Page 86 of Tight Spot

“What do you want?”

“Come on, Hailey. You can’t still be mad at me.”

I scoffed. He was the mad one here. “You drove through our wedding site to pick up a bridesmaid and took off without telling me you didn’t want to actually marry me.”

Doubtful he needed the reminder, but perhaps he’d hit his head while he and Bianca were busy enjoying what was supposed to have been our honeymoon.

“She’s not the girl you marry, Hailey. She’s the girl you date and have fun and sow your wild oats with.”

“And I’m the woman you marry?”

“Exactly.”

“So the woman you spend forever with, the woman you want to be your life partner is someone you’ve betrayed and disrespected and lied to? How does that equal a healthy marriage?”

“Well, if you forgive me, there would be no betrayal or disrespect. I just wanted more time. We have forever but I brought up delaying the wedding a couple of times and you didn’t listen.”

“Ahh…so this is my fault. Got it. I didn’t take you seriously so you took my bridesmaid on our honeymoon. Makes perfect sense.”

He scowled. “I’m not saying that.”

“What are you saying then?” Dawson stepped around the corner and to my utter shock, there was Bianca. Tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I’m the girl you have fun with?” she asked. “What? The one good for fucking but not for building a family?”

“Bianca, you misheard what I said.” Darrick took a step forward, quickly erasing the surprise on his face. Dawson threw an arm out, blocking his way to her.

“Not another step,” he growled.

“No.” She sniffed. “I didn’t. I heard it perfectly. And I’m done listening to you tell me what I have heard or not or what I have understood or not. We’re through.” With tear-stained cheeks she faced me. “I’m sorry for hurting you. He said he loved me, and I thought he meant it, and well, I’m sorry for everything. Probably think I deserve this, huh?”

“No one deserves to be treated like an object.” Karma, however, was my new friend, as shitty as this was. I wasn’t exactly upset about the turn of events. Maybe someday I’d even be giddy over it.

“This is ridiculous.” Darrick tugged on his suit coat. “You’re both—”

“What?” Dawson grunted and stepped forward. “What exactly are they? Please, disrespect my woman again in front of my face. We’ll see how that works for you.”

“You won’t hit me. You’ve already been fined and benched.”

“Gotta a long season ahead. Worth it, this time, to take the bench for someone who means this much to me. So I’ll give you one last chance, tell me exactly what your opinion of Hailey and Bianca is.”

He scowled. Braver than I assumed because he wasn’t pissing down his leg as Dawson towered over him, twice as wide and four times as strong.

“This is ridiculous.” He glared at Bianca in a way that made my skin feel like it’d been covered in slime. How had I never seen how gross and nasty he was? “Find your own way home.”

As soon as he was gone, Bianca glanced back up at me. “I’m sorry. I really am, for hurting you.”

She grabbed the skirt of her dress and vanished behind the corner. Her steps echoed on the cement long after they should which told me she didn’t head back inside at all.

Dawson’s chest was heaving with deep heavy breaths and his knuckles were white in his curled fists. He was still glaring at the spot Darrick vacated like he was debating whether or not to run after him.

I was fighting back laughter. That was perfect. Absolutely one hundred percent, way too perfect.

“How much do I mean to you?”

He whipped his head in my direction and all that hair he’d combed back and styled flew out behind him. “What?”

“You said…”

---