Page 10 of Betting On Her

“Paul.” Sawyer’s hand comes down on his shoulder and Paul flinches. Some of the liquid in his glass spills out, and I’m guessing things are still bad between the two of them. “Don’t.” The warning in Sawyer’s tone is clear.

“Is everything okay?” I ask because the tension is heavy.

“No it’s not. Your husband—” The word slips off his tongue with utter distaste.

“I’m warning you.” The hand Sawyer has on Paul’s shoulder squeezes.

Paul lets out a yelp and jerks out of Sawyer's hold, then splashes more of his drink onto the floor. I take a step back so it doesn’t land on my heels.

“Oh you don’t want her to know what you did?” Paul smirks, but Sawyer looks murderous. “That you’re no better than the rest of us?”

“What?” I push, wanting to know what the hell is going on.

“We’re leaving.”

Sawyer shoves Paul back, and he stumbles before bumping into Luke. Luke manages to save him from falling on his ass.

“He fucked you on a bet,” Paul blurts out loud enough for the entire restaurant to hear.

Sawyer grabs my elbow to lead me away from him. “He’s drunk.”

“That first day, Chloe. Poker night. Whoever got into your virginal panties first won.”

My heart drops and so does Paul when Sawyer lets go of my elbow and punches him in the face. Paul hits the floor hard and blood pours out of his nose.

“Fuck!” Paul squeals, squeezing his eyes shut.

Sawyer clearly isn’t done with him and goes in again. I try to reach for his arm but I’m not fast enough. Sawyer grabs Paul by the collar and lifts him back to his feet.

“Apologize for speaking to her that way,” Sawyer demands.

“Me? Apologize?” Paul starts to laugh but it turns into a grunt when Sawyer punches him in the stomach.

“Sawyer!” I call to my husband because I realize that everyone's attention is now on us. He’s going to get himself arrested.

He glances over at me, but his eyes only meet mine for a second before he lowers them.

“Tell her, Luke,” Paul coughs. “It’s true.”

With everything happening so fast, my brain is still catching up with what Paul has fully said. I was a bet?

My mind flashes back to the day I moved in. Paul was suddenly nice and invited me to cook for the poker game. How all of them hooted when I walked in the door. Heck, Sawyer was at the door ready and willing to help me.

When I glance at Luke, he doesn’t answer. Instead, he runs his hand through his short hair, looking anywhere but at me. He’s not denying it, that's for damn sure. As I search the crowd and find the others I recognize from poker night, they’re also pretending none of this is happening.

“Luke.” I reach out and touch his forearm, and his gaze finally meets mine. “Is it true?”

“You should talk to your husband. I’m sorry, Chloe.” His voice is soft, but once again, there’s no denial.

“Sawyer?” My eyes fill with tears, not wanting to believe it. “It’s not true.” I say the words I want him to repeat so that we can leave and pretend this never happened.

“Chloe.” I hate that he uses my name because he never calls me by it.

Sawyer throws Paul out of his hold, and my stepbrother collides with a table with a loud clatter. Sawyer takes a step toward me, but I retreat as my hands go out in front of me.

“Answer me. Say it’s not true.” I know he won’t lie to me. Or do I? If this is true, what do I really know about him? A tear escapes, but I quickly swipe it away. Everyone is still watching us, and the restaurant is utterly quiet.

“It’s not what you think.” He takes another step toward me, but I match it in retreat. “You think you can run from me, kitten?”

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