The Anti-Honeymoon

by Bethany Michaels

  “Obviously,” he said, and for a split second, she thought she saw a flicker of the kind boy she’d known before his gaze turned hard again. “Sorry doesn’t even begin to cover the humiliation, the huge expense, and the pain you’ve caused. My parents were devastated.”

  But not Elliot.

  “I hope you’ll forgive me one day…but it’s over between us. And there’s really nothing else to say beyond that. I’m not coming back to you.”

  Jenna tried to see the man she’d cared about. That’s how she wanted to remember him. She had ended things badly. And she’d always feel terrible about that.

  Niki snorted. “As if. He’s done with you. When we went through your email to get the information on this dump, we found all kinds of interesting things. Like how you spent all your parents’ money.”

  “You went through my email?” Suddenly, Zach’s suspicions came into clear focus. Had Elliot really only ever pursued Jenna because he thought she had money?

  Before she could confront him on that, or the hacking of her private email, the door opened and Zach appeared holding a tray of food and a large bouquet of tropical flowers. A large yellow envelope was wedged under his arm.

  “I’m back. And I’ve got bacon,” he said before looking up to see the room full of people. His face turned from soft and smiling to hard and ready to do violence as soon as he laid eyes on Elliot. He shut the door then crossed the room to set everything on the table before confronting Elliot.

  “You’re not a stupid man,” he said with a quiet, deadly voice Jenna had not heard before. “I would have thought Jenna leaving you at the altar then following up with a phone call was enough to let you know this is over.

  “Are you okay, Jenna?” he asked without taking his eyes off of Elliot.

  “Fine,” she said. “And I can handle this.” The two were staring each other down like two rams about to lock horns.

  Elliot ignored Jenna, instead stalking toward Zach, stopping inches from his stiff form.

  “I knew you were still bitter about my forcing you out of IDS,” he said to Zach. “And I invited you to the wedding to give you the opportunity to come back to work for me.”

  Zach gave a short bark of sarcastic laughter. “Come back to work for you? To the business I built? That’s really big of you. You want me at IDS because you’re in trouble. You need me to do the hard work.”

  Zach had been forced out of the company? He hadn’t mentioned that part. Just that they had parted ways.

  “You stole Jenna,” Elliot accused.

  “He didn’t steal me, Elliot,” she said. “I was—”

  Ignoring her, Elliot jabbed a finger in Zach’s direction. “And now you’re trying to steal Tower Media from me.”

  When Zach’s jaw hardened, Elliot continued. “At first, I wondered how you even knew that Tower was a critical target. That was top-secret stuff. Nobody knew about that. Nobody knew that they were looking for a new firm.” Elliot turned to her. “Except Jenna.”

  Zach crossed his arms over his chest but said nothing.

  “So when Niki came to the penthouse and told me that she’d heard from Jenna and that she was here”—he spread out his arms to indicate the hut—“with you…well, it didn’t take a statistical genius to figure out that you had stolen her right off the doorstep of the church and brought her here with the intention of seducing the information you needed about that account right out of her.”

  At first, it didn’t click. Tower Media. They had discussed that, she remembered. She’d mentioned it when she was talking to Zach about what a workaholic Elliot had been lately, worried about this account. And Zach had asked a few questions.

  Wait. No. Was it possible that there was some truth to Elliot’s claim?

  Jenna looked from Elliot to Zach and back again. Both men were looking at her.

  “Jenna, you can’t possibly believe him,” Zach said dismissively. “You can’t possibly think that this whole week, everything…it was all just to get some information out of you.”

  But it made sense. She’d always thought it was weird that Zach, a confirmed workaholic and busy CEO of his own company, would just drop everything to help a woman he didn’t even know. Fly her out of town on his private plane. Wine her, dine her, and yes, even seduce her. Why else would he do all that unless he wanted something from her?

  She’d been so clueless about Elliot wanting her for the inheritance he’d assumed she was sitting on. Obviously, she couldn’t tell the difference between a man who cared about her and a man who only wanted something from her.

  “Did you help me because you wanted to get back at Elliot for taking your business away?” Jenna asked. She couldn’t keep the tremor from her voice.

  “Jenna, I…” The angry tension in his face turned to something else. Something like guilt. “At first, when I realized who you were, maybe. A little. But I did want to help you. I—”

  “Ask him who he’s meeting with on Thursday,” Elliot interjected, a smug tone in his voice.

  She turned back to Zach and noticed the yellow envelope next to the flowers. With a raw empty ache in her belly and hoping like hell that she was wrong, that Elliot was wrong, Jenna opened the flap of the envelope and pulled out a freshly printed presentation folder.

  Tower Media, it read in gold foil letters.

  Elliot was right. Zach had been using her this whole time. First to get back at Elliot for, what, a business partnership gone bad? And then to pump her for information on a client Elliot needed and Zach wanted. Jenna was just the pawn. A stupid, secondary character to the revenge drama that had been playing out between these two men from the beginning. Poor, pathetically desperate Jenna was too dumb to figure it out.

  She pushed the folder back into the envelope and set it back on the table.

  “Jenna, it’s not like that,” Zach said, but she could hardly hear him now. Blood rushed in her ears, and she thought there was a very good chance she might pass out. She felt humiliated, stupid, and more alone on this earth than ever before. Even more than on the day she’d buried both her parents. Even more than the first night alone in that house after they were gone and she’d accepted that they were never coming back. This betrayal went bone deep, and she felt a little sick, like she’d been punched in the gut.

  “Stop,” Jenna said emotionlessly, barely able to even look at him. “Don’t make this worse.”

  Zach stalked over to her. “Be reasonable. I care about you, Jenna. I—I love you.”

  Elliot laughed. “Wow, nicely played. Pull out the love card.”

  “Shut the fuck up,” he said to Elliot. “Jenna. You have to believe me.” His eyes searched her face, and for a split second, she almost believed him. No, she told herself. She’d seen the evidence, and it had all made sense. She’d wanted to believe he cared about her. Wanted to believe that of anyone and everyone. And she’d been wrong. Every time.

  Jenna refused to show any of the three who’d stabbed her in the back any sign of weakness. Not Niki, her only family, who’d sold her out to Elliot and was most probably sleeping with him already. Not Elliot, who was willing to fake love and marry her for her money. And certainly not Zach, who’d only wanted information and revenge on his enemy by screwing his girl.

  “Get. Out,” Jenna said.

  Three pairs of eyes focused on her.

  Elliot looked smug, obviously assuming she’d been talking just to Zach.

  “All of you. Get. Out.”

  No one moved. They were obviously used to the old Jenna. The Jenna who tried to be nice to everyone, even when they didn’t deserve it. The Jenna who was a people pleaser, who never caused a scene…well, except when she’d run out on her own wedding.

  “The queen has spoken,” Niki mocked from the couch. She got up and moved to stand beside Elliot. “Just like the spoiled little brat she is.”

&nbs
p; Something broke loose inside Jenna. A fury she’d never known before. She’d put up with all the bullshit for long enough.

  She cocked her head and looked at her cousin. “I’m sorry, Niki. I really am,” she said. “I’m sorry that you think you were slighted in life. I’m sorry that your parents dragged you through an ugly divorce that turned you into such a bitter person who only sees the worst in everybody and everything that happens to you. I’m sorry that you think I have such a wonderful life while you’ve been cheated out of something. And I’m sorry that the only time you feel better is to hurt someone else.” Jenna realized her voice was rising in volume, but she didn’t care. “But family or not, I am done putting up with your nasty comments, insinuations, and attacks. Done.”

  She was on a roll now and couldn’t stop the words if she’d wanted to. It was like decades of holding her tongue in order to keep the peace all let loose at once.

  “And you,” Jenna said, turning to Elliot. “I made a mistake. A lot of them. But I didn’t wreck your business. And I’m not responsible for your parents’ unhappiness at our not getting married. Did you ever really care for me? Or was it just the money you thought I had?”

  Elliot opened his mouth to reply, but Jenna didn’t want to hear it. “If you’d paid even a little attention to what I was going through and offered a hand or even a shoulder to cry on while I was dealing with the estate, we could have avoided the whole wedding mess completely, because it would have been clear there was no point in marrying me for money I didn’t have. But no. You were wrapped up in your own problems, and I…I didn’t want to bother you.” She took a breath. “If we’d gone through with the wedding, the whole marriage would have been like that. You doing your thing and me not wanting to bother you.”

  It was true, she realized. Even if the money had not been a factor, they would have been miserable, and it would have been as much her fault as his.

  “I didn’t set out to ruin your business. I didn’t know anything about it.” She stepped closer. “We were friends, Elliot. Long before we were anything more. Our families were friends. And friends don’t use each other the way you used and manipulated me.”

  She turned to Zach. The look in his eyes, so full of pain and panic and, yes, anger, too, almost derailed her. “You,” she said, fighting to keep her voice even. “Your betrayal is the worst of all.” She swallowed hard. “You made me believe in myself again. And it was a lie. All of it. From the beginning. Every word.”

  Then, even as the Earth tilted on its axis, Jenna walked to the bed on quivering legs, willing herself not to collapse. “I’m going to the main building to shower and change at the spa. I don’t want to see any of you here when I get back or I will call security.”

  Then, with as much dignity as she could muster, she grabbed an armful of clean clothes, slipped on her sandals, and left the hut, calmly closing the door behind her. She refused to cry until the shower was running and her tears mixed in with the warm water sluicing over her face and body. She stayed in there, thinking seriously about never coming out. But eventually her fingers began to pucker, and she knew she had to deal with things.

  Jenna dressed slowly, practicing what she would say to Zach. Practicing how she’d tell him to get out without betraying that she’d fallen in love with him. Because that, at least, she knew for sure. And it sucked.

  Jenna returned to the hut prepared to do battle, but it was empty. Just like she’d asked.

  Chapter Eighteen

  “Men are nothin’ but trouble,” Clara said as she laid down her cards. “Full house.”

  “Agreed,” her twin sister Helen seconded, and Jenna took that to mean Clara’s beau had turned out to be a dud. “Family, friends. That’s more important,” she said.

  Aggie threw down her hand. “Cheater. I think you two use that twin thing to cheat.”

  “Twin thing?” Tommy asked. “You mean like twin telepathy or something?”

  “Nobody’s that good at poker,” Aggie insisted.

  “Our mother worked for Bugsy Segal in the forties,” Clara said. “You pick up a few things.”

  Nothing surprised Jenna about this motley group of friends any more.

  “When are we going for those photographs you talked about?” Aggie asked. “Enid thinks she’s all that. She will be green with envy when she sees my G-string.”

  “G-string?” Jenna asked, hiding a smile. She’d filled the ladies in on some of her adventures, and they had a lot of questions about the boudoir photos. After the fiftieth uncomfortable question, Jenna had offered to take the group for their own photo shoot.

  “Fold,” Tommy said, catching her eye and sending her an eye roll.

  Chuck laid down his hand. “Four of a kind.”

  Jenna tossed her cards in the pile, and Chuck scooped up his winnings, about three dollars in pennies.

  “Well, that wipes me out,” Clara said, getting up. “Think I’ll lie down for a while before dinner.”

  “I’ll join you,” Helen said. “We’ll see you later, dear?” she said to Jenna with a kind note in her voice and a concerned look in her watery blue eyes.

  “Where else would I be?” Jenna said with a small smile. It was true. Where else would she be? The tiny little efficiency apartment she’d found, eating a microwaved meal and watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island?

  “You want me to call someone?” Chuck asked, raising an eyebrow ominously. “I know people who could make him disappear. No trace,” he said, and Jenna totally believed him.

  “Him, who?” Aggie asked. “Elliot or Zach?”

  “Either,” he said with a shrug. “Both. You really should have called me back, Jenna,” he said. “I had all the information on Zach and Elliot—everything. You could have used it to turn the tables on them. Could have gotten yourself a nice nest-egg out of the deal.”

  “Extortion is a crime,” she reminded him. “So is murder.”

  “Only if you get caught.”

  “Thank you, no murders today,” Jenna said firmly. The last thing she needed on her hands was a double homicide. Though she was certain that if Chuck was involved, no one would figure it out.

  “Well, if you change your mind, all you have to do is call.”

  “I know. That’s sweet, Chuck. And a little frightening. Thank you.”

  He smiled back, adjusted his ball cap so it shaded his eyes, and headed to the front porch of Sunrise where he like to sit and note people’s comings and goings—keeping himself sharp, he always said. Just in case.

  “I have a couple of errands to run,” Jenna said, trying to summon the energy to actually do them. In the weeks since the Paradise Island debacle, she’d gone through the motions of rebooting her life robotically. She’d found a place to live. She’d arranged to get her stuff from Elliot’s penthouse—Niki was only too eager to pack her things and graciously leave them at the front desk for her, now that she’d moved in with Elliot.

  Somehow, that didn’t even bother Jenna. There was something about those two, something almost viper-like, that told her they’d actually probably do very well together. It wouldn’t be love—neither was capable of that, she’d come to believe. But they’d use each other and probably get what they each wanted out of the partnership. Niki had money. Elliot had connections. Who was Jenna to judge?

  She, meanwhile, had found a job as a temp. Not a great job, but something to bring in a little money while she figured out what she really wanted to do.

  And she’d begun to grieve. Jenna didn’t know what she was grieving, exactly. She and Zach hadn’t been a real couple or anything. It was always meant to be temporary.

  She was under no illusions that Zach had been telling the truth that day when he blurted out, totally uncharacteristic for him, that he loved her. His declaration had been just another way to try to manipulate. Jenna had told him her deepest truth, about how much she crave
d being loved and part of a family, and he’d used that information to utter the words he thought would make her forgive everything else so he could…what? That was the question. He’d already gotten everything he needed from her to screw over Elliot and take the client they both wanted.

  Oh, well, it didn’t matter. Jenna had moved through stages one through four and was currently on stage five, the upward swing, where she was able to start putting her life back together again. Because deep down, the truth was she did have feelings for Zach. And knowing he was callous enough to throw words at her that were meaningless to him, words she craved in to hear, was more painful than anything else.

  He’d been her friend. Or so she’d thought. He’d been her lover. And despite what she’d told herself at the resort, he’d been someone who…well, it didn’t matter now. He’d gotten what he wanted with a little fun in the sack on the side as a bonus.

  Oh, who was she kidding? She was still deep in stage four: depression.

  “Will you be okay?” Tommy asked, looking at Jenna with the fatherly concern she’d seen from him nonstop since she’d returned.

  “Yes,” she said, “I’ll be fine.” Jenna told herself that one hundred times a day at least, knowing it would be true eventually. “I just need to trust less. Love less,” she said.

  “Not less,” Tommy said emphatically. He took her hand. “That’s what makes you, you. You just need to love and trust yourself first.”

  “Sure. Easy,” Jenna said. “I’ll put that on the list for Tuesday. Right behind ‘get a life.’”

  He smiled and patted her shoulder. “We’ll be here for you, believing in you and cheering for you, until you do,” he said. “I hope you know you have a family here.”

  It was true. Aggie, Tommy, Chuck, Clara, Helen…they were her family. Not in the blood sense, but they were there for her, always on her side, and were able and willing to tell her the ugly truth, even when she didn’t want to hear it.