No way! Is this a joke? Please tell me it isn’t.
Sunshiney Chloe Thatcher
Adam just told me, even though he’s apparently known for days!
Jerk.
Bossman’s Lainey
Oh my gosh. MALLORY! Congratulations! Is that why you wanted a dress and makeup? To get married?
Why am I crying?
Wait, does Asher know?
Sunshiney Chloe Thatcher
If he does, you can blame hormones when you smack him for not telling you. I didn’t have anything to blame.
I drew in a hitched breath and felt tears prick at the backs of my own eyes as I tapped out a response. Once I sent it, I pocketed my phone and swiped at the rebellious tears that managed to slip free.
Me
Yes, we’re married. We eloped in Aruba the day of Briggs and Lainey’s wedding. The team just found out over the weekend because there’s a lot that did and didn’t happen in Aruba that has kept us apart since.
A lot that did and didn’t happen . . .
A shaky, remorseful sound wrenched from my chest as the weight of those words bore down on me.
Gray hadn’t been drunkenly careless with me. He hadn’t just proposed to me because he’d been wasted out of his mind, even though I still didn’t know how we’d decided to elope.Wrenhadn’t happened.
Grayhadloved me in a way I’d never even let myself imagine someone could or would. Hehadcared for me in ways that were so beautiful, I would’ve given anything to be able to remember that night without the haze that seemed to cover all the memories. I had even believed him about all the women over the years—wholly and without holding it against him. We’d been happy. Excited.
And a bottle of tainted water had stolen all of it.
Twisting what should’ve been the start of something incredible into our downfall. It’d turned me into someone I didn’t recognize until I’d almost lost him forever.
My head snapped to the side and relief barreled through me when a knock sounded at my door. Ignoring my vibrating phone, I hurried to the front of my condo and swung open the door. My lips already parted as everything I’d learned—remembered—sat heavily on my tongue, begging to be released first. All while apologies climbed up my throat, choking me.
But the man waiting outside my door wasn’t the bane of my existence. My best friend. My husband.
My thumb tapped rapidly on the steering wheel as I turned into Mallory’s complex. Anxious energy had coursed through my veins for the past ten minutes, as if I couldn’t get to her fast enough. As if I’d been gone too long.
Maybe it was old fears flaring, considering the last morning we’d woken up next to each other, my life had fallen apart as Mallory had stiffly, formally, torn herself from me. But I kept reminding myself we’d been fine this morning. Other than not knowing if she was ready to live together,she’dbeen fine this morning.
And yet, I felt like I was crawling out of my skin until her building came into view.
But then all that anxiousness turned into a lethal sort of rage that surprised me when I pulled into a spot in front of Mallory’s condo...and Mallory, herself.
Except, she wasn’t alone.
There, with her, was the same guy from the other night. In another preppy outfit and standing far too close to the girl who owned my heart.
Jealousy unfurled in my chest in an instant as I climbed out of my truck, not even bothering to turn it off as I shut the door and tried—and failed—to walk calmly up to where they talked.
“David, was it?” The question left me on a rumble of a warning, my tone seeming to surprise Mallory almost as much as the guy beside her.
His stunned stare bounced between Mallory and me a few times as he corrected, “Davis, actually,” with all the feigned bravado of someone who’d probably spent their adult life in a cubicle.
