Page 56 of Bachelor

Tyler’s eyes darkened for a moment. “She told her how fortunate she was to have gotten into Gatlington, that ‘regular’ people don’t get that kind of opportunity, even if they have perfect SAT and ACT scores. She called Jessica Gatlington’s charity pick. She really rubbed the fact that Jessica’s family isn’t wealthy in her face. Right into her face, Rhys. I’ve never seen Jessica look so... hurt, by anything.”

One of my hands curled into a fist on my thigh. “I’ll talk to the dean.”

“I don’t think you should be going to the dean for anything right now,” Tyler said, meeting my eyes. “Do you know what I mean?”

I sighed heavily and crossed my arms over my chest.

When I didn’t say anything, he continued, “Look, it was obvious what Jessica and I interrupted, okay? I’m not going to tell anyone. I’m happy for you guys. I really am, especially after what Whitney went through with Christian and her family, but damn, Rhys. What are you guys going to do?”

“We haven’t gotten that far. A lot of what we talked about tonight was... running away together.”

“So it’s serious, then?”

“Yeah,” I breathed, meeting his gaze. “And I’m not going to let her throw her education away for me.” I reached for my beer. “I’m not going to do what Christian wanted her to do.”

Tyler furrowed his brow and gave me a quizzical look. “Christian wanted her home, pregnant, and looking at gardening catalogs all day. I can see you and Whitney traveling the world together, going on expeditions and doing research—”

“I have a doctorate. She hasn’t even graduated with her masters yet. If we did run away and leave this all behind, she would have given up exactly what Christian wanted her to, and I’m not going to do that to her. So I need to figure out exactly where her head is at and make some moves then, but that’s where I’m stuck.” I ground my teeth, not wanting to go into detail about the ins and out of our fiery relationship with each other, but it had been a long time since I’d had someone to talk to, another guy, another guy who understood that neither of knew much about women and what went on in their incredible brains. “She’s so fucking smart, Tyler. She sees right through me. Yet I have no idea how she’s feeling at any given moment. I really laid my heart out to her today, and she ran. Crashed, actually. Then tonight, when I went to check on her, she told me what I wanted to hear and...” I bit down on my tongue, stopping myself from going any further.

“With Whitney, it’s all or nothing,” I continued after a moment. “I could tell that for a fact from the beginning. She finds something she loves, and it’s her life, and she’s willing to sacrifice everything to nurture that. I can’t let that be me until she finishes school. I can’t let her give up her life’s work. She worked too hard for this.”

“Are you an all or nothing type of guy then, too?”

I slid my tongue across the inside of my lower lip. “For her, yeah. I am.”

Chapter Nineteen

Whitney

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SUNDAY CAME TOO FAST, the weekend fading into a blur of snow and adrenaline. I spent the second full day, Saturday, with Jessica exclusively. I slept in, met up with her right after the mountain opened, and spent the day taking it slow and easy, my muscles sore and burning from my hard and fast ride on Friday, in more ways than one.

I didn’t see Rhys—or Tyler, for that matter. Saturday night was another party and catered dinner held by Cassandra. I skipped it, and Rhys and Tyler stayed on the mountain for night skiing, according to Professor Montague.

Deep down, I was thankful for it. Rhys and I needed to talk, but I needed to get my head on straight before we sat down and discussed what needed to happen next.

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