Page 64 of Jingle Bell Jilt
Nathan calls my name again and Evan jerks around. “Nathan? What are you doing here?”
Nathan comes to a stop and puts his hands on his hips. “I could ask you the same thing, Evan? What are you doing kissing my fiancé?”
“Wait,” I put my hand on Evan’s arm. “How do you know Nathan?”
His face flushes, and he looks away. What the crap is going on here? I turn my back to Nathan, my mood souring to the point of being downright bitter with every passing second. “Evan, how do you know Nathan?”
Nathan scoffs. “We were roommates at Stanford.”
I shake my head and glare at him over my shoulder. I’m so not in the mood to deal with him right now. “No, you said your roommate’s name was Barry.” I put my hands on my hips.
“Yeah, Evan Barrington. Barry. It was his nickname.”
“One that I hated,” Evan mutters.
I jerk around, staring at him. Wait a minute. Has he known this whole time who I am and who Nathan is? He let me say things knowing the whole time who I was talking about? I suck in a breath. I can unpack that in a minute. But first I need to know why Nathan is here.
I turn on him. “What are you doing here? How did you even know I was here?”
“I’ve been over to your apartment like five times trying to talk to you, but you never answered the door.”
I give him a bland look. “Well, duh. I wasn’t there.”
“I know that now.” He shakes his head and gives a mirthless chuckle. “I can’t believe you came on our honeymoon without me. That’s presumptuous. But don’t worry, I won’t make you pay me back or anything. I get that you were in a bad place.”
“Pay you back? Are you serious right now?” I scream at him. Streams of people are flowing past us as the park gets ready to close, but, not surprisingly, they’re giving us a wide berth. “I paid for everything but the rental car, which you canceled. I should makeyoupaymeback.” I poke my finger into his chest because otherwise, I think I might throat-punch him, I’m so mad.
“I don’t think this is really the time for who owes who what. But really, this is all your fault.” He waves between the three of us. “If you would’ve texted me back, I wouldn’t have had to take such drastic measures.”
“My fault?” I put my hands on my hips. “Wait, what do you mean, drastic measures?”
“I had to use the tracker app I put on your phone.” When he sees my wide eyes and pinched lips, he back peddles. “I only put it on there for emergencies, Babe. I didn’t want anything to happen to you.”
I step closer to him, and his body relaxes until I raise my finger and point it in his face. “How dare you invade my privacy like that. You had no right.”
“You’re my fiancé,” he puts his hand on my shoulder and I swipe it off with a hard slap.
“No, I’m not. I’m nothing of yours any longer.”
Evan comes and stands behind me. “Yeah, I think you lost that right when you didn’t show up for the wedding.”
I turn on Evan. “You butt out. I’m not any happier with you, right now.” I look at him, and my lips start to quiver. Stupid girl emotions. “Did you know all along?” I motion back to Nathan. “You knew who he was to me?”
“Of course he did. Why do you think I picked his place to rent?” Nathan tips his head to the side, a feigned look of sympathy on his face. “He’s the one who told me I couldn’t marry you.”
I give Evan a long blink. I don’t even know what to say to him.
He drops his gaze and nods.
“How could you not have said anything?” My voice comes out kind of froggy sounding because the lump in my throat is the size of Texas, and I’m not sure if the tears are out of hurt or building anger.
“When you got here, you weren’t exactly in the mood to talk. And then when you moved into my townhouse—”
“She what?” Nathan steps forward nearly bumping into Evan’s chest.
“Oh, shut up, Nathan.” I give him a shove away from Evan and me. “In fact, just go home. I don’t need or want you here.”
“But you owe me an explanation.” He glares at Evan. “Both of you.”
