Page 68 of Tangled Vows

“I’m married now,” I hissed.

“I know,” she admitted, stepping into my space again and reaching for me, “but that didn’t stop us last time.” I batted her hands away, and she frowned.

“It didn't stopyou,” I said, my irritation mounting. She had a lot of nerve propositioning me knowing I was a married man. “I thought you were getting divorced, or I never would’ve touched you,” I explained, running a frustrated hand through my hair. She lifted her arm like she was going to try to comfort me, and I pushed her hand away again. If she didn’t stop touching me, I was going to have to ask security to escort her out. “Unlike you,” I continued, disgust curling my lip, “I honor my vows.” I turned and headed toward the bank of elevators, ready to be done with this conversation.

“Easton,” she pleaded, her heels clacking against the marble floors behind me. Apparently she couldn’t take a hint. I spun around and faced her, a mix of pity and fury coursing through me at the desperate look on her face. “Stay the hell away fromme,Mrs. Danvers,” I growled. She gaped at me, eyes wide with shock as I turned on my heel and walked away.

48

SHAYLA

Isat holding my mom’s hand, my head resting on the bed beside her. I’d been drifting in and out all morning after being up half the night. The emergency room staff had finally moved her to her room around two a.m. It took a while for the nurses to get her settled in, so it was nearly four by the time I conked out.

“Who needs coffee?” Makenna chirped as she entered the room carrying a to-go container from our favorite coffee shop. She’d stayed home last night at our mother’s insistence, but had promised to come this morning. “By the way, your phone is dead,” Makenna announced, tossing a phone charger to me. “So I just guessed at what you’d like,” she added with a shrug as I plugged the charger in next to the bed and connected my phone to it.

“That’s fine. I’ll take anything at this point.” I picked up the cup closest to me and took a sniff. It smelled sweet like caramel. Jackpot.

“How’s she doing?” my sister asked, nodding to where my mom lay sleeping.

“She’s breathing a little easier now since they gave her a breathing treatment. The doctor said she has pneumonia.” Worry filled her gaze, and she pulled her lower lip between her teeth. “They said it’s common among cancer patients since chemotherapy weakens the immune system.”

“Will she get better?” I swallowed down the emotion clogging my throat. For someone in her condition, there were no guarantees. I didn’t want to cause Makenna more stress, but I also didn’t want to give her false hope.

“The doctors said they caught it early, so that improves her chances of making a full recovery. She’ll need antibiotics and lots of rest.”

“How long will she be—” she began, but her words were cut off at the sound of her phone ringing. She pulled it from her pocket and glanced at the screen before silencing it and tucking it away. It immediately started ringing again. She rolled her eyes and pulled it out again, swiping her thumb across the screen. “Hello?” she said, and a second later her gaze shot to me. “Yeah,” she replied warily. Before I could question what the call was about, my phone came on and immediately began to chime with notifications.

“What the hell?” I muttered as I unlocked my phone. I had forty text messages and countless missed calls. There were several voicemails too. I didn’t know where to start.

“Shayla,” Makenna said softly, and I looked up to see her worried eyes trained on me.

“What’s going on?”

“I-it’s Easton,” she said, and my heart plummeted.

“What’s wrong? Is he okay?”

“No, he … I…” She shook her head as her voice cracked then fell away.

“What, Makenna? Tell me.” I didn’t know what I would do if something had happened to him. I needed to go to him, but I couldn’t leave Mom.

“He’s all over the tabloids. Someone took a picture of him,” she said, swallowing thickly before continuing, “with another woman.”

Pain lanced through my chest, and I brought my hand to my mouth to muffle my sob. This couldn’t be. He’d just made love to me two days ago.

Just then, my phone pinged with another incoming text.

Easton: Please, Shayla. I need to talk to you. I’m begging you to callme.

I couldn’t stomach the thought of talking to him right now, not while my heart was shattering into a million pieces. Closing out of that message, I opened up the group chat with nearly thirty notifications.

Hailey: I’m going to kill him. I’ll make it look like an accident, thenyou can collect his insurance money.

Brynlee: Easy there, killer. There might be a perfectly good explanation for this.

Emily: Whatever! That hussy had her hands all over him.

Delilah: I know this was only supposed to be a fake marriage, but he didn’t have to do you dirty like that.

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