Taking the Heat (Jackson: Girls' Night Out 3)

“Exactly!” Naomi said, then glanced back at Monique again to be sure she wasn’t listening. “Monique knows her, too,” she whispered. “I don’t know what to do. On one hand, it’s not my business. On the other, she clearly shouldn’t be getting married when she’s fucking someone else! Should I say something?”

Veronica frowned, her head cocking to the side as she seemed to puzzle it over. “Are you absolutely sure they don’t have an open relationship?”

“Believe me, I’d know if they did.”

“Okay, then I’d say that you should talk to her. Not to try to force her hand about calling off the wedding or coming clean, but just to say, ‘Listen, I know that text wasn’t to Oliver and I wondered if you wanted to talk.’ Sometimes people get really caught up in the idea of the wedding and they don’t know how to get out of it.”

“Yes!” Naomi said. “She talks about the wedding all the time, and she’s almost manic about it.”

“If she’s someone who’s aware of status and appearance—”

Naomi nodded frantically at that.

“—then she might feel like she’s not allowed to back out of the wedding. So you could start that conversation. Ask if she’s freaked out. Ask if she’s really ready to get married, considering the text you saw. Tell her that Oliver is going to be a lot more hurt by an ugly divorce than he will be by a broken engagement. That may be the prompt she needs to reevaluate what she’s doing.”

Naomi grabbed Veronica’s hands. “Thank you! That’s such a good idea. It’s been driving me crazy. I haven’t told anyone, because it would ruin her life, but I can’t just let her go on like everything is fine!”

“She might be relieved. And maybe she’ll make the right choice.”

“God,” Naomi sighed, “she’s amazing, Gabe. Maybe she could solve all your issues.” She squeezed Veronica’s hands. “You look amazing tonight, by the way.”

“Thank you,” Veronica said. “You look great, too.” Then her gaze slid to Gabe. “What issues are those?”

He kicked his sister under the table. He knew she was talking about their dad and Gabe’s insistence that he could fix everything by coming home. But he wasn’t going to have that conversation here. “Oh, you know,” he said. “She worries about me rock climbing.”

“She should worry. It’s insane!”

Gabe’s tension melted away as Veronica began describing their day to Naomi. She was still calling it insane, but her eyes sparkled with excitement as she described the climb. Her hands flew as she gestured, shaping the details with her hands. “It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever done. By far!”

“You’re proud of yourself, though,” Gabe said softly.

“Are you kidding? I’m so proud of myself! I totally kicked ass!”

Naomi gave her a high five. “Sing it, sister! Let’s get another round of drinks!”

Gabe didn’t talk much after that. He mostly just watched Veronica shine the way she did in front of that microphone during the live performances. But this was a little different. It didn’t seem like a show. She laughed and told stories and she teased Benton about flirting with Naomi, and...she looked relaxed.

Gabe wanted to watch her like this for hours, and he wanted to take her home right now and make her come. Mostly he just wanted her.

And he wasn’t the only one, apparently. Someone stepped up behind him and Gabe turned to see Dillon Tettering standing there, hands in his pockets and charming smile in place.

All of Gabe’s muscles went tight. He wanted to punch that fucking smile off the guy’s face. Sure, he’d been just an idiot teenager when he’d betrayed Veronica’s trust, but as far as Gabe was concerned, little assholes just grew up to be

big assholes. Granted, there were exceptions. People changed. But it was telling that this bastard still thought Veronica might be interested in him. What an arrogant dick.

“Hi, Roni,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

She stiffened before she turned slowly around. “It’s Veronica,” she reminded him.

“Right, sorry.” He rocked back on his heels at her clear reluctance to talk. His eyes swept over the table and lingered for a moment on Naomi and Monique. What a dick.

“Well, I can see you’re busy,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Can’t wait.” He walked away after dropping that bomb. Naomi caught Gabe’s gaze and raised her eyebrows, but then she turned back to the others to join in the conversation.

Veronica sank a little in her seat. “I needed a favor from my dad.”

Gabe wasn’t sure he had a right to feel pissed, but he did. Dillon made his skin crawl. “What does that mean?”

“I asked my dad for the name of a therapist for help with that letter I told you about. And my dad asked me to see Dillon in exchange.”