Page 34 of Fake Wife
When I look back at Teagan, she’s sitting at the bar, both hands wrapped around her now half-emptied glass of tequila, her face scrunched up.
“Is my good stuff not good enough for you?” I’m unable to resist teasing her despite the murderous look she flashes me.
She tosses back another large swallow, hiding a cough she clearly wants to let loose.
“Teagan—”
She cuts me off by lifting her hand and takes another drink. “I don’t need more apologies from you. I’ve heard enough.”
“Just let me—”
“What? Explain? How many men do I have to listen to explain why they decide it’s okay to treat me like crap?”
Shit. I haven’t thought of it like that.
I pull my phone out of my jacket, which I take off, loosening the tie at my neck. Giving her the silence she wants, and unable to fix it because I have treated her like crap with no good excuse, I check my phone, flipping through emails. Shit. I’m going to have to head back out to Cannon Bluffs to get to work.
“I loved him,” she says, startling me.
Her first glass is emptied and refilled and she spins it around in a circle. Already her cheeks and the tip of her nose are pink, showing the alcohol is hitting her system.
“Loved him with everything I had. Dropped out of school to follow his dreams, gave him literally everything I had to help him, knowing in the end it’d be worth it because we would make both of our dreams come true if I waited long enough.”
Her voice is sad. Tears pool in her eyes and she shakes her head. Another large swallow of her drink and she’s no longer flinching.
Yeah, she’s getting drunk. If she wasn’t, no way would she be rambling to me.
“What’d you give him?”
Sad brown eyes flick to me and back to her glass. “You know, my grandma used to tell me when you give your body to a man, be sure to keep your heart safe. A man will take care of your body, but it’s the rare one who will care for your heart.”
The slick, greasy feel of oil slides through me. In the last week, we’ve talked about where she grew up in Tennessee, and she’s always mentioned her grandma, never her parents, except to say they died. I stick on that thought and not what she’s just implied—that her heart belongs to another man.
I eye the tequila. Getting trashed sounds like a better idea by the second. Anything to wash away the sludge taste in my gut.
“So, yeah, Corbin,” she continues, still playing with her glass. “I loved him. Still do, but it’s been a week since I found him with that…Missy. Doesn’t mean I don’t know I’m worth more than that, just means the pain is still fresh.”
And I’m now a larger asshole than Drake. Of course she’d still feel that pain. Me and my dick wanting her to be mine and jumping to the wrong conclusions have made this night worse than it should have been.
“You never mention your parents,” I say to change the subject.
“They’re dead, Corbin.” She takes another chug of tequila and I’m batting negative gazillion for the night.
“Teagan—”
“When I was twelve. Car accident. Grandma took me in and raised me on her farm. I barely knew her before I went to live with her. She wasn’t the most emotional woman or the kindest; not cold, but not overly affectionate. She and my mom were never really close. There’s no big family drama there, and I liked being with her, with her horses. Plus, she was wise. She took care of me.” Finally, her eyes lift to mine, and in them there’s nothing but pain and drunkenness. “She died when I was twenty. Gave me her farm, and I sold it to pay for school knowing I didn’t want to settle there. Then I used the rest to help pay for Drake’s med school.”
A cold laugh.
Another chug.
“I should have followed grandma’s advice and been smarter.”
The bottle in my hand crunches, water splashes onto the floor, and I do nothing to clean it.
My legs take me to Teagan before my head can tell me to stop, to be safe and give her space, but I can’t.
“You’re not stupid, Teagan.” I’m standing next to her, but she doesn’t look at me. Stares at her tequila glass like it’s the only important thing in the room. Perhaps it is. I certainly haven’t shown her that her heart is safe with me. Haven’t shown her I want it to be, either. “Giving your heart to a man who ends up not deserving it doesn’t make you stupid, it makes you brave to take the risk in the first place. If you know you’re worth more than him, tell me why when I first saw you two together, it looked like you still loved him. Still want him.”
