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“Go sleep at your own damn house.” I yank the comforter off, and he falls onto my ten-thousand-dollar area rug.
“I’m not even bothering you, you asshole,” he howls, making a half-hearted attempt to pull the blanket back on his body.
“Last time I checked, this is my house, and you were not invited to visit. Now get the fuck up. I’m not going to ask you again.”
“Shelly kicked me out,” he finally explains after his first cup of coffee at the island counter of my kitchen.
“How did she kick you out when it’s your house?” I demand to know, annoyed that Vaughn has given this woman so much power over his life.
“She’s mad because I refused to rescind the prenup,” he says wearily. “Look, I talked to Christian, and he advised me against it. She had no problem signing it when we got together, but now suddenly, after three years of marriage, she suddenly has an issue with it?”
Christian Lee is a lawyer and another old friend of ours.
“The man has a point.” I lift up my mug and take a sip of the hot liquid. “Why the hell are you arguing with her over your money? I don’t understand why you’re in this marriage if you’re not happy.”
“I was happy,” Vaughn says tightly. “We were happy, but suddenly, there were all these issues. I just don’t know where they came from. I feel like there’s something I’m missing.”
It’s true that a man in love is the last person to know, perhaps because he’s desperate not to acknowledge the truth.
“You should hire an investigator to look into this,” I say, studying my friend.
The sharp look Vaughn shoots at me makes me shrug.
“Security is what I do.”
“Security work and investigative work are two very different things.”
“I know what you’re trying to say, but that’s not it. I would never invade Shelly’s privacy.”
“You know she’s hired one to look into you, don’t you?” I ask coolly.
Vaughn just falls silent.
I sip my coffee again. “You can either close your eyes, or you can do something about it. We are all here to help you, but if you want to act like a fool over her, that’s up to you.”
“I married this woman because I loved her,” Vaughn hisses, setting his mug down firmly on the granite. “I’m nobody’s fool.”
“No,” I correct him in an unbothered voice. “You married her because she told you she was pregnant, and then she very conveniently lost the baby two months after the wedding.”
“I’ll pretend you aren’t insinuating what I think you are,” my friend says as he gives me a lethal look, the vein in his forehead twitching. “You wouldn’t understand what it’s like to love somebody, Hunter, and I can’t imagine you ever will. You’re a fucking block of ice. No offense.”
“None taken.” I casually sip my brew, my eyes on him.
“When I met Shelly, I was done. She was it for me. Even before she got knocked up, I always knew that she was the endgame. Nothing matters aside from her.”
I shrug because Vaughn is a hopeless romantic. Me? Not so much.
“Then rescind the prenup,” I tell him.
When he doesn’t say anything in response, I give him a steady look. “Your silence is speaking volumes, old friend. Youknow it, and I know it. She’s after your money. I don’t know what changed these past few years, but now it’s about the money, and I would bet that the moment you rescind it, she will ask for a divorce.”
“Does your honesty always have to be so brutal?” Vaughn asks with a miserable look on his face.
“You have to figure this out,” I tell him. “Clinging on to someone who doesn’t want you is disgraceful.”
“You can be a shitty friend at times,” Vaughn growls at me.
“Yeah, well, you knew what you signed up for when you decided to crash at my place.” I glance at the clock on the microwave. “I have to go.”
