Page 85 of Love or Leave

"This is because of Antonio, isn't it?"

A glass dropped behind the bar and shattered as the crowd in the room gasped.

She looked up to find Jer staring at her, his empty hand outstretched where the glass had been, and a look of unbridled shock marring his face.

Jalen spared a glance toward the commotion but quickly turned back to her.

"It's because of him, isn't it?"

She winced, knowing full well Jer was listening to the whole thing. But she wasn't going to lie. Again.

She nodded.

Jalen guffawed and turned away from her, shaking his head. "I knew the whole 'he's just my brother's friend' bit was bull."

She didn't have to look at Jer to know he was still staring at her, dumbfounded.

"I'm sorry, Jalen," she said, not knowing what else to say. "You're really great."

He shook his head and stood, then turned to Jer. "I don't need that beer," he said.

Jer mumbled, “Oh, yeah, okay.”

Jalen turned to her. He opened his mouth like he was going to say something more, but he just shook his head and, without another word, walked away.

She had three seconds to breathe a sigh of relief before Jer turned on her.

"Antonio?!" he shouted. "Our Antonio?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded.

"What about his wife?"

She shook her head. "He's not…" she said, stumbling for words as she worked through the emotions of the last three minutes. "That was before."

Jer looked at her with pity-filled eyes. His head tilted slightly to the side. "Cara, baby, no," he said.

Her muscles tensed at the look on his face. She wanted to say his pity was misdirected, that Antonio had changed his mind. That he no longer loved Fran and that he'd moved on.

With her.

In secret.

Suddenly, she couldn't breathe.

That sounded completely foolish.

But he'd said…

She pulled at the collar of her shirt. "We've been hanging out together for a while. He's not… I mean we…"

Jer looked around the room, then back at her. "Max doesn't know, does he."

He said it as a statement, not a question, and it got her back up. She felt the need to defend herself. And Antonio.

"No," she said. "But he's my boyfriend. Things are good between us."

Jer stared at her for a moment. "Is he officially divorced then?" he asked, his eyes full of concern. "The last thing I heard was that he refused to sign the papers. And that was only like two weeks ago."

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