Billionaire Boys Club 5 : Romancing the Billionaire(79)

"Seriously, you look like shit," Reese told him, chewing on the end of an expensive cigar as he picked up his cards. "Everything okay?"

"Fine," Jonathan said, his tone clipped. Hopefully that would end the conversation.

"You should be in a good mood," Hunter said, his voice gravelly and rough. The scarred billionaire sat directly across from Jonathan, and for once, his fiancée wasn't perched in his lap. "No girls tonight."

Jonathan snorted to hide the twinge of envy he felt. It seemed like all his friends had paired off in the last year. Their weekly meetings were frequently interrupted by Reese's new wife, Hunter's fiancée, and Logan's bride-to-be. Even Griffin, the starchiest ass**le of their bunch, had recently gotten engaged and tended to let his frizzy-headed girlfriend lead him around by the balls. Quite happily, if the content look on Griffin's face was any indicator. The last bachelor of their group was Cade.

He frowned. And himself. He was still a bachelor, even though in his heart, he'd always been claimed by Violet.

Hand after hand of poker blurred together with familiar discussions. Jonathan was mostly silent, though he mentioned the new line of roadsters he was developing when it came time for him to share his latest business dealings with the group. Mostly, though, he was just distracted.

He couldn't get his mind off of Violet. Was she regretting her hasty retreat? Or did she just not even care? If he knew Violet-and he thought he did-she was pushing any sort of emotion so far down inside that she wouldn't feel anything. She'd just go about her day, armored and icy, until something set her off. And then she'd explode in a fury of tears and misery.

And that made his heart clench even more. He wasn't even pissed at Violet for pushing him away; he just dreaded when her control finally slipped and she broke down, because he wanted to be the one to comfort her. She needed a shoulder to cry on, even if it was his.

Sometime close to midnight, Jonathan threw his last chips into the pile. "All in." He knew it was a bad hand-he'd been betting recklessly all night and had lost a small fortune on the table. Not that he cared. He just wanted to be done. He wanted to go home and lick his wounds and mull over the loss of Violet for a bit longer.

Frankly, he was shit company tonight.

He was glad when Cade won the hand. "I'm out," Jonathan said with a fake grimace. "Just as well. Time for me to call it a night anyhow." He stood from the table, said his good-byes to his friends, and headed up the stairs and out of the club, heading to his reserved parking spot.

"Wait up," a voice called behind him as he pulled his keys out.

Jonathan turned, frowning at Cade Archer, who'd followed him out. The blond man had his hands shoved in his light-colored jacket and was squinting down the street, looking for his driver who was likely hovering nearby with Cade's ride. Archer headed over to Jonathan and paused nearby.




 

 

"What is it?" Jonathan asked, his voice terse.

"Just wondering how things went with Violet," Cade inquired. "You two have a lot of history."

"Fuck off."

"That well, huh?" Cade's grin remained. "I'm sorry to hear that. I know you care for her very much."

Jonathan clenched his teeth, his hand tight around his keys. Part of him wanted to punch Cade in the mouth-Cade, who was the definition of kindness-and part of him wanted to spill his guts.

"Can I ask what happened?" Cade said after Jonathan hesitated.

"She closed me out again."

"Again?"

He gritted his teeth. "I thought you knew this story already?"

"Humor me."

"Ten years ago, Violet asked me to run away with her. I declined and she left without me. It seems she begged me to come after her and I never got the message. She was pregnant and miscarried my baby." It felt like a raw wound just admitting it aloud. God, he was a shitty man. He didn't deserve a woman like Violet. He had to force the next words out of his throat. "This time, we f**ked and she got scared and left me again. Told me not to follow her."

"Mmm," was all Cade said.

That wasn't what Jonathan wanted to hear. "What the hell does that mean?"

"So she asked you to follow her before and you didn't?"

"I didn't know she was pregnant. Her father told me she'd gone home and married someone else. I thought . . . I thought she was gone."

"So you didn't fight for her. Did you even call her to see if she was okay? To close the door? So you could both move on?"

He ground his teeth again, his jaw clenched. "No. I was pissed." And hurt. And nineteen, fresh off of losing his first and only love.

"Mmm."