Page 45 of The Rancher's Jilted Bride

"I..."

Don't fucking know what to say.

Hale couldn't remember the last time he was at a loss for words like this.

His panic had inexplicably disappeared as soon as Micah had hurried out of his office. Even the tightness around his throat had vanished. It was almost as if everything was a figment of his imagination...or a fucking illusion from the Devil himself.

The last thought came out of nowhere, but an icy chill immediately blanketed his bones, and Hale felt as if he was losing his mind.

What the hell is happening to me?

What the fuck did I just do?

And where the fuck do I go after this?

"Hale? What the fuck, man? Are you alright?"

Was he?

When one had just let go of the most important thing in his life, could he still say he was "alright" because he hadn't yet stopped breathing?

Rush could feel something was seriously off with his friend, and when Hale only stared back at him, he finally realized that the other man was in shock.

"What the hell happened, Hale? Why do you look like someone just died on you?"

His private jet had just landed when they received Hale's text about getting married. They had come here, thinking they could surprise their friend by attending his wedding, but instead...

Fuck.

"Did Mikey do something?" Rush asked grimly. Hale's soft spot for Mikey had always made him unwittingly blind to their friend's faults. Mikey had known this, too, and it was precisely the reason why she had kept her secret from Hale all these years.

The other man shook his head, but Rush wasn't buying it.

"If she didn't do something, then..."

Fuck.

"You found out about what happened—-"

Hale's head jerked up at this. "You know about it, too?"

"I'm sorry I never said a word all of these years," Rush gritted out. "But promising her my silence was the only way I could get her to seek professional care—-"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Hale finally realized they were talking at cross purposes.

"You told me you knew—-"

"I was talking about Heaven," Hale gritted out.

"About Mikey being an alcoholic," Rush finished at the same time.

What the fuck?

Rush saw the disbelief on his friend's face, and it was his turn to arrive at the same conclusion Hale had earlier.

The other man clearly had no idea about Mikey's drinking problem. Instead, he had assumed Rush was talking about...heaven?

Hale started feeling something was fucking wrong. "Tell me everything about Mikey being an alcoholic."

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