He shook his head, disgust curling his lips into a sneer. “Unbelievable. All that moral high ground you’re always standing on, andthisis what you’re doing?”
“Wyatt, you need to listen to me.”
“I don’t want to hear it,” he said, already backing toward the door, his eyes bright with anger and hurt. “I don’t want to know.”
Then he turned, and a moment later, he was gone, the door slamming so hard the walls rattled. In his wake, I stood there with my heart pounding in my ears and disbelief making me feel numb.
“Jane?” My mother’s voice floated in from the hallway. “What was all that yelling about?” She appeared from the kitchen doorway, worry etched onto her features. “Is Wyatt okay?”
I swallowed hard, but my throat was still tight, burning with the sting of what he’d accused me of. “He thinks I’m having an affair.”
Her brow furrowed in confusion. “An affair? With who?”
“Alex,” I said. “He doesn’t know about us. About the marriage.”
She let out a small, relieved breath. “Oh. Well, he’ll come around once he cools off.”
Something in me snapped. “No, you don’t get to say that.”
She blinked, clearly taken aback by the sharp lash of my tone. “Jane, I just mean?—”
“You act like he’s a pet.” The words spilled out before I could stop them, my eyes narrowing to slits as years’ worth of pent-up frustration came tearing out of me. “He’s not going to wag his tail and forgive everything if we just wait long enough. He’s not a child, Mom. He’s a young man with feelings.”
Her eyes immediately filled with tears. “I’m just trying to keep the peace.”
“I know,” I said, the anger draining out of me as quickly as it’d flared. Guilt rushed in to take its place. “I know you are.”
Her lips trembled and I hated myself for pushing her. The savior instinct kicked back in, hard and familiar. I stepped forward and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry, Mom. I shouldn’t have snapped.”
She nodded, dabbing at her watery eyes as they held mine. “You do so much for this family.”
Too much, I almost said.
Instead, I backed away and grabbed my keys. “I’m going out. I think I just need some time to clear my head.”
“Jane—”
“I’ll be back later,” I promised, already heading for the door.
Revulsion was still churning in my gut, what Wyatt had accused me of burning through my soul like a hot coal had been wedged at the very center of my being. I got into my car with shaking hands and pulled away from the house before I could second-guess myself.
There was only one place I wanted to be right now, and that was Alex’s condo. I drove straight there, praying he was home and that he hadn’t gone to the office after dropping me off.
Thankfully, he was there, opening the door just a few seconds after I’d knocked. Those green eyes swept across my face and he’d barely tugged me inside before his hands were light onmy arms, gently holding me in place. His eyes were already searching mine like he’d known something was wrong the second I’d walked in.
“Hey,” he said quietly. “What happened?”
I laughed, but it came out thin and brittle. “Have you ever had one of those days where you think you’ve finally got your footing and then the ground just drops right out from underneath you?”
His jaw tightened. “Sit down.”
I let him guide me to the couch and take my coat before I sat down, my heart still racing and that wound inside pulsing now like it’d had a whole handful of salt rubbed into it. The woman my brother had accused me of being the same as had been responsible for everything bad that had ever happened to my family.
She was the reason we’d lost everything, the reason my father was in prison, and the reason the Thayer name was in tatters.
And my little brother, the boy I’d practically raised and the reason why I hadn’t wanted to move in here with myhusband, thought that I was just like her. I didn’t know what hurt more, the fact he thought I would do anything Mallory had or that he had so little faith in me that he wouldn’t even hear me out.
Alex slung my coat across the back of the couch, then walked around it and sat down beside me. Without any hesitation at all, he slid an arm around my shoulders and pulled me firmly into his side, just holding me as he rested his head on top of mine.
