Page 108 of Burning for You
“I’ve got something to tell you.” I wring my hands.
Jesse looks at me. “Hell, Jeans. You’ve found a girl that I get along with, and now you’re having second thoughts about her?”
I scrunch my hair with a grumble.
“Oh, you miserable dick,” Jesse says.
I go into my room, fetching the envelope from Zac Moss, and then come back to my brother. “I received this from a reporter. I know there’s photos inside, but I don’t know exactly what of.”
“Do you want me to?”
“No,” I say, yanking it from Jesse’s eager hand.
Past my trembling, past the suspense, I fold the seal flap open. With the photos still inside, I study them, warning Jesse not to look. If there’s something really embarrassing about Carolyn in it, I’ll make sure he never sees it.
I show Jesse an engagement photo of her and Anton Mendez, followed by an article: He Puts A Ring on It!
“Dude,” Jesse says. “I can see now why you’re worried. He makes fucking Tom Brady look like Jack Black.”
I roll my eyes. Jesse never intends to calm my nerves, but I can always rely on him to tell his truth.
Then there are a few shots of Anton shopping for baby clothes in Manhattan, followed by another set of photos which are labeled ‘San Fran.’ Carolyn is in front of a supermarket, conversing with Anton. This must be the trip she took before the day I met her at Brilliance.
Another note says that she stayed at one of Anton’s hotel establishments. A penthouse.
Why would you stay in a penthouse by yourself?
So she fucked him, then.
And now she’s pregnant with his child?
No wonder she didn’t bring any tampons to Montana! She knew she wouldn’t need them, because she was pregnant.
The enormity of Carolyn’s lies sees me cry in front of my brother.
“Hey…” Even Jesse is concerned. He sits next to me, putting his arm around me. “These could be Photoshocked, you know?”
I don’t even have the energy to correct him.
“Look at her nose. Is that her nose?” Jesse draws the San Francisco photo closer.
Of course it is. They’re all her. And these are more than just materials for a gossip rag.
My God, Carolyn.
I made love to her, I kissed her, I licked her. All this time, she’s carrying someone else’s baby? Was she so desperate for sex that she could pretend like that? She was ‘clean,’ she said, when we first made love.
Or perhaps she’d put up this elaborate act just so that her child would have a father. At the time, she had given up hope that Anton would own it. With Josh having betrayed her, I was her only chance.
My head is a jumbled mess. I have to get away from those things.
“I’m gonna take Grudge,” I sigh.
“I’m gonna burn all these,” Jesse says, gathering the photos.
“Whatever.” I head to the stable.
I ride Grudge to the woodland shed, the only refuge I can think of. My horse takes me to cross Arrow Creek. My heart smiles, thinking about Carolyn’s dismal attempt to negotiate the boulders in her Gucci shoes. But I got her, I’ve always got her.