards ceremony in a few weeks, but I didn't even want to think about it. I didn't want to think about anything. I just wanted to be alone and do nothing.
Was this depression?
I typed 'Miss New York' into a search engine and re-watched videos of Sloane winning. The videos had been a great distraction for me this weekend. I'd still rather she wasn't a pageant girl. However, a part of me was proud of her achievement. I knew she'd be competing in the Miss USA pageant in June. If she won that, there'd be no stopping her from competing for Miss World. I wasn't exactly sure what I thought of that, but I'd decided that, from now on, I was going to try and support her in whatever she did. I knew she thought I didn't rate her. It was time to rectify how I'd treated her over the years.
After watching the crowning moment, I watched the swimsuit section of the pageant. Sloane would never have dared to compete at Miss New York if she hadn't found out about my affair. Knowing that I was doing something wrong had obviously caused her to no longer care what I would think. I just hoped that this was as far as her rebellion had gone, but something told me it wasn't. There was more. There had to be.
I'd heard about her and Marshal going on a date. Some of the papers had picked it up and my PR department had informed me of it. I'd decided not to ask Sloane about it, but it was strange that she would go on a date with Eli's son despite what she knew. I hoped it had been just the one date. Maybe the two of them had gossiped about Eli and me.
As the swimsuit segment of Miss New York played, I opened my electronic journal on my iPad and began to type. Since speaking to Sloane on Friday, I'd decided that I wanted to explain my actions and why I'd always been so strict with her. The truth was I saw a lot of myself in Sloane, and I didn't always think that was a good thing.
