The Favor

I’d decided to wait until I got Dane alone before I brought up the matter, but he’d been out of his office all morning. Now that our meeting was almost over, I could finally bring it up.

“Did you take care of the travel and logistics for our trip to Vegas?” he asked.

My stomach rolled, just as it did every time I thought of our upcoming wedding—which would be happening next Wednesday. I cleared my throat. “Yes, I emailed you a copy of your travel itinerary an hour ago.”

“Good. I’ll read through it once I get a spare moment. Did you remember to book us in for an extra night?”

I nodded. “Yes.” It meant that instead of flying home on our wedding day, we’d return the following day. Which made sense, really, because it would have looked odd if we’d been in such a rush to get married but then hadn’t cared about enjoying the day.

“How many rooms did you book at the hotel?”

“Two, as usual.”

“You’ll need to cancel your room; you’ll be staying in my suite. We’re allegedly a couple now, remember? Don’t worry, there’s more than one bedroom.”

Well, I knew that. He’d stayed in that suite before. It was huge.

“On another note, you said you’d arrange for me to meet your family,” he said. “Did you do it?”

I clicked the top of my pen. “My foster parents have invited you to the barbecue they’re having at their house on Sunday. My dad will be there.” And so I’d need to explain a few things to Dane about Simon, which would not be easy. It was often difficult for people to truly understand.

Dane set his notepad on the coffee table between us. “What’s wrong? Don’t tell me nothing.”

I straightened in my seat. “Travis was waiting for me outside my apartment building last night.”

Dane’s expression went hard. “What did he want?”

“To warn me that you might hurt me.”

Exasperation flashed in Dane’s dark eyes. “I should have guessed he might try to convince you to break up with me. I’m sure he came across as very concerned about you.”

“Oh, he did. He said you’re not all bad, but that you’re selfish. Selfish enough to sleep with the woman your other brother has always loved.” I waited for him to look shocked by the statement and quickly deny it, but he didn’t say a word. “It’s true?”

“That I slept with Jen? Yes. Once. It was a long time ago.”

Once? Travis had claimed it happened a few times. But it didn’t really matter how many times Dane had slept with her. The issue was that it had allegedly hurt Kent.

I crossed one leg over the other, and Dane’s eyes dropped to my legs. “It didn’t bother you that Kent cared for her?” I asked, a slight edge in my voice.

Dane’s eyes flew back to mine. “Kent was engaged to someone else at the time. Travis didn’t tell you that?”

I shook my head.

“Unsurprising. What else did he say?”

“He told me about the Senator’s daughter. He told me she miscarried your baby.”

“She didn’t miscarry. She had an abortion.”

My lips parted. “An abortion?”

“Yes. She was pissed when I insisted it wasn’t my baby. She thought I’d marry her. She was wrong. I don’t know who fathered that baby, but it was not me.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re sure?”

“I’m very sure.”

“No type of contraception is guaranteed to work every time.”

“True. But I’d had a vasectomy two years before that. I caught a woman using a syringe to extract my come out of a condom.”

My mouth dropped open. “You are joking.”

“I never joke,” he reminded me. “But, out of respect for Lorraine’s father, I said I’d have a DNA test done on the child after it was born; that if it was mine, I’d be a part of its life. The next thing I knew, she was gatecrashing Hope’s mother’s birthday party, drunk off her ass, where she then announced that she’d aborted my unborn child.”

I stared at him for a long moment. Dane could lie with utter ease, but my gut told me he was telling the truth.

“I’m not convinced there really was a baby. Lorraine wasn’t content that I’d have a DNA test. She wanted me to slide a ring on her finger. So I had to wonder if the whole thing was a scam.”

It was possible, I supposed.

“My family—knowing I couldn’t possibly have fathered anyone’s baby—was furious with her, even Travis. But I see he enjoyed twisting the whole thing to make you turn against me.”

“Yes, he did. He also made it sound like you and Jen had a fling.”

“Well we didn’t. It was a one-night stand—nothing more. She’s now happily married to Kent.”

“Yet, she was weird to me at the gala. Why?”

“She told me she had a moment of petty jealousy.”

I stilled. “She ‘told’ you that? When?”