I turned the inside of my mouth and lips to ground beef, chewing on them until they bled. I didn’t know what to say. So, I said nothing.
A tear rolled down his face. He didn’t acknowledge it, but I couldn’t pull my gaze from it. It glided down his beautiful face until it beaded on his jaw before dripping onto his arms.
My chest tightened, and my stomach clenched. Guilt rode me hard. I never wanted to hurt him. I wanted to apologize but didn’t think he would hear it.
Shaking his head, he said, “I can’t believe you. You fucking lied to me. For months, Declan. You lied to me for months and all of them,” he waved at the house. “They all knew about it.”
I had no words. There wasn’t anything I could say. He was right. I’d botched our relationship. Totally fucked it up beyond all recognition.
He closed his eyes, and when he spoke, the quiver in his voice was unmistakable. “I’m out. I refuse to spend my life with someone I can’t trust…”
“Please, Hayden. Please don’t do this.”
He flinched as I begged, but he remained steadfast despite the flood of tears that were now flowing freely. “I’m only doing what we should’ve done that first morning after. I’m walking away.”
And he did. He turned toward his car, and he walked away from me.
“Hayden!”
He paused, and I started after him, but the look in his eyes as he looked at me over his shoulder nailed my feet to the ground. “Don’t follow me. Don’t contact me. I’m done.We’re done.”
“We’re fucking married!” I cried, my voice catching on a sob that ripped from my chest as my own face became covered in tears.
He was unmoved. At least, he appeared to be when he said, “Well, Mr. Billionaire, I’ll let you handle that however you choose. I’m sure you have a team of people who can unknot the mess we’ve made.”
“And if I don’t want to unknot the mess?” I asked because the last thing I wanted was to lose the man I loved, who helped me find and fight for my true self.
“That’s up to you. I won’t be doing this shit ever again, so it’s not like I give a fuck.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod.
The prayer played like a litany in my head while fear and anxiety swarmed me like a hive of bees. He couldn’t mean…
I couldn’t even bring myself to think it.
“It means I’m through. With love. With relationships. I’d rather go through life celibate than ever feel like this again.”
I wanted to thank God for that small gift but couldn’t. Not when he was walking away from what we were building together. “Hayden, we can work this out. Don’t give up on us.”
“There is no us. All we were ever meant to be was a hookup. I’m just righting a sinking ship.”
The dead, emotionless tone dropped me in a field of desolation. He stalked to his car, and I stared after him, completely and utterly devastated. My heart tore from my chest, bit by bit, with every step he took away from me, until it lay dead on the ground between us, crushed beneath the shattered pieces of our relationship.
The muscle car that was so Hayden roared to life, peeling out of the driveway, narrowly missing the steel mailbox that looked more like modern art than it did a mailbox. He slammed on the brakes, our eyes connecting for a moment. Then, smoke bloomed from his rear wheels, and the smell of burning rubber filled the air. Squealing tires joined the smoke and rubber as the car fishtailed before disappearing down the street.
Life drained from me, leaving me a shell of the man I was this morning. I scoffed. This morning, when I thought I couldn’t be any sadder. Motherfucker, was I wrong.
Cackling laughter replaced the growl of Hayden’s car, and I turned. Mara stood in the open doorway, smirking and clapping as she bounced up and down. Determined to shut the bitch up once and for all, I strode toward the house. Her eyes widened, and she disappeared inside, shutting the door behind her.
As if that would save her.
If I got my hands on her, I’d be facing murder charges—for what she’d done to Hayden, Jackson, and me. She was vile and vindictive. Manipulative and destined to destroy any happiness she could because she was… fuck. Who knew what the fuck her dysfunction was. And honestly, I didn’t fucking care.
I threw open the door. It smacked the wall, bouncing back at me. I slammed it closed, entering the house only to find the sympathetic gazes of my family and the smirking, smug, self-righteous looks from Mara and her confused as fuck father.
Mara crossed her arms and smiled, “I told you that day, when you got on the elevator, I’d get you back. I justneverbelieved I’d get to witness it.”
