The Favor

“Neither did I, but you tried to wreck mine. If you’re lucky, he’ll forgive you.”

“He won’t, and you know it. Do you think he’ll thank you for making me tell him what I’ve done? He won’t, Dane. He’ll hate us both. Is that what you really want?”

“You won’t change my mind, Jen.”

“You’d really ruin your own brother’s marriage?”

“I didn’t do it. You did. Like Hope, you knew what you were risking. You obviously thought it was worth the risk; that he was worth risking. He deserves a lot fucking better.”

Kent soon joined us. Travis staggered behind him, absolutely smashed. Their brows furrowed as they took in each of us.

“Is something wrong?” asked Kent.

“You could say that,” replied Dane. “Tell him, Jen.”

She looked at the floor instead, hunching in on herself.

“What is it?” Kent gently asked her, moving to her side. “Jen? Jen, come on, look at me.” But she didn’t.

“What’s going on?” demanded Travis.

Hope sighed. “I tried to clean up your mess—that’s what. You didn’t have the guts to go up against Dane, so I did it. I pushed Vienna to leave him. And thanks to Jen, he now knows all about what she and I did. And now I’m screwed.”

Well, at least she had the guts to own her fuck up. Unlike her accomplice.

Travis’s jaw hardened. “I told you to drop it, Hope.”

“Because you’re too weak to stand up to him, just like you’re too weak to stay away from the fucking casinos,” she sneered. “Well, I’m done. Done with you and your family.”

Travis stiffened. “What does that mean?”

“It means I want a divorce.” Hope looked at Dane. “Come at me one day if you feel you must. But I’ll be ready for it. You won’t win; you won’t get away with whatever you try to do.”

“Of course I will,” said Dane, his voice soft but flat. “I always do.”

Her eyes flickering, she strode off.

Travis stalked after her, weaving all over the place. “Wait, we’re not done talking.”

“Oh, we’re done in every way a couple can be done,” she insisted.

As their voices faded away, Kent turned to his wife. “What did she mean, Jen? What did you and Hope do?”

Jen lifted her head, sniffling. “I made a mistake. A stupid, horrible mistake. You can’t imagine how sorry I am; how I wish I could turn back time—”

“What did you and Hope do?” he demanded.

Jen looked to Dane, as if hoping he’d tell some bullshit story for her to cover up her sins, but he didn’t. Closing her eyes, she turned back to Kent. “I … I let Hope rope me into her scheme to get Vienna out of the picture. I wanted to help Hope—Travis put them in major debt, and she was terrified they’d lose everything. Plus, I hated that Dane had been targeted by a freaking gold-digger. But I mainly did it for Hope and Travis. I knew it would hurt you to see your brother lose everything.”

I snorted. “You really are good at buttering up the truth, aren’t you?”

She shot me a narrow-eyed look but slid her attention back to Kent, frowning when he stepped away from her. “Kent, I know I messed up big time. I’m so sorry. You can’t know how sorry I am.”

Kent stared at her through empty eyes. “Like you were sorry for the things you said to Dane at his house when he got back from Vegas after marrying Vienna? You told me—all three of us—that you were sorry. But that was a lie, wasn’t it?”

She shook her head madly. “No, no, it wasn’t.”

“It had to have been, or you wouldn’t have teamed up with Hope,” snapped Kent. “You didn’t do all this for Hope and Travis.”

“Yes, I did!”

“No, this isn’t about them. You think I haven’t noticed how much you’ve struggled to accept that Dane is married? It’s not even jealousy. It’s bitterness. You don’t like that he’s happy. And I realized you never really forgave him for refusing to try having a relationship with you. Give me one piece of honesty, Jen. Did you marry me to get back at him?”

Her eyes widened. “No, definitely not. I love you.”

“But not enough. Not if you couldn’t let this shit go and just be happy with me and what we have.”

“Does he even know you got sterilized?” Dane asked her.

Kent stilled. “Sterilized?”

Dane tossed her a look of disbelief. “You never told him? Fucking hell.”

I stared at her in open-mouthed shock. This just kept getting worse and worse.

She stepped toward Kent. “I was young and stupid and did something I can’t take back. I didn’t tell you because I was worried that you’d leave me.”

Kent’s nostrils flared. “At what point were you going to tell me that our attempts to try for a baby would never amount to anything?”

“Kent—”

“I told you I was worried I might be infertile. I offered to be tested. You told me not to do it; said it wouldn’t matter to you, because you loved me anyway. You let me think the problem might be me.”