Crazy Beautiful: a Redemption novel

by Prince, Jessica

  “What? What do you mean we aren’t going?” Her question brought me back to the matter at hand. “We have to go! You need to make an appearance, and I’m rocking the hell out of this dress. It would be sacrilege not to be seen in it!”

  Moving in close, I lifted my hands and slid my fingers around her neck, relishing the way her body shivered every time I touched that sensitive skin. “Flower, you in that dress will be burned into my brain until the day I die.” My thumbs came up to trace her jaw as she smiled. “I don’t have words to adequately express how you look in that dress, and I swear, I’ll find a reason for you to wear it. But we aren’t going to this thing tonight.”

  Her lips drooped into a pout as she asked, “Why?” I had to fight back the desire to lean in and ruin the perfectly applied lipstick. “I know you told me about the reporters and cameras, but I swear, I’m fine. I don’t mind having my picture taken if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “It’s not that.”

  “Then what is it?” she pleaded, bringing her hands up and wrapping her tiny fingers around my wrists. “Jase, talk to me. You’ve been different all day. What’s going on?”

  I dropped my hands, taking two steps back until I bumped into the mattress and slowly lowered to sitting on the bed with a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry,” I said, feeling beaten down and more tired than I had in a very long time. That was what this goddamn place did to me. “I just hate coming back here. I fucking hate this place, Poppy, and I hate that I had to bring you back to somewhere that holds more bad memories than good.”

  “Hey.” She came up in front of me, stepping between my legs and running her fingers through my hair. God, I loved it when she did that. Just that gentle touch was enough to keep most of my demons at bay. “It’s only a day, remember? Then tomorrow, we go home. Twenty-four hours, that’s it.”

  I grabbed her hips and lowered my forehead to rest against her belly. “I’ve been dreading this damn thing all week. It was bad enough knowing you’d have to meet my cousin Titus, but I just found out today that my parents are going to be there.”

  She fisted my hair and jerked my head back with a shocked, “What? But . . . How? He was fired.”

  “Bureaucratic bullshit,” I grunted as my vision tinged red with anger. “Better to not rock the boat. No one besides me and the board knows about what he did, so they thought it best to keep rumors from spreading by including him this one last time. Especially since I’ll be named as his official replacement tonight.”

  “That’s such crap,” she clipped, the anger radiating from every pore stronger than I’d ever witnessed before. “The man’s a criminal. He shouldn’t be allowed to act like everything’s sunshine and freaking roses.”

  “They’re worried about what the shareholders might think.”

  “They should know!” she cried, swaying back and throwing her arms out. “They have the right to know the man’s a criminal, that he stole money, and that you saved the company from a whole lot of grief by investigating and revealing it when you did.”

  I loved the fire that was coming out of her mouth, and I loved that it was for me, but that didn’t tamp down the anxiety shredding my insides into ribbons. “Doesn’t work that way, baby. A scandal like that gets out, it could hurt the company. I can’t say the board made the wrong call, but I can say I don’t fucking like it.”

  She shifted back, closing some of the distance between us and placing her hands on my shoulders. “Fine. If you say so,” she grumbled. “But you shouldn’t let them have so much power over you, honey. I know your parents are a million kinds of awful, but you can’t let them win.”

  I gripped her tighter, breathing in that honey and flower scent I loved so goddamn much. “It’s not me I’m worried about,” I finally admitted, the words tearing at my throat on their way up.”

  “I’m not scared of them,” she stated with determination. “There’s nothing they could say or do that can hurt me, Jase. Let them do their worst. It won’t faze me.”

  She spoke with such fierce conviction that I almost believed her . . . almost. The truth was, I was terrified of what would happen if they got close to her. They had a gift for sinking their fangs in and unleashing a kind of poison most people were lucky enough never to experience.

  I was all too familiar with their brand of torment, and as the years passed, they only managed to hone their skills, sharpening those blades to a razor fine edge so when they made their cut, you didn’t even feel it until it was too late.

  I was worried about them hurting her, yes, but what was more, I was scared to death that something they might say or do would make her realize how unworthy of her I really was. She was too good for a damaged, screwed-up man like me, and it was only a matter of time before she realized it and took away the only light I’d ever had in my bleak world.

  “I’m not going to let them ruin our night, and you shouldn’t either,” she continued, her touch an attempt at soothing the storm raging inside of me. “Your wife’s looking all kinds of hot, and you should take her out and show her off.” She looked down at me with a goofy grin, finally pulling a laugh from deep in my chest.

  “How do you do that?”

  Her head tipped to the side, curiosity pulling at her expression. “Do what?”

  “How do you make everything better with only a few words? You don’t even have to try, and you just make everything right.”

  Her lips parted on an exhale, and those clear eyes grew hazy. “I’m just being me,” she returned on a whisper.

  “You said that to me once before. Remember? You followed it up by saying you were nothing special. I knew you were wrong then, and I know it now, because you’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”

  She sniffled, her eyelids fluttering rapidly. “You better knock off the sweet talk, Jase Hyland, or we’ll never get out of here on time.”

  I chuckled, pulling her in closer and placing a kiss on her belly. “Ah, then my evil plan is working.”

  She smacked me on the shoulder with a light giggle before ordering, “Go get ready. You aren’t the only one with a hot spouse you want to show off. I want to make all those women there tonight green with envy that I’m the one who gets to go home with you.”

  I rose to my feet, maintaining my hold on her so she couldn’t move, causing my chest and thighs to rub against her as I stood.

  “All right. But I want you to know I’m only doing this for you. If I had my way we’d be back in Tennessee, far from the viper’s nest I grew up in.”

  “It’ll be fun,” she insisted, lifting up on her toes to press a kiss against my lips. “And you know how I know that?”

  “How?”

  “Because it’s just the two of us. No one else matters. As far as I’m concerned, we’re the only ones that exist.”

  I knew at that very moment, without a shadow of a doubt, I’d fallen completely and totally in love with the woman standing before me. For the first time in my life, I loved someone other than Bennett and Farah. It was an all-consuming, stomach-plunging, free fall into the unknown without a safety harness.

  And the realization made me feel sick to my stomach.

  Because I knew that this would one day end.

  There weren’t supposed to be any emotions involved. It was supposed to be easy, uncomplicated. Then I had to go and fuck it all up by falling for my wife when I knew it was only a matter of time before I lost her.

  But that was for the future. This was now, and now she was mine. And as long as she’d let me, I’d hold on as tight as I could and not let go.

  “Poppy Hyland, you’re my favorite person ever,” I said, speaking those words she’d said to me weeks ago in the midst of sleep.

  Her eyes flared, and I knew she remembered saying that when her lips spread into the most beautiful smile. “You’re my favorite person ever too. Now go get ready. I’m in the mood to see you in a tux.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Poppy

  It d
idn’t take me long to understand Jase’s earlier trepidation.

  I wasn’t sure what it was that caused the wealthy members of society to think they were so much better than everyone else, but whatever it was, it turned most of these people into assholes.

  Of course, they hid it behind fake, plastic smiles and saccharine words, but they were as fake as most of the noses in this room.

  And the women were the absolute worst.

  To my face, they complimented my dress, my hair, hell, even my skin. But when they turned to walk away, I caught the sneers and the mumbled insults they hadn’t expected me to hear. I caught the nasty looks from across the ballroom and the catty lip curls they weren’t able to hide fast enough.

  We’d been here all of thirty minutes, and in spite of being on the arm of one of the most powerful men in the room, the women were going out of their way to make me feel inferior.

  I stood at Jase’s side, sipping from my champagne flute, wishing the liquid inside was something much stronger, as a man who’d come up to us a few minutes ago prattled on about golf and other topics equally as boring to me.

  Just like everyone else who’d entered our orbit so far this evening, as soon as Jase introduced me and the newcomer paid their congratulations, the topic of conversation quickly veered back to them, and I was all but forgotten.

  To his credit, my man did a good job at feigning interest, humming and nodding in all the right places. But every few minutes I’d catch the side-eyed looks and eye-rolls he’d shoot me when the man wasn’t looking and have to mask my grin behind my glass.

  The latest member of the upper class caught sight of someone he just had to go introduce himself to, quickly taking off across the ballroom, and before someone else had a chance to come up and interrupt, Jase placed his hand on the small of my back and began propelling me toward the bar.

  Leaning in, his lips skimmed the shell of my ear as he whispered, “How are you doing, baby?”

  I had to admit, I wasn’t having nearly as much fun as I’d hoped, but it was still kind of cool to see how important my husband was.

  Back in Tennessee, I got the laid back, casual, easy-going Jase. Here, he was a man in power, a man the other men in the room wouldn’t dare screw with, and I’d have been lying if I said that wasn’t hot as hell.

  “You’re sexy when you’re being all Big Boss, Jase Hyland,” I admitted, my voice hushed. “It’s kind of fun to watch how some of those men squirm under your attention.”

  “Hmm.” His eyebrows lifted as he glanced down at me, a smirk teasing at those sinful lips. “So that does it for you, huh?”

  “If you haven’t already discovered, there’s not much about you that doesn’t do it for me.”

  His husky laugh skated down my spine and pooled in my belly, spreading warmth through my whole body as he brought me to a stop at the bar. He took the champagne flute from my hand and set it down before flagging the bartender over with just a flick of his fingers.

  See? Man in charge. Not even the bartender made him wait. So hot!

  “Blanton’s Single Barrel on the rocks.”

  The young man behind the bar nodded and quickly went about doing Jase’s bidding. As soon as the glass was put on the bar in front of him, he slid it to me. I looked up at him with curious eyes. “How did you know?”

  “You kept staring at your glass longingly. You only get that look when you wish there was something different in it.”

  God, this man was driving me out of my mind. Just when I convinced myself he wasn’t perfect and falling even harder than I already had was a colossal mistake, he went and did something sweet and thoughtful like this, making it so hard to remember what was real and what wasn’t.

  Pushing that dilemma to the back of my mind for another day—preferably never—I lifted the glass to my lips and sipped, letting out a contented sigh as the bourbon traveled through my limbs before its warmth settled in. “Much better.”

  Jase squeezed himself between my stool and the empty one on the other side, his whole body twisted to face me. One arm stretched along the back of my seat while the other rested casually on the bar. It was a proprietary move, caging me in and protecting me from anyone who could possible bother me, and I freaking loved it.

  “My girl and her bourbon,” he said, a gratified expression on his face, making something that was already out-of-this-world handsome so much sexier. “Have I told you how hot it is that that’s your drink of choice?”

  “You haven’t, but feel free to wax poetically about my incredible taste in top shelf booze any time. I won’t stop you.”

  He leaned in close, brushing the tip of his nose against mine, and I could have sworn he was just about to bite my bottom lip. I really liked it when he did that, and I sent up a silent prayer that he’d make that his next move when we were suddenly interrupted by a harried voice.

  “Oh thank God. Real people!” A flurry of pale blonde and deep crimson entered the corner of my eye, and I turned just in time to see Wynn plop down on the stool on my other side. “I swear, this room’s full of pod people. I’m willing to bet my next paycheck that most of the women in here are robots these rich douchebags paid some genius in Asia to build so they could get laid on the regular. They probably power them down after sex so they don’t have to listen to them talk.”

  I let out a snort, rolling my teeth between my lips to keep from bursting into laughter just as a woman on Wynn’s other side harrumphed, shooting daggers with her eyes before stomping off, leaving behind a cloud of hairspray and heavy perfume.

  “See what I mean?” Wynn blurted, hooking her thumb over her shoulder. “Cyborgs. The whole lot of them.”

  Jase’s low, rumbly voice came from my right, and I glanced back as he asked Wynn, “Do you think, just for one evening, you could act like you at least have a vague idea how to behave in public?”

  She crossed her arms over her chest, letting out a huff. “And pretend to be something I’m not? No thank you.”

  The bartender took that moment to stop in front of my friend, staring appreciatively down at her dress as she relayed her drink order.

  I couldn’t blame him for ogling, really. I’d seen Wynn’s dress when we went shopping, but now that the whole package was done up to match, she was positively stunning. The red dress was a simple sheath, no embellishments or anything, mainly because it didn’t need it. It had a deep, plunging V in the front, and another that went all the way down to the small of her back. The thin, delicate halter straps wrapped around her neck and tied at the base. The dress exposed a ton of skin but still managed to look like total class. And Wynn had the perfect figure to pull it off, petite and lithe.

  “You look gorgeous,” I stated, as she grabbed the glass of wine the bartender had just put in front of her and took a good, long sip. “That dress looks amazing with your hair and skin color.”

  She looked me up and down before giving me a wink and clinking her glass against mine. “And you aren’t looking too shabby yourself, babe. I wouldn’t kick you out of bed.”

  I lost my battle with my laughter, letting my head fall back against Jase’s chest as I gave in. His arm slipped around me, coming to rest on my belly, and when I opened my eyes and looked up, he was staring down at me with such a tender expression, I lost my breath.

  “So beautiful, sweetheart.”

  Another little piece of me fell then, taking the plunge into head over heels that more than half of me had already.

  Wynn hung out with us for a little while longer, and I was thankful for the company, seeing as people kept coming up to Jase to chat. Our focus might have been pulled in opposite directions, but even then, he stayed close to my side, his arm on the back of my chair, his fingers running through my hair mindlessly as he talked to whoever demanded his attention.

  We were still a few minutes from dinner being announced when something caught Wynn’s attention and she let out a muttered curse. “Crap. There’s Ken from Quality Control. Lord deliver me from me
n who just won’t clue the hell in.”

  “What?” I asked, letting out a bewildered laugh.

  She kept her eyes on someone in the distance as she scooted off her stool. “I need to move before he spots me. Catch you later?”

  I shook my head with a big smile. “Yeah, we’re sitting at the same table. I’ll see you then.”

  She leaned in, placed a quick kiss on my cheek, the hoofed it out of there before Ken from Quality Control could see her.

  “What was that all about?” Jase asked into my ear a moment later.

  “I’m guessing a lovestruck suitor who can’t take a hint.”

  His gaze shifted in the direction Wynn had been looking earlier as he gave his head a pitying shake. “Poor Ken. Guy just doesn’t get it.”

  I lifted my glass to my smiling lips and took another sip just as Jase’s lips brush against the crown of my head, making me swoon. I began to shift in my seat, wanting to feel his lips against mine when a voice spoke up, the tone saturated with such disdain it sent a chill down my spine.

  “Well, don’t you two look cozy?”

  I glanced over Jase’s shoulder at the man who just spoke, not missing the way my husband’s entire frame locked up at the sound of his voice.

  I’d never before met the man standing behind Jase, but all I needed was one quick look to know they were somehow related. While this guy didn’t have Jase’s height or build, they both had the same golden eyes. Their hair was the same color as well, but where Jase’s was thick and lustrous, the man’s was thinning, his hairline inching back farther on his forehead.

  He wasn’t unattractive, not in the least. It was clear with his gym-honed muscles that he took care of himself, but he hadn’t been blessed with Jase’s wide chest and shoulders. Where my husband looked powerful, this guy was much leaner. His were show muscles, not muscles that could actually do him any good.

  However, it was the expression on his face that indicated the strongest difference between the two of them. His smile was more a sneer than anything else, and his golden eyes were full of hate and antipathy. I disliked him instantly.