Summary: Riley talks to Drake about their future.
Riley grabbed a bottle of whiskey. It wasn’t going to be easy to have this talk with Drake, but it had to be done. She was sorely tempted to open the bottle; she could use some liquid courage. But it would probably be better to wait and open it with Drake. It’s not like it would be that much longer. All she had to do was go over to him. The mere thought filled her with a sense of dread. This couldn’t possibly go well. It was just a question of how bad it would be.
She took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and walked over to Drake. “Hey there. I thought you might want some of this.” She held up the bottle of whiskey.
Drake grinned broadly. “Of course I do!”
She handed him the bottle. “Open it, and I’ll get us some glasses.” She turned away, glad for the excuse. He wasn’t going to be happy for long. How was she ever going to do this?
She grabbed two tumblers, then walked back over and set them down. Drake poured the whiskey, and she picked up her glass. She took a big gulp, then looked at Drake. “I thought we should talk. You know, since the wedding’s coming up. I know this isn’t the kind of life you imagined for yourself. Being a duke, I mean. Is that really what you want?”
“You know how I feel about the nobility, but it is what it is.” He sipped his whiskey.
“Well, yeah, but is that going to make you happy? Will you feel weird every time someone calls you Sir Walker? Not everyone’s going to be OK with calling you Drake if you’re a duke. And I know you think this place is a bit much.”
“Hey, I like the land. And we should build that cabin we talked about. That’s much more my style.”
Riley nodded. “I know it is. But I like this estate. It blows my mind that this is all mine. It makes my New York apartment look like a closet. And I know you don’t get why I get a kick out of having my own throne. I’m not getting a big head. It’s just exciting.”
“Whatever. I don’t see the appeal, but OK.”
“And this big wedding isn’t really your thing either. I know it’s not what you would have chosen.”
“No, I would have liked something smaller. The elopement would have been perfect.” Drake frowned. “I don’t get why you wouldn’t do it. It’s not like we wouldn’t still have the big wedding. Then we both could have had what we wanted.”
Because I was having doubts, she thought. “It just didn’t feel right. Besides, it might have been a security risk.”
“It didn’t feel right? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Riley took another drink of whiskey. How was she going to explain this? There wasn’t really a good way, was there?
“You think it felt right to me when you said you wanted to have one last fling?” Drake looked at her accusingly. “You did it, didn’t you?”
Riley slowly nodded, averting her eyes.
“I knew it! You never really got over Liam, did you? How could a commoner like me compare to a king? Or is he just so great in bed that you had to fuck him one more time?”
“No, Drake, that’s not it. Not at all. I swear. I haven’t been with Liam since you and I became official.”
“Then who?” he demanded.
Here it was, the moment of truth. “Bastien,” she said quietly.
Drake’s eyes widened. “Bastien? What the fuck, Foster? After what he did to you? I saw how shaken up you were after Tariq came to your room. And that’s on him. How could you let him touch you?”
“He didn’t know I’d be in my underwear. And Constantine is the one to blame, not Bastien. He has apologized to me over and over, and still feels bad about what he did. I’ve forgiven him.”
“Forgiving him is one thing, but you didn’t have to sleep with him! Why would you even want to? He’s practically old enough to be your father!”
Riley glared at Drake. “Well, he’s not my father! Besides, my father was sixteen years older than my mother! Age is just a number.”
“You don’t actually have feelings for him, do you?”
Riley tried to find the courage to admit the truth to Drake. “Um…well…”
“Shit, you do! What the actual fuck? How? Why?”
“Well…we’ve gotten closer. I told you, he feels really bad about following Constantine’s orders. One night, when we were on the train, Chance got out of my train car and I went looking for him. I heard him barking, and found him with Bastien. Bastien was really upset, and drinking. We talked, and one thing led to another.”
“Did he take advantage of you?” Drake asked.
“No! We weren’t so drunk that we didn’t know what we were doing. We even talked about whether we should do it. I thought it was just a one-night stand, but it happened a couple more times. And then you and I got engaged, so it ended. But then we had that last fling in Vegas.” She figured Drake didn’t need to know about the other time that she and Bastien had slept together, after she was engaged to Drake. It would only hurt him more.
“Does he have feelings for you too?”
Riley nodded. “I didn’t know until we had that last fling. Then he told me.” She downed the rest of the whiskey in her glass. “Drake, I’m so sorry. I can’t marry you.”
“I should have known I wouldn’t be good enough for you. But you’re dumping me for Bastien, of all people? Go to hell.” Drake drained his whiskey glass, then threw it across the room. It crashed into the wall and shattered into pieces. He grabbed the whiskey bottle, then walked out.
Riley’s eyes filled with tears. She never wanted to hurt Drake. He still meant a lot to her. But she couldn’t go through with the marriage when she had such strong feelings for Bastien, feelings that she could no longer deny.
She’d have to tell everyone that the wedding was off. So many people would be disappointed. All the planning had been for nothing. She supposed that she should tell Liam first, but she couldn’t face doing that now, not after breaking his best friend’s heart. Instead, she reached for her phone.
“Bastien? Can you meet me in my bedroom? We need to talk, privately.”
“I’ll be right there,” he told her.
She headed up to her bedroom, and Bastien arrived soon afterward. She sat down on her bed and motioned for him to sit next to her. She reached for his hand. “Drake and I broke up. The wedding’s off. I couldn’t marry him when I love someone else.” She looked into his eyes. “I love you, Bastien.”
“I love you too.” Bastien leaned in and kissed her passionately. When he finally pulled away, he looked at her tenderly. “Maybe you don’t have to cancel the wedding, though. Will you marry me?”
“Yes!” She kissed him again. Being with him felt so right. She wanted to spend her life with him.