Page 58 of Fractured Dreams

Piper, Lexie’s friend and sister-in-law from her previous marriage, came bustling over. “Oh, my God. Whose idea was it to have a combined bachelor and bachelorette party. I don’t think I’m going to be able to handle hanging out with all of Fractured at the same time. I’ve only just got used to seeing one or two of them in small doses.”

Lexie smiled up at the pretty redhead. “Well, you’ll have to do it at the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. Just think of this as therehearsalrehearsal. By the time you get to the wedding, you’ll be so used to seeing them all, you won’t even think about it.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Just keep telling yourself that, if it’ll make you feel better about me ogling your future husband and his friends.”

Lexie laughed, and a smile twitched Eden’s lips as the two friends joked with each other. If she weren’t terrified and nauseous at the thought of seeing Tex again, she’d be enjoying herself. But shewasterrified. And nauseous. And she wasn’t enjoying herself in the slightest.

Lexie noticed her preoccupation again, and after asking Piper to get them more drinks, she scooted closer to Eden.

“I’m sorry about doing this to you, Eden.” She paused, chewing on her bottom lip, then kept going. “I know—about you and Tex that is. Tex mentioned something early on and I figured out pretty quickly it was you he was talking about.”

Eden nodded, not really surprised since she’d gotten the impression that was the case when they were in New York.

Lexie continued. “Obviously I don’t know the details of what went wrong. I tried talking to Tex about it, but he shut me down pretty fast. It’s clear it ended badly though, and I’m sure you don’t want to see him tonight, but Connor and I planned on having a combined party a while ago.” She paused. “I mean, it’s not even really a combined bachelor and bachelorette party, more just a celebration of our friends and family and everything that got us to this point.” Lexie shook her head as she realized she was rambling. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that it was too late to change, and I’m sorry to put you through it.”

Eden gave Lexie a hug. “Don’t apologize. This has nothing to do with me and Tex. This is about you and Connor, and that’s why we’re here. We’re both grown-ups, I’m sure we can handle seeing each other.” Her smile trembled a little, but she meant what she said. She wanted to help Connor and Lexie celebrate.

Lexie studied her. “If it makes you feel any better, Tex hasn’t been himself since you left. I think it affected him more than you might think. But either way, just hold your head high and don’t let him know how much you’re hurting. You look stunning, so make him regret breaking your heart.”

Eden nodded, then spotting Piper up at the bar trying to figure out how to get three large cocktails back to where they were sitting, nudged Lexie and pointed. Lexie laughed, then grabbed Eden’s hand and tugged. “Come on, let’s get your gorgeous self out of this dark corner.”

Eden couldn’t help but return Lexie’s contagious smile. She didn’t really want to hide out all night, and Tex wasn’t even there yet, so she might as well do her best to enjoy herself. And that cocktail at the bar was calling her name.

She slid out of the booth and let Lexie tow her toward where Piper had given up and was happily slinging back one of the drinks. It was only when Lexie stopped in her tracks and let out an outraged gasp that Eden was alerted to a problem. Knowing something was wrong didn’t prepare her for the punch to her gut when she saw Tex, looking just as effortlessly sexy as ever, standing over by the door.

With a blonde woman pressed up against him.

Eden’s stomach roiled, and she looked away, sucking in a deep, harsh breath.

Lexie turned back to Eden, guiding her to the bar and thrusting a cocktail into her hand, while mutteringhow dare he.In a pain-filled daze, Eden saw Lexie glare at Connor, who was standing next to Tex, but her fiancé just shook his head at her with deer-in-the-headlight eyes. Obviously, no one had been expecting Tex to bring a date.

Unable to help herself, Eden’s eyes were drawn back to Tex just in time to see his broad shoulders hunch as he staggered slightly. Lexie gave Eden’s hand a squeeze, asked Piper to stay with her, then marched over to where Connor, Tex, and the blonde woman were standing. Lexie said something to Tex, a frown on her face, then jabbed him in the stomach with her finger, causing him to stand up straight, suddenly towering over the much smaller woman.

Connor stepped between them, obviously not happy at Tex looming over Lexie. Meanwhile, Noah seemed to have finally realized something was going on and made his way over from where he’d been chatting with Connor’s aunt. He shot a strangely worried look at Eden as he detached the blonde woman—who had an inappropriately excited expression on her face—from Tex’s arm. Noah guided her back toward the door while she appeared to be fondling his bicep.

Tex hadn’t even spared the woman a second glance, his eyes drifting over the top of Lexie’s head to land on Eden. She wanted to look away, to dismiss him as if he didn’t still have the power to steal her breath and break her heart all over again—both at the same time—but her gaze seemed trapped by his. Finally managing to tear her eyes away, she saw Lexie give Tex a disappointed glare, before making her way back to the bar.

Eden turned away from where Tex was standing, seeming to still be watching her, while Noah talked into his ear, face tight with anger. She made sure not to let her gaze return to his in the mirror at the back of the bar.

“He’s wasted,” Lexie said when she got back. She looked almost as worried as she did annoyed. “Turns out that woman was just some random who recognized him outside, grabbed on and tagged along. I think he barely even knew she was there.”

Eden could almost feel Tex’s gaze still on her, but she refused to look back at him. She just wanted to get through the evening and get away as soon as possible. Picking up her cocktail, she took a hefty sip. She’d stay for a polite amount of time, and then she’d ask Noah to call a car for her. Avoidance would be the name of the game until then. And alcohol. Just not too much, because she couldn’t guarantee what she’d do if she got too drunk. Either throw herself at him or slap him. Neither of which would be wise.

Smiling at Lexie and Piper, she grabbed both of their hands. “Let’s dance.” The two women smiled back enthusiastically, gathering more people to join them as they headed to the dance floor, where Eden was able to lose herself for a while. When enough time had passed, she found Lexie and made her apologies.

Lexie gave her a hug and a sad smile. “You know, if you want to give the rehearsal dinner a miss, I’ll completely understand.” Eden nodded, thinking she might take Lexie up on that offer. She wasn’t in the bridal party, so there was no real requirement for her to be there. And she didn’t know if she had the strength to sit at a table with Tex and act like everything was normal. After giving Lexie one last hug, Eden tracked down Noah and asked him to get her a ride back to his house, telling him she was tired.

Noah looked worried, his eyes shadowed, but he called the car and walked out with her to wait for its arrival. Once she was heading home, Eden let the tears quietly fall. Crying over Tex was a bad habit she needed to quit. Wasted or not, he hadn’t made a move to approach her all night, so whatever demons he was struggling with now, they weren’t related to her. She had to let it go, had to lethimgo. Whatever shards of her broken dreams she’d been clinging to were only making her bleed.

Time for her to move on.

Chapter 34

Tex drained the rest of his wine, thumping the empty glass down on the white linen-covered table a little too hard, garnering him a concerned look from Noah sitting a little further down the table. He needed to make that his last one for the night; he already felt guilty enough for turning up drunk to Connor and Lexie’s party the night before.

And with a woman hanging off you.

Tex’s fists clenched, and he had to force himself to let go of the stem of the wine glass before he snapped it in two. Things had been a bit fuzzy in the lead up to arriving at the party last night, courtesy of the whiskey shots he’d been downing; the knowledge he’d be seeing Eden again for the first time since breaking her heart eating away at him. He was both hungry for the sight of her beautiful face and dreading what he’d see in her eyes. He wasn’t sure which would be worse, the same hurt and anger he’d seen the last time he’d been in her presence, or cool indifference telling him she’d moved on.

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