With a scowl, I take the glass. “Where is everyone?” I ask before taking a sip. It tastes foul, but I chug it anyway.
“Have you forgotten there’s a wedding here tomorrow?”
“I wish I could,” I mutter.
“They’re all out back for the rehearsal,” she replies casually. My stomach turns again, and I nearly lose the contents.
The rehearsal.
“Fuck,” I bark.
“What?” she asks.
“And Colin’s out there?” I ask with a wince.
She stares at me as if I’ve sprouted horns. “Of course. Where else would he be?”
I let out a sigh of frustration. Maybe he’s still thinking about things. He’s still confused and hasn’t worked up the nerve to tell Pierce that the wedding is off.
“I need to be out there,” I say in a rush.
“Why? You’ve done everything already. Stay in here.”
“No, I should go,” I mutter with a groan.
Dropping the half-drunk glass of screwdriver from hell onto the counter, I turn to rush out the back door. I hear the commotion of the crowd in the distance, and by some miracle, Mother Nature has actually given us a break from the rain long enough to hold a rehearsal.
Then, I look up.
Suddenly, I’m gazing across the yard at the two men stationed together, and it all hits me like violent storm.
I feel like I’ve been slapped. Sucker punched. Delivered a deadly blow.
Colin and Pierce are hand in hand as they stare each other. And Colin is…smiling.
For some reason, I can’t move. I’m paralyzed by pain. Intense, visceral agony like someone is violently clawing my heart from my chest.
“Declan…”
My brow furrows as I turn toward Blaire.
“Are you okay?” she whispers.
“I’m fine,” I snap.
“Declan.” She repeats my name in a way that makes me pause, with sincerity and alarm. Then she gazes into my eyes as she says, “You’re not fine. And it’s okay if you’re not.”
Tears prick behind my eyes, and it feels as if a tree has sprouted roots in my chest, weighing me down and pinning me to the earth.
This entire week I’ve felt like I’m losing Colin all over again. But I’m not losing him—he’s already gone.
All this time I’ve wasted thinking that I’d be better off alone. Thinking that he’d eventually come back. Thinking he truly belonged to me.
What a fool I am.
Turning away from Blaire, I march back up to the house. With a feeling of defeat, I disappear into the manor.
“Declan,” she calls as she follows me through the kitchen. “Where are you going? What about the wedding?”
