Page 163 of The Puck Stops Here

‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘I met Sissi, Sienna, before Christmas. In Chicago. Our flights were grounded, and we got talking.’

His chest tightened. ‘Quite the coincidence.’

‘It’s not a coincidence.’

Though he already knew it wasn’t… he just didn’t know how to connect the dots. And Astrid looked so pale. Fragile and pale. He could only imagine the worst and even then, it made no sense.

‘So why don’t you explain what it’s like before I go out of my mind trying to figure it out?’

* * *

Telling Blake the story of Chicago was the hardest tale Astrid had ever told. The judgement in his gaze, the shock and the… she swallowed… disgust.

Numerous times she had to stop and gather her thoughts, trying to find the right words to justify their actions, but they never seemed enough.

‘You have to understand, we were hurting.’

‘And you think that makes it okay?’

She flinched. ‘No.’

‘You didn’t evenloveChase.’

‘I trusted him though. I thought I knew all there was to know. But a wife…’

‘You just told me he was getting divorced, that Bella says his wife rocked up and purposefully used you to get to him. You let her manipulate you.’

‘I know. But he didn’t come after me, he didn’t even try to explain… he let me think the worst of myself for months. I’d wake with the vision of his wife still locked in my head and want to be sick. It was like everything I hated about my past creeping into my present. I wasn’t just angry at Chase, I was angry at my father. The two of them just merged into this one hateful being. And I couldn’t get revenge on my father, not without dragging my mother through the hell of her past, and so…’

His eyes raked over her face. ‘You did the next best thing.’

‘Yes.’ Her shoulders eased from around her ears, the idea that he might get it on some level, that he might not like it, but he might understand and not hate her for it giving her hope. ‘Meeting them in that airport, talking about our experiences, sharing the pain and wanting to fix it for each other. It felt like a way to gain some closure over the past. Nothing too sinister, or serious, just a little messing?—’

‘You fucked with Chase’s career, Astrid.’

She flinched again. ‘I know. I know. But Bella is doing everything she can to fix it. And she will. I know she will.’

‘And her ex in Cornwall with his houseguest Paige, that’s seriously twisted. Having feelings for the guy she’s been…’ He shook his head, staring blindly through the windscreen.

‘Paige is dealing with it.’

‘While her ex… what’s he getting?’

Fire licked through her, fortifying her defences. ‘There can benojustification for what Paige’s ex did to her. I’m only sorry we don’t have the stomach to carry out tit for tat. The man deserves to have his dignity stripped entirely for what he did to her.’

‘I take it Sienna’s still working on him?’

She nodded as silence fell between them, the only sound the truck’s motor turning over…

‘So,’ he said quietly. ‘What was I, Astrid? Collateral damage?’

‘No, Blake! No! That wasn’t…’

His tormented gaze sealed up her throat.

‘You wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine. He broke Sienna’s heart, so you came to break his. That explains the kiss, the clothes…’ His chilling smile sent ice through her veins. ‘It was all for him, wasn’t it? You were trying to get your hooks into him so you could be the one to walk away?’

Her mouth opened and closed. Because she couldn’t lie to him. And she couldn’t admit the truth.

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