Page 10 of Wolf Fated
I choked back a cry. My heart felt like it froze in my chest.No, no, no, we lost, we lost!I was going to have to spend time with these three strangers. The room tilted and my knees buckled. The floor rushed up to smack me in the face, but strong arms caught me. My vision was blurry for a moment as I looked at my savior, expecting Stephen, but Axel looked down at me. How had he moved so fast? I pushed out of his arms and hunched over.
"Oh...my....God, I can't breathe."
"It's okay, Brook." Axel rubbed my back. "In and out slowly."
My skin tingled where he touched me. This close to me, I smelled his cologne which reminded me of a smoky whisky.
"How-how?" Stephen muttered, staring at the cards on the table like he lost a friend.
Didn't he care about me? About how I was now basically a prisoner to three men? He hadn't even spared me a glance. Though he was probably in shock just as I was. I mean he had an awesome hand. Not unbeatable, but pretty fucking close.
My stomach rolled. "I think I'm going to be sick."
Nathan rushed forward with a trashcan as I puked my guts up. All that two hundred plus dinner filled a black, plastic bag.
Drake held my hair back while Axel kept stroking my back in soothing circles.
My insides were now empty, but still tumbling like a washer on the spin cycle. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.
"Thanks," I managed to mumble out because my mouth tasted so gross.
Stephen raked his hands through his brown hair over and over, then spun to me. "Brookie, we still have a chance. Thirty days, okay, like we talked about."
Was that all he could think of? "What about our wedding? Oh fuck, how am I going to explain this to Dawn and my mom?"
I sank down to the carpet, shaking. My sister would understand. She never liked Stephen. My mom... oh, she'd tell me what a failure I was. How I managed to screw up my wedding day just because that was who I was. She'd never believe me that this was Stephen. That he had a gambling problem and I'd been stupid enough to think he'd gotten it under control. How his picture of us never having to work again had seduced me into this.
If I didn’t do this, these men would kill me and Stephen and our families too.
I was now the property of three grown men—never mind how handsome they were—I didn’t know a damn thing about them, and I was engaged. Though with everything that had happened, I was doubting that I still wanted to be.
All three of them stood around me like they were protecting me or something. Stephen clapped his hands together, his gaze back on the table. They didn't even glance at the winnings like none of the money mattered. But then, why should they? Most of it was theirs to begin with and all of it belonged to them now including one stupid woman.
I closed my eyes and put my hands over my face. "Please make the room stop spinning."
"You're probably dehydrated," Drake said, then something cool lightly touched my fingers in front of my face.
I pulled my hands away and opened my eyes. Drake wore a frown and handed me a cold water bottle.
With my hands trembling, I opened the lid and drank. The water tasted better than any I'd ever have before. How was that possible? Water was water, wasn’t it? I glanced at the bottle and didn’t recognize the label with swirling gold lettering. This probably cost more than I made in a month. I took another huge gulp.
"Not too much too soon," Nathan warned like he was talking to a skittish horse. "Take it nice and easy."
"Stephen." Axel strode to the door and opened it. "We'll see you back here in thirty days, same time. No phone calls, chats, or any communication from now on with Brook. You may say your goodbyes now."
I stood, tears burning my eyes, and choked out a sob. "Stephe—"
His face was emotionless as he stared at me. All of the compassion and love I used to see there was now covered up by a dark mask. "This is our last chance, Brookie. Don't fuck this up." And he walked out of the room without so much as a look back or even a damn wave.
A mix of emotions from disbelief to downright furious about the way he just treated me thumped against my breastbone.I can’t believe he did this to me! And he just…just walked out on me like I didn’t mean anything to him.
Tonight was supposed to be my wedding night, but now it was a fucking nightmare.
5
Istared, stunned, at the door. Waiting for Stephen to rush back and tell me he made a mistake. How he loved me and couldn't be without me and how we'd get through this together. But there was nothing. No declarations of love or tears or even a gasp of remorse. The more seconds passed, the more my skin turned hot and tight while inside I felt like I was barely holding it together.
Axel rose and poured four shots of whiskey, setting one before me. “Drink.”
