Tyler glanced up. “What?”
Ryan leaned forward. “He can’t see her phone calls and texts . . . but hecould.”
“What?” Tyler looked confused.
“When we got back from the lake, Aelin told me he’d installed some app on her phone that was giving him access to her information.”
Tyler’s eyes widened. “He installed spyware on her personal cell?”
“Right, yeah. You’d know all about that.”
“Can I kick that dude in the balls?”
Ryan laughed. “Get in line.”
Tyler glanced down at his phone on the table. “Bud, I don’t know about you, but if someone saw every single thing I did on there or every message I sent, I’d want to drive over that thing with my car.”
Ryan laughed. “But think of all the dick pics we’d miss out on.”
Tyler scoffed. “I’m not talking about the dick pics. Happy to post those whenever.” He patted Ryan’s shoulder, then walked over to order another round of shots for the table.
Ryan took another drink. Of course, Aelin wouldn’t want to use her phone. He’d seen how she reacted to Clark in her driveway. She’d been in an abusive relationship for twelve years.How was she supposed to suddenly forget that? She was a mama bear, and until mediation was complete—maybe even after that—she was going to guard Bailey with whatever it took.
But what could Ryan do to help her? He couldn’t go and stand next to the tree, that was for damn sure.
He opened his phone to his AI chatbot and started asking questions.
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Aelin wokeup to new text messages, most of them from Ryan. Her heart started to pound, her brain still fuzzy from sleep. It was only five in the morning, and she had no idea why her body had woken her up, aside from the fact that her mediation was in a few hours. She rolled over on her pillow and started to read.
She answered Megan’s text first, letting her know she’d be dropping Bailey off around nine to make sure she had plenty of time and wouldn’t be rushed to get to Jules’s office. Megan had technically been invited to the wedding, but she was mostly friends with Rhonda. Since she’d gone to the bachelorette party the night before, she felt like she had paid her dues.
Aelin hesitated before tapping on Ryan’s messages, already making up a story in her head of what she would find there. He would be angry. He would ask her why she had refused to respond to him. He would tell her how frustrating it was to lie nearly naked with her for four nights in a row and then have her ghost him the second they got home.
All of it would be fair.
She braced herself and tapped.
Ryan
9:32 p.m.
I’m at this bar for the bachelor party and the girls from the bachelorette just arrived. I think they booked an actual party bus
We have a lot of catching up to do, but I’m not really in the mood to drink. It’s only making me sad, and nobody wants Sad Ryan at a bachelor party
When I came to drop Amaya off at your house the other day, I was planning to come up and show you something
Aelin scrolled and looked at the picture he’d sent. It was a picture of his left hand. At first, she didn’t understand until she noticed the slight tan line on his third finger.
I stopped wearing my wedding ring. I wanted to tell you that. When you talked about filing for divorce, it made me think about things differently. I’m grateful.
I also wanted to let you know that two of the girls in Jenna’s group are completely shit-faced. They’ve been touchy with everybody here in the bar, but Rhonda’s been taking a lot of pictures, and I’m sure some of them are going to end up on Megan’s Instagram feed.
If you see a blonde girl with sleepy eyelids and it looks like she’s licking my face, she did not get consent
