Page 82 of You Know You Wanna

“I need to talk to her,” I said, pushing past him into her house. “Alone. Please and thank you.”

My friend came out of her bedroom as I walked in, her hair mussed. She tied the belt of her robe and frowned. “Birdie, what happened?”

I glanced at Declan before I looked back at her, silently trying to convey the message Not in front of him.

Gracie turned to give him a sugary sweet smile. “I’m sorry, Dec. You’re going to have to leave now.”

“Now?” He groaned. “But we were right in the middle of something.”

“Yes, and now we’re not,” she said. “Thanks, though. This was fun. See ya.”

He stared at her for another beat, his head shaking. “Sure. Yeah. See ya.”

Disappearing into her bedroom, I assumed he was going to get the rest of his clothes, but Gracie didn’t wait until he’d left her place completely before she came over and put her hands on my shoulders. “What happened?”

“He’s married,” I hissed.

Her head jerked back and her eyes darted to the bedroom. “Declan?”

“No, Remington,” I whispered furiously, making my eyes big at her.

She frowned. “I thought he was divorced.”

“Shh!” I took another pointed look at her room and lowered my voice again. “So did I. Obviously. Otherwise I never would’ve touched him, but he’s not.”

“What?” she asked, speaking in her normal voice again. “How is that possible? If that’s true, where has she been all this time? The wife, I mean. It’s not like happily married couples regularly spend their entire summers apart.”

“I don’t know about that, but I met her. Remington’s wife. She’s freaking gorgeous. Like drop-dead, supermodel-level gorgeous.”

Declan ran out of Gracie’s room, his shirt only half buttoned and his shoes still in his hand. His eyes were wide with what appeared to be panic. “Did I just hear you say Remington’s wife?”

“Yep.” I turned on him then, glowering as I crossed my arms. “Thanks for nothing, jerk. It would’ve been nice if you’d have given me a heads-up that he’s still married.”

“Yeah, if he was still married, I would’ve told you.” He jammed his feet into his shoes and hurriedly did up the rest of his buttons. “He’s not, though. They’re divorced. I thought you knew.”

“I thought I knew too, but then Jacqueline showed up this morning and accused me of sleeping with her husband.”

Declan groaned, covered his face with his palms, and shook his head. “I need to go deal with this on his side, but it’s not true. They really are divorced.”

I snorted. “Someone should tell her that, then. As far as she’s concerned, he’s still married to her, Declan. You can stop lying to me now. The jig is up.”

“There is no jig,” he said emphatically. “They were separated for years and the divorce was finalized a few months ago.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the chest. Again. “Are you sure? Because she definitely called him her husband and then she walked into the suite like she belonged there.”

“Fuck.”

“What?”

He sighed, then shook his head again and started racing around the room, collecting his wallet, phone, and keys from various points where he seemed to have dropped them. “Jacqueline is bad news, okay? She was messing with you. Probably jealous that he’s met someone and she hasn’t. Either that, or her life has just been too calm recently and she needs to create some drama. She does that. She lives for drama.”

Stumbling back, I collapsed on Gracie’s sofa and willed my racing mind to catch up. “So, wait. He’s not married?”

“Very much not married,” Declan said fiercely. “Thank God. That woman made him miserable and I don’t blame him. She’s toxic. If you ever see her again, don’t believe a word she says. And some holy water might keep her away.”

“But she’s so pretty,” I mumbled. “So sophisticated.”

He pulled up short to stare blankly at me. “So what? Wrap a turd in gold and it’s still a piece of shit.”