Page 58 of My Ex-Boyfriend's Brothers

“She had nothing to do with this. Brad’s been cheating on me with several women.” Christina moved closer to me. “None of them were Maggie.”

“Mom, she’s-” Brad tried to speak up but Sharon just spoke over him.

“You’ve invited the entire family here, Christina. I had to leave Milan to be here. You’re getting married.”

“No, I’m not.” Grabbing my hand, Christina pulled me towards the door. “Have a nice flight back to Milan. Try not to be too disappointed in your son when you hold him accountable for wasting so much of your time.”

“This is ridiculous. Grow up-”

“She wants Brad out of this suite. Now.” I kept my shoulders back, even as Sharon glared at me. “She’s wrong about one thing. You should be very disappointed in the man you raised.”

We let the heavy suite door close behind us and cut Sharon ’s rant short. Christina looked over at me and I watched as her eyes swam with tears. She gripped my hand harder and I gently tugged her away from the room. Brad didn’t deserve to see her cry.

“Come on. Let’s get away from the lodge so you don’t have to talk to anyone until you’re ready.”

“I can’t go anywhere else right now. Look at me.” Tears leaked down her cheeks and she whimpered. “God. Just look at me. I’m pathetic.”

“Luke’s cabin is still open. We’ll hide there.” I looked away. “Since he’s gone, we can drink anything left behind and hide for as long as you want.”

She gripped my hand even tighter. “I’m sorry.”

“Come on. The faster we get to the cabin, the faster we can start drinking.”

Thankfully, Luke’s cabin had a fully stocked liquor cabinet. Christina and I settled on the same leather couch where I’d first slept with the guys with a bottle of whiskey. We were both fighting back tears as we drank straight from the bottle in silence for a while. Christina rolled her head to the side to look at me eventually and I could tell she was already drunk.

“Are you okay?”

I laughed. “Not at all. You?”

“Not even a little bit.” She sighed. “I’m so embarrassed, Maggie. I’m ten years older than you and I’m going through something you went through three years ago. You’re so far ahead of me. I already felt behind. All of the women I used to be friends with already have kids and here I am, failing to even find a good man.”

“I’m not ahead of you. We’re literally both crying over the same thing right now. Almost. Slightly different situations but still.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed. Brad is the only one who should be embarrassed.”

“I’m part of the reason you’re hurting right now, Maggie. I have every reason to be embarrassed. I hurt you.”

“No. They hurt me. They chose to believe the worst of me and left me here. I thought Luke was going to tell me that he loved me a few days ago. And then they just fled as soon as anythingrocked the boat. You didn’t do this. They did. They’re not the men I thought they were.” I angrily wiped more tears away. “Seems like all of the Heath men should be put out to pasture and left alone.”

“You don’t believe that.”

I hardened my gaze and took another pull from the whiskey bottle. “I do. Or at least I will.”

“I need to text everyone.” Sinking lower into the couch, Christina groaned. “Social media is going to have a field day with this.”

“I’ll do it. I may be fired but I still have all the contact information for the guests.” I saw her wince and patted her hand. “I’ve never been happier to be fired. I never want to throw a wedding for a man like Brad. They don’t deserve a beautiful wedding.”

“Okay. Just… Say whatever you think sounds right.” She brushed her hair out of her face and swallowed. “And maybe text my family and friends that they should stay for a big party tomorrow.”

“A bullet dodging party. I like it.” I pulled out my phone and grunted when I saw it was still dead. “Houston, we have a problem.”

“Come on. If we run fast we’ll be able to find a charger and get back here without anyone seeing us.” Her logic was flawed but I had to get the charger either way.

“Let’s go.”

49

***Jackson***

Iglanced towards the stage and scowled. Midnight the night before Brad’s wedding and I was sitting with Luke and Ryan at a club in Vegas. Drunk and stupid Heath men oftentimes turned towards women for reprieve but no amount of liquor could make me look at the women around us. I felt sick to my stomach at the thought. It was more than apparent that my brothers were feeling the same. We were miserable.

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