Page 135 of The Bad Wedding Date

Just like those stupid fucking romance books he’d tried to get me to read.

44

Charlotte

It took me two hours, several buses, and a lot of tears to find myself standing outside my best friend’s house looking up at the blue front door. The last time I’d been here a few weeks ago, my life had been boring. Just work, the occasional night out with Jonah, and the sanctuary of my apartment filled my days.

It had been simple back then.

Now, as I stared at the steps leading up to Jonah’s home, I realised how much had changed in such a short space of time.

Twelve days of Fraser Scott had ruined me.

The simple life had been safe, sure, but that new world I’d stepped into—the one filled with hotel rooms, nights in swimming pools, rides to the coast, and mornings filled with sex—well… it had made me feel alive for the very first time. Truly alive, as though the world around me hadn’t been passing me by. Instead, I’d been a part of it. Someone on the edge, constantly seeking the thrill ofhistouch, his smile, and his affection.

Shaking Fraser out of my mind before he took over, I made my way up the stairs to Jonah’s house, and I knocked on the blue front door.

The door eventually opened slowly. As soon as Jonah saw me and the expression on my face, he gave me a sad smile.

No words were exchanged. The two of us simply took each other in until those stupid tears formed in my eyes at the sight of him, and I couldn’t hold it back any longer. I charged towards him, throwing my arms around his waist and resting my cheek on his chest the moment he caught with a surprised grunt.

“I’m so sorry,” I whimpered against him as he curled his arms around my back and exhaled into my hair. “I swear I didn’t know.”

“He told you,” he said roughly.

“He told me.”

We stayed there for far too long. I never wanted to let go. Feeling and hearing his heart beating in my ear gave me the reassurance I needed that he was safe, alive, and well. Nothing had been done to him that had taken him away from me for good.

I eventually peeled my face from his body, and I looked up into his eyes, my heart pounding. “If I’d have known what he’d done to you, I’d never have—”

“I know, Char,” he said, cutting me off and placing a chaste kiss to my forehead.

“I want you to tell me everything.”

“I’m not sure what good that will do.”

“Everything, Jonah.”

Seeing the determination on my face, he nodded and shut the door behind us, guiding me into his home so he could help me break my own heart that little bit more.

* * *

I nursed the cup of coffee in both hands, my arse perched on the edge of the sofa, with my knees towards Jonah, who sat beside me. He’d told me everything about the lead up to the wedding. How he’d literally been walking down the street one minute, only to wake up in a foreign room sometime later.

“It felt like a dream,” he’d said.

“I think you mean nightmare.”

“You just don’t think shit like that happens in real life, Charlotte. Only the movies.”

I couldn’t stop apologising, even though I hadn’t known about anything that had happened. Jonah had been taken because of me—because I was and always would be the weak link that could grant the world access to my family.

“Did they… hurt you?” I dared myself to ask.

Jonah shook his head and sighed. “Only my pride.”

“Threaten you?”

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