Page 120 of Hold Me Before You Go

Was it awkward? Yes.

Was it comfortable? Yes. Despite all the horrors I’d seen and all the pain that was coming, I was still thankful for them, for their friendship.

Now, the three of us were sitting at the table, cradling the cups of hot tea Rossy had made while he, Grayson, and Michael had a conversation in the living room in low voices. I didn’t know if Grayson was telling them or not, but I trusted he knew what he was doing.

“The blond guy. Green eyes. Really bitchy?” Margo said, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked away from the men to her.

“Yeah, he’s Grayson’s partner,” Sarah added softly. Her voice was sounding somewhat better, and she’d gotten some of thecolor back in her cheeks having eaten the dinner Grayson and I made.

My eyebrows shot up. “Hayes?”

“Is that his name?” Margo asked in disbelief. She shook her head, laughing a bit. “I seriously thought his name would be Chad or something like that.”

“Did you meet him? Did he talk to you?” I pressed, eyes wide.

They both nodded. “He was here the day those assholes took you.”

“Oh,” I murmured, looking down at my tea, watching the steam rise from the cup.

Had Hayes been rude to them?

“Speaking of, where’s Brandon now?” Sarah asked when I looked back up.

“In Vegas,” I answered, sliding my eyes to Margo. “Hayes is tracking him.” I went on to explain the trouble Brandon had gotten himself into, having left that part out in my original trauma dump. When I was done, both girls stared at me. I lifted my mug to my lips, taking a sip, relishing the warm liquid sliding down my throat.

“And you said Brandon murdered that woman? The one who was staring at you in the bookstore?” Margo asked, as if she was trying to piece everything together in her mind.

I nodded, remembering the hatred in Monica’s eyes, the broken soul hiding behind it all. “She was Robert’s lover. They’d been having an affair our entire relationship.”

I felt Sarah’s eyes on me, but she said nothing. I’d give anything to know what was running through her mind right then. Unable to handle it, I looked down to my tea, my fingers tightening around the mug. Suddenly, a hand was reaching out over the table, stopping just above my mug, her black-painted nails turning over as she exposed her palm. “Carrie, look at me.”

My head snapped up. She said my actual name. Margo never did that. Her face was soft, her brows scrunched together in worry as her eyes shined with love. “Take my hand.”

Slowly, I released the mug and put my hand over hers, feeling her warm fingers curl around mine, squeezing. “You need to understand me when I say this, because no one else will.” Her eyes flicked over to Sarah for a split second.

I waited, anxiety swirling in my stomach.

“We aren’t mad at you.”

Five words.

That was all it took to rock me.

My mouth opened and closed a few times. “W-what? I don’t—”

“You don’t have to play coy with us, Cardinal. We can see it. I saw it the second you opened the door, but I was too overwhelmed to say anything. All I wanted to do was hug my friend, to make sure I wasn’t dreaming,” Margo explained, her voice growing quieter and softer with each word. Her hand tightened around mine, her grip firm. “We. Aren’t. Mad. At. You.”

Emotion gathered in my throat, and I knew I was about to cry again. All I could do was nod.

“We love you,” Sarah whispered. My neck twisted to her, finding tears in her eyes as she added, “So much.”

A sniffle came from Margo then. Sarah and I looked over to her, and she wiped her tears away. “I’ve cried more in the last three fucking weeks than I ever have in my entire life,” she muttered, pointing at me. “And that’s saying something, because my life is shit.”

“Wha—”

“Sarah.”

Michael’s voice cut me off, and we all found him standing at the entrance of the kitchen, his face stone cold, focused on his wife. “We have to go. The kids need to get to bed.”

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