Page 50 of Shattered

Kael leaned his head back against the seat, puffed out his cheeks and blew out a breath of air.He knew his mistake was going to make his friend angry but in reality, he didn’t do anything wrong.Alek was the guilty culprit for not telling me something so crucial.What was he thinking?How could he not tell me he was engaged before?I had so many questions, but I knew I needed some time to calm down before approaching him.I tried my best to take some much needed deep breaths, willing the oxygen to soothe my rising anger.

It was at that precise moment Alek and Adara chose to return to our area.They were all smiles and having a good time.Little did he know the atmosphere would soon change.

As soon as they were close to the table, Kael stood, walked quickly toward his wife and grabbed her by the waist.Leaning over, he whispered in Alek’s ear, slapped him on the back and whisked Adara away before she could even say goodnight.

Alek hesitated for the briefest of moments before approaching me.

He knew he was in for it.

A barrage of emotions ran through me, anger and embarrassment being the main two.As soon as he sat next to me, I stood, snatched my drink from his lying hands and gulped it down in mere seconds, the liquor feeding the numbness which had slowly started to wrap itself around me.

When I was finished, I slammed it down on the table and started to walk away without saying a damn word.

But I didn’t get far.He reached out and halted me in my tracks with a strong grip around my wrist.

“Take your hands off me, Alek.Now!” I yelled.I didn’t have to worry about causing a scene because the only person who could remotely hear me was the man standing in front of me, the guilty party.

Realizing he should give me some space, he released his hold and allowed me to walk away, although he followed closely behind.

Once we were outside I practically ran down the sidewalk, away from him and all his omissions.

“Sara, where are you going?The car is over here.”

I whipped around so fast I almost tripped over my feet.“If you think for one second I’m going anywhere with you, you’re out of your mind.I’ll find my own way home.”

HowamI going to get home?I didn’t think too far ahead.

Seeing how utterly upset I was, he briskly walked past me until he blocked any route of escape.Every time I tried to move, he would shift right along with me, preventing me from going anywhere.I tried to side-step him one more time before I finally gave up, standing there and brewing in my anger.

Alek looked as if he was trying to choose his words carefully, not wanting to dance over the issue anymore.“I know you know about Cora.”

Seriously?Out of all the words in the English language, those are the ones he comes up with?How about, “I’m so sorry I lied to you?”Or better yet, “I give you permission to smack me?”

As the moments dragged on, my face became red, my irritation brewing with each breath I took.“Uh…yeah.Kael told me nonchalantly during our conversation.Why?Because he naturally assumed you would have revealed something so important to me.How wrong we both were,” I huffed.

Daringly, he took a step closer.

“Let’s go back to my house, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”I knew I needed time to process all of the information, but I had a sinking feeling he wasn’t going to leave me alone until I agreed to go and hear what he had to say.

After what seemed like forever of us arguing back and forth, I relented and agreed to allow him to tell me his side of the story.While I dreaded hearing of another woman who had come so close to becoming Mrs. Alek Devera, I just wanted the evening to finally end.

As I sat in the passenger seat of his car, I was already heartbroken and he hadn’t told me a thing yet.

The entire car ride back to my apartment was spent in silence. I’d told him the only way I would relent and go with him was if he took me home.There was no way in hell I was going to be tricked into going to his house.Knowing it was going to take some time to digest whatever story he fed me, I didn’t want to be stuck in his environment.I would much rather he tell me at my place; that way, his ass could leave when he was done.

Once inside, I made a quick sweep of the place to see if Alexa was home. Thankfully, she wasn’t.

I had to admit, the ride home squelched some of the initial shock and anger swirling around inside me. Don’t get me wrong, I was still beyond words, but I was calming down a little.

I headed toward the kitchen to see if we had anything to drink.Laying off the alcohol would have been a good idea, but I wasn’t going to be rational.I found the one bottle of wine we had left.

“Do you want some?” I asked, holding the bottle in the air so he could see it.

“No, thanks.I don’t need any more tonight.”

“Suit yourself, but I’m going to partake and only be too happy to do so.”I couldn’t keep the cut out of my tone, not that I was really trying or anything.

When I finally settled on the couch, he came and took the seat next to me.I would have preferred he sit somewhere else, but I wanted the whole debacle over with so I never said a word.

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