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I felt the muscles in my jaw tense. “Lauren,” I said flatly. “How did you get this number?”
“Are you kidding? Why did you change yours? I’ve been trying to contact you all week!”
“Why?”
“You know why! That settlement is an insult.” Her voice raised higher in pitch. “Do you want me to starve?”
Lauren rarely became so emotional, even during our worst fights. Not being able to contact me for days must have really teed her off. She had built up quite the head of steam.
“Look,” I said. “If you have any objections to the terms of the settlement, you need to have your lawyer contact my lawyer—”
“Cut the crap, Deacon. We were married. We shared a life, house, and finances together. I supported you for years while you neglected me while building your business. If I hadn’t had your back, you wouldn’t have gotten off the ground.”
Despite my resolve to simply hang up and hash out the ugly bits through our lawyers, I couldn’t help but bite back. “Oh, that’s what you call it? Riding other guys’ dicks is ‘having my back’? How many were there, Lauren? I know about the two, but how many more men did you sleep with while I was working?”
“You drove me away!” she shrilled. “I am a human being, and you treated me like a perfect doll! You expected me to greet you with a stupid smile on my face whenever you decided to come back home. What was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe ask for a divorce if you were unhappy? Oh, wait. That’s what we’re doing.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do, but you are being unreasonable.”
“I’m being—”
“Yes! You are going to contact your lawyer and tell him that you want the assets fairly divided.”
I was starting to get a headache. “Lauren,” I said through gritted teeth, “our marriageable assets are fairly divided.” My personal honor wouldn’t allow for anything less. Everything that we had built during our short marriage was being split fifty-fifty. However, I’d had a large share of stocks and investments in my portfolio even before we were engaged. She wasn’t going to get her hands on that.
“I swear to God, Deacon. I will make your life miserable!”
I hung up.
Make my life miserable? That was a laugh. Once this was all over, I ought to go find one of the guys she had slept with and give him a kiss on the lips myself. These last few days without her, and with Kendall, had been some of the best in my adult life.
That thought made me pause. I frowned, looking back down at my phone. Lauren hadn’t called back. At one point, I had truly loved her. And now I was trying to think of Kendall in that same light.
“I’m getting emotionally involved with him,” I realized. That was not a good thing.
I had been quite clear from the start, and Kendall had agreed, that this was to be a fling. A fun, resort fantasy where I could explore the boundaries of my sexuality.
Feelings are not supposed to be in the mix.
I dragged a hand down my face and looked out to the sparkling pool and the beach beyond. Maybe I would go out on that run just to clear my head. Although, I had no desire for a massage from anybody other than Kendall.
I changed into my shorts and went out, pounding out my lingering frustration and anger from the phone call onto the sand. I also tried to ignore the lingering disquiet that I hadn’t boxed up my feelings for Kendall as well as I should have.
Logically, it should have been a good thing that Kendall was gone for the night. But when I returned to the villa after the sun went down, it felt empty and alone.
I changed and went to bed early.
13
KENDALL
“Elle!” I called, raising my hand to flag her attention.
I had caught her just in time. She was almost out the door of the employee lodge and on the way to the staff cafeteria. She paused mid-step and glanced over her shoulder. “Kendall… Wow, you look terrible.”
Yeah, sleepless nights—for various reasons—will do that to a man. I brushed off her concern with a sarcastic reply. “Thanks, Elle, you’re a peach.”
