Flawed Beauty (22 page)

As the band had just completed their
last set, canned music once again filled the air. Tate made a conscious effort
to look anywhere but at the stage area. She went around to her tables and took
orders and removed the empties.

She was back at the bar waiting on
Thor to fill her order, when she felt the surge of energy that occurred anytime
Jace
was close to her. She turned her head to find
him walking up with the dark-haired woman at his side. Tate turned back to the
bar and closed her eyes at the pain of seeing
Jace
with his hand at the curve of the woman’s elbow. It seemed… intimate.

He placed his other hand on her arm.
She tensed and swallowed before plastering a smile on her lips and turning to
him. “Hi,” she said inanely.

He leaned forward to press a kiss to
her forehead. “Hey, baby. I want to introduce you to an old friend from home.”

She took a steadying breath before
turning to look at the woman attached to
Jace’s
hand.
The woman was even more beautiful close up. Her long, dark hair was smooth and
straight. Her impossibly dark eyes were fringed with equally impossibly long
eyelashes. She was stunning. Knowing how she must look after having two
pitchers of beer spilled on her and having waited tables all night, Tate lifted
a hand to try and smooth the hair away from her face.

She smiled at the woman and waited
for
Jace
to make the introductions. “Tate, this is
Brittany Alexander.” Turning to Brittany, he said, “Britt, this is my
girlfriend, Tate Morgan.”

Brittany Alexander?
As in his old girlfriend who’d
cheated on him with his brother? Images of
Jace
and
Brittany kissing and groping each other flitted across her mind and she
immediately sought to dampen them.

“Welcome to Zeal’s,” Tate said.

The woman’s beautiful face broke
into a smile, showing perfect, white teeth. “Thanks, this is quite a place.”

Jace
touched her arm to gain her
attention. “Brittany just finished law school and is on her way back to West
Palm. She stopped by to surprise me,” he said in way of explanation.

“You’re a very lucky girl. I let
this gorgeous man slip through my fingers. Hopefully, you’ll have more sense
than I had,” Brittany said with a laugh.

Tate merely nodded her head. What
did she say to that? The woman was a lawyer and she could sing. Insecurity
flared again, this woman was so much better suited for
Jace
than she was.

She turned to the woman. “How long
are you staying?”

“Umm, I was thinking of maybe two or
three days. I don’t really have a time constraint. I’ll stay until
Jace
kicks me out,” Brittany said before lifting her
flirty, brown eyes up to
Jace’s
.

“Kicks you out?” Tate asked.

Smiling up at
Jace
,
Brittany said, “Yes.
Jace
has graciously agreed to
let me sleep on his couch. Wasn’t that sweet of him?”

“Yes, sweet,” Tate murmured as dread
spread throughout her.

“It’s just a couple of days and I’ll
be at work most of the time anyway.”

Brittany swatted him across the arm.
“I hope you’ll manage to squeeze in some time for me.”

“It won’t be much, I’m afraid. Tate
and I have plans to go away at the end of the week so I have a lot of loose
ends to finish up before that.”

“Well, we have a lot to catch up on
in a short time, it seems,” Brittany replied.

With her stomach hurting from its
constant clenching, Tate moved away. “I’ll let you go ahead and get started.
I’ve got customers to attend to,” Tate said, pulling away.”

“See you later?”
Jace
asked her.

“Uh,” Tate said looking between
them, “I don’t want to intrude on your reunion.”

Brittany wrapped herself around
Jace’s
muscled arm. “Oh, please do join us for breakfast
after your shift here.”

While on the surface, Tate couldn’t
find anything wrong with the woman’s words, her body language, on the other
hand, told her screamingly that Brittany considered her the third wheel. Not
thinking she could stomach an entire meal with Brittany touching
Jace
and him not seeming to mind it, Tate almost backed
out. But the thought of leaving those two alone for any length of time
frightened her.

“Of course,” she murmured. Turning
to
Jace
, “Where do you want to meet?”

“Why don’t we meet at home?”
Brittany interrupted.

Tate felt Brittany’s words scrape
over her skin. She couldn’t do this. “You know, it’s been a really long night –
a long week, really. I don’t think I will do breakfast. You guys go on without
me.
Jace
, I’ll see you later, okay?”

Jace
untangled himself from Brittany and
moved to her. Wrapping her face in his hands he looked with concern into her
eyes. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, just a little headache.
Please, you two go and catch up.
I’ll see you tomorrow or whenever.”

With a last smile, Tate turned to
move away.
Jace
pulled her closer to him when she
went to pass. “I’m sorry, but our… plans for later will have to be placed on
hold. Please join us for breakfast. We’ll go someplace nearby.” he said as he
tried to see past the mask she’d slipped over her features. “What do you say?”

Not sure what to say, she simply
nodded.

“I have to work tomorrow, but let’s
plan on dinner on Monday at my place,” he said beseechingly.

She smiled and nodded, refusing to
show the hurt and confusion she felt. She reminded herself:
Take what he
offers and don’t ask for anything more
.

Breakfast was a horrifying event.
While
Jace
sat next to her and held her hand, Brit –
short for Brittany, she’d learned – monopolized him. It felt as if it was them
pitted against her.

Brit was courteous and friendly to
her, but the bulk of their time in the restaurant was spent rehashing their
past lives together. Brittany was even more beautiful close up, even in the
harsh lights of the restaurant – in her little short red suit and pearls. It
was obvious, she, like
Jace
, came from a good family
and money. It showed Tate, as nothing else had, that she didn’t belong in
Jace’s
world. After an hour of ‘
do you remember’
and
‘
remember that time’
, Tate had had enough. But fear kept her rooted next
to him.

As she quietly sat on one side of
Jace
and Brittany on the other, Tate listened as they moved
beyond their past memories.

 “How long have you’ve been
singing in a band again?” Brittany said.

“About a month, it’s been a nice
outlet.”

“I can only imagine. How’s work?”
she asked.

“Hectic, crazy, insane.
I’ll be glad when my internship is
over,”
Jace
responded.

 “Are you coming home then?”
she asked with a pleading tone in her voice.

Jace
smiled at her. “We’ll see.”

Tate tensed next to him.

“When is your internship over?”
Brittany asked.

“Uh, I think I have another three
months,”
Jace
answered.

Three months
? Tate swallowed at how short that
span of time was. Three months and then he’d move along.

“Have you already begun to send out
feelers for other jobs?” Brittany asked.

“I’d begun that process months ago.
I’ve sent several resumes out to several larger hospitals,”
Jace
answered.

Tate swallowed. How did she not know
this? She felt as if there was a whole other side she didn’t know of
Jace
Staton
.

“Well, I hope at least some of those
resumes were sent in our direction,” Brittany said.

“Of course,” he smiled.

“What are your plans once you finish
school?” Brittany asked Tate.

She felt
Jace’s
stare but didn’t glance up. “I haven’t really made any decisions yet.”

Placing an arm over her shoulders to
bring her closer to him, he said, “I’m hoping she’ll agree to come wherever I
am.”

 “We’ll see,” Tate murmured
noncommittally.

The hand which had been rubbing up
and down her arm stilled, but she didn’t look up.

Not thinking she could endure any
more small talk with Brittany Alexander, and with her headache back in full
force, Tate begged off and went home.

Later, she lay in bed – alone,
missing
Jace’s
presence. She longed to have the right
to fight for her position with him, but a lifetime of insecurities forced her
to remember – take what’s given, don’t ask for more. She couldn’t stop her mind
from imaging
Jace
and Brit in his apartment, sitting
together on his couch – the couch she’d made love to him on numerous times –
with their heads together, reminiscing about past good times. Tate knew she
needed to prepare herself for the inevitable. Her chest burned and her heart
twisted painfully. Brit was a better fit for
Jace
,
with her cheery, red suit and white pearls. She’d be a perfect match, the
perfect swan.

Three months and
Jace
would be gone – probably back in West Palm Beach – and if Brittany had anything
to do with it – not with her. Three months wasn’t long enough. She wasn’t ready
yet. Her heart twisted. It’d be so easy for him to return to the life he’d had
before… with his parents… and Britt. Her chest felt as if a ten-pound weight
had been placed on it. She buried her face in her pillow and concentrated on
breathing deep. Tate knew she needed to prepare herself for the inevitable.

She was in the car with her father
and he gave her the speech she’d heard several times before. “Do whatever is
asked, even if it makes you uncomfortable. Nothing in life is free, remember?”

 Turning in her seat, she saw
Dr. Randall giving her a small shake of her head. “Your foundation is
crumbling. Did you really think you could actually fix it? You really are
crazy.”

Shifting her gaze to the person
sitting beside the doctor, her breath caught in her throat. Nick Tracey sat
with a smirk curling his lips as he twirled a curling iron in his hands. “You
were so tight. I ruined you for all men.”

 She turned back to her father.
“I ruined you long before he came along.”

She swallowed and turned to face
straight ahead, struggling to understand. Eventually, the car pulled in the
driveway of Bradley Rivers’ parents’ house.

She looked questioningly at her
father. “I have a surprise for you, princess.”

She rubbed a hand against the pain
in her chest. He only called her princess when it was something bad… very bad.
With trepidation, she stared up at the house and gasped when Mr. Smith opened
the door and came to the car and opened her car door. She placed her trembling
hand into his and allowed him to lead her into the house. Her heart was really
pounding now and she could barely breathe. She tried to pull away from Mr.
Smith when he began leading her towards the game room, but her father, Dr.
Randall, and Nick were all behind, her pushing her forward, their fingers like
steely knives.

Her heart really began to pound at
the entrance of the game room. She tried to close her eyes against whatever was
in the room, but they refused to shut. The room was shrouded in a layer of mist
and she struggled to see in front of her. Little by little, images made
themselves known. In the middle of the room, she could make out the massive
pool table. Fear, more immense than she’d ever known, drew her to the green
felt-covered table. With her limbs trembling, she stepped closer and closer
until she saw there were two people on the pool table. She couldn’t make out
who they were at first. After another step, she gasped. On the pool table,
lying on top of her red suit and a set of
Jace’s
scrubs,
was Brit. She was naked, her white skin almost
luminescent and pure. Her head was thrown back in passion and she yelled
Jace’s
name.
Jace
was between her
legs pounding into her, groaning his pleasure.

Turning his head, as he continued to
slide in and out, he gave her a sad smile. “I’m sorry, but I never belonged in
your squalid existence.”

She longed to scream but had no
voice. She longed to pound him with her fist and beg him, but she was
paralyzed. All she could do was stand and watch as the couple continued to move
and groan.

She cringed when she heard
Jace
say, “I love you, Brit. I always have. I’m ready to
come home now.”