SWNOVELS My Ex-Boyfriend’s Brothers: Chapter 45
I glanced at my watch and let out a bone deep sigh. Midnight had come and gone and still Maggie wasn’t home. I looked across the living room at Jackson and saw that he was tapping his fingers on his thigh. We were all worried and a little frustrated by the long hours Maggie was working. She was wearing herself thin trying to make sure the wedding was perfect. Brad didn’t deserve that kind of effort.
Ryan paced behind me, setting my nerves on edge. I glared back at him for the hundredth time. “Sit down.”
“I think I’m going to go find her. She can’t keep working this late. We kept her up late last night and she’s going to get up early in the morning to do this shit all over again. She’s going to burn out.” Ryan laced his hands together behind his head and blew out a deep sigh. “What the hell can she even be doing at this time of night?”
Jackson’s eyes cut towards the door and I watched him grow even more impatient. “This is dumb. I’m going to go find her and drag her back here.”
“No.” I hated myself for it, but I knew we couldn’t interfere more than I already had. “If she thinks we don’t trust her, she’ll be hurt.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust her. It’s that I don’t trust anyone else.” Jackson rubbed his face and then shot to his feet when the cabin door swung open. “Maggie?”
Instead of Maggie, it was Brad. He had his arms wrapped around Christina and they both looked like they’d been through the ringer. I jumped to my feet and the three of us moved towards them, fear tightening our stomachs.
“What’s going on? What happened?” I glared at Brad. “Where’s Maggie?”
Christina’s head snapped up and her tear-filled eyes focused on me. “She’s not who you think she is. She’s not who any of us thinks she is.”
Jackson let out a warning growl. “What are you talking about?”
Brad winced. “I think this was a bad idea, Christina. I thought it was what I needed to do, but this is wrong. We should go.”
“She kissed him!” Christina pushed Brad away and wrapped her arms around herself. “She was my friend but she kissed him. I saw her. She was on top of him, kissing him.”
Brad saw his fate and quickly held up his hands. “I swear to god I didn’t kiss her back. I didn’t want this. I didn’t do anything. I pushed her off of me as soon as I could.”
“I saw it. I saw her.” Christina let out a broken sob. “I trusted her. You trusted her, too. She lied to all of us.”
My entire body had gone cold and I felt like a single touch would shatter me. I didn’t dare look at either of my closer brothers. I didn’t want to see their faces and have it confirm my worst fear. “No.”
“I have to go. Believe me or not. I fired her, though. She’s leaving. She betrayed me. Two days until my wedding and all I want to do is cry. Why would she do this?”
Brad wrapped his arm around Christina and shook his head. “We’re not going to let her ruin our wedding, baby.”
“I just need to be alone. I’m sorry. This is all too much.” Christina turned and fled the cabin, leaving the four of us Heath brothers standing in silence.
Jackson had Brad in his grasp the second the door shut behind Christina. Holding him up by his shirt, he shook him. “What the fuck really happened?”
Brad shoved away from Jackson and ran his hands down his face. “I fucked up.”
Bitterness crept up my throat. “What do you mean by that?”
“I want to marry Christina. She’s going to be the perfect wife.” He looked up at me and I realized in that moment that I had no idea who my youngest brother was and if I could believe a word he said. “I just… I messed up. I ran into Maggie a few months ago and…it just happened. She didn’t know about Christina and I didn’t tell her. I don’t know why I did it, but Maggie’s always been special. I couldn’t stop.”
The feeling of ants crawling all over my body filled me. “You couldn’t stop.”
“I’ve been sleeping with Maggie for months. She acted like things were okay when she found out I was engaged to Christina. I was an idiot but when she said she wanted to do the wedding, I agreed. She’s been making shit hard this whole time, though. She’s been cornering me. I know I’ve come off as an asshole but I’ve just been trying to make her see that I’m through with her without her blowing up my entire wedding.” He tugged at his hair and looked up at me with tears in his eyes. “I don’t want to hurt Christina. I’m in over my head. I need help.”
Jackson pulled back his fist and had slammed it into Brad’s face before any of us could react. Brad went down hard and Jackson was immediately over him, grabbing him up by his shirt. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not! I wish I was. I’ve made a mess of my life. If Christina finds out, I’m going to lose her.” Brad held his nose and spit out a mouthful of blood. “I was trying to tell Maggie no tonight. I didn’t want to touch her. I was trying to do the right thing. When Christina walked in, it looked like it was, like I was trying to push Maggie away. I just went with it and made Maggie look even worse. I didn’t know what else to do.”
Jackson shoved Brad away and stalked towards the other side of the cabin. “Jesus.”
“You should go.” Ryan’s quiet voice hung in the air for a few seconds before Brad sighed and nodded.
“I don’t know why I thought you’d be willing to help me now. You three have always stuck together. You never gave a shit about me.” With one last look at us, Brad left.
As soon as he was gone I sank down on the couch and pressed my fist to my mouth. I felt like my chest was caving in.
“I’m leaving.” Ryan cleared his throat and shook his head. “I don’t know about you two but I want nothing to do with any of this.”
“You believe him?” Jackson’s voice was full of the same pain we were each feeling.
“No.” Ryan let out a bitter laugh. “That little shit could tell me the sky was blue and I’d question it. I believe Christina. She saw something that crushed her. She couldn’t have faked that pain.”
I forced myself to my feet. “I can’t stay here, either. I can’t process this shit when all I can smell in here is her.”
“Is your helicopter still on standby?” Jackson moved closer to us. “I need to leave, too. I’m seconds from hunting Brad down and strangling him. Get us the fuck out of here.”
I made the call and threw my things in my suitcase. I wanted to be gone before we had to face Maggie. I knew that seeing her would eat me alive and I wanted to escape with the tiny amount of dignity I had left.