Page 55 of My Ex-Boyfriend's Brothers

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 hishair 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.

46

***Maggie***

Iforced myself to my feet after a solid two hours of crying. I felt like I’d been shoved through a cheese grater but I needed to find the guys and explain to them what happened. I had to leave and I needed to explain why. Walking to the cabins was painful and when I found Luke’s cabin empty, I nearly gave up. Ryan’s cabin was next and it was empty, too. Knowing they were all in Jackson’s cabin, I pushed open the door and felt my stomach drop when I didn’t find them.

His stuff was gone. Running back to Ryan’s, I found his stuff missing, too. I was gasping for breath and crying hysterically when I got to Luke’s and realized the only stuff left behind was mine. They were gone. I couldn’t make sense of that, though, so I rushed back to my old room in the lodge, doing my best to convince myself that they were there, waiting on me. Only, they weren’t.

I pulled out my phone with shaking hands and tried to call each of them, only to be sent to voicemail. Had somethinghappened? How had they all vanished so quickly? It didn’t make any sense to me. In the state I was in, I couldn’t figure out why they weren’t there when I needed them.

I aimlessly trudged back towards Luke’s cabin to gather my things and found myself face to face with Brad just outside of the lodge. Smoking a cigarette, he smiled when he saw me and blew smoke in my face.

“You look great.” He laughed. “If you’re trying to find your boyfriends, they’re gone.”

“Where’d they go?”

“They heard what a skank you are and left. I don’t think it took them a full fifteen minutes to get out of here.”

Ice water ran through my veins. “You told them I tried to kiss you.”

He smirked. “No. Christina did. She thought they deserved to know. And then I filled in the blanks for them, of course. Did you know we’ve been sleeping together for months and that you’ve been trying to make my wedding fall apart this whole time?”

I squeezed my eyes shut. His lies sounded outlandish to me and I couldn’t believe anyone would ever believe him, but it was clear they had. They’d believed the worst of me and left me behind.

“You thought that you were going to get your claws in the Heath family one way or another, huh? Jokes on you, Maggie. They left you even faster than I did.” Brad inched closer to me. “And just like that, you’re out of my life again, Maggie.”

I walked away from him without another word. Nothing mattered. He could win all he wanted. I just wanted to get my things and leave as soon as I could. If my business survived the fall out from Brad’s lies, I’d be surprised. Mom was safe. At least there was that. I was lonelier than when I’d arrived and my heart was crumbling with each second that passed in my new reality, but Mom was safe. She was the whole reason I’d takenthe job anyway. Maybe once I could breathe normally again, I’d appreciate what I’d walked away with a little more.

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