Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 62972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62972 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 315(@200wpm)___ 252(@250wpm)___ 210(@300wpm)
HAZEL
Just before noon the next day, I duck out of the studio and head to the kitchen to start fixing lunch. I’m pulling out salad ingredients and contemplating making deviled eggs when I hear Conal’s voice.
I can’t understand what he’s saying, but he sounds angry. Instinctively, I go toward the sound. Not until much later will it occur to me that I’m eavesdropping; I only know that my husband is upset, and I want to know why so I can help.
I’m still around a corner from him when I hear another man. His voice sounds familiar; I haven’t spoken to him myself, but I remember when he burst in on our lunch. I think it’s Alan.
“Come on, Conal. I know you only married her to piss me off.”
My whole body goes cold. My stomach knots up with dread. What does he mean? Why would Conal getting married have anything to do with Alan?
“That’s not true,” Conal says, and at the certainty in his voice, I start to relax. Alan’s just imagining things.
“Really?” Alan’s voice is dripping with sarcasm. “You trying to tell me it was love at first sight?”
“Maybe it was,” Conal says.
“And it had nothing at all to do with me saying you guys needed to stay single.”
At that, Conal sighs, and I get a chill again. “It was a stupid thing to say, man. It pissed me off. You’re in charge of our public image, not our private lives.”
Oh no. Oh, no.
Alan’s voice turns smug. “So you admit it.”
“You know me. I don’t take well to being told what to do.”
I can’t bear to listen anymore. I turn away blindly, bumping into the wall, and the sudden silence on its other side tells me I’ve been discovered. In a panic, I race away.
“Hazel!” Conal shouts behind me, but I’m already fleeing up the stairs.
He finds me in the main bedroom, frantically hurling clothes into my little suitcase. “Hazel,” he says gently.
“No!” I’m barely able to speak, or even form a coherent thought. Hurt, betrayal, and rage are a toxic storm inside me. “You married me as a … as a fuck you to Alan? Some kind of petty revenge?”
Rafe and Bron rush into the room. “What’s going on?” Bron demands.
Rafe looks at the suitcase on the bed, which I’m still trying to pack. “What did you do?” he growls at Conal.
“Nothing!” Conal snaps. Then he rubs the back of his neck. “Fuck. Hazel, honey … this is all a misunderstanding.”
Except it’s not. “I heard you,” I shoot back at him. “I heard you tell Alan you only married me to spite him.”
There’s a moment’s stunned silence before Bron says, “You what!?”
I start to zip the suitcase closed. With a snarl, Conal snatches it away from me. A strangled scream tears out of my throat and I dive after it, as if it’s my life preserver in a hostile ocean. I can tell, in a tiny corner of my brain, that I’m verging on hysteria, but I can’t seem to help myself.
When I wrest the suitcase away from him, Conal kneels at my feet. “Hazel, will you please just listen.” I sit, frozen, not responding, the suitcase wrapped in my arms.
He sighs again. “Yes, I was pissed at Alan. And yes, it did—fleetingly—cross my mind that getting married would put him in his place.”
Big, fat tears roll down my cheeks. I’m not looking at him, but in my peripheral vision I see him wince. “But Hazel, I swear, that’s not why I married you. There was something between us—something real, something special—and every day we’ve been together I’ve seen it grow.”
There’s a long silence then, while I turn it all over in my mind. Everything he’s said to me, and to Alan … and everything my gut has been telling me since New Year’s Day.
Finally, I whisper, “I don’t believe you.”
“Baby, please—”
“I knew I didn’t belong in this life.” The certainty of it is a cold, leaden lump in my chest where my heart should be. “I knew there had to be something more going on. Now I understand.”
Rafe says, “Hazel, that’s not true.”
“You do belong with us,” Bron says.
All I can do is shake my head. Turning sideways on the edge of the bed, I carefully take off my wedding rings and place them on the comforter, then finish zipping the suitcase closed.
When I stand up, all three brothers start talking at once, talking over each other, then arguing with each other. I make my way to the door, snag my purse from the floor, and take out the credit card Conal gave me. I let it fall to the floor and walk out without looking back.
BRON
I whirl on Conal. “I don’t fucking believe you!”
“Don’t start.”
It’s all I can do not to take a punch at him. “She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”