Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 89170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 446(@200wpm)___ 357(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
“I let you in,” Blayze said, “and you ended up destroying me all over again.”
“Blayze!” I choked out, reaching for him. He jerked his arm away, making me stumble. I could see my father start after him.
“No! Don’t!” I put my hands on my father’s chest. Turning, I looked Blayze in the eyes. “Can you honestly stand there after the time we’ve spent together and believe I would purposely hurt you?”
For a brief moment, I saw the anger slip away before something else appeared.
A wall.
Pushing his fingers through his hair, Blayze looked back at me. “We don’t have anything else to say. You’ve got an hour to go back to my house and get your things out and get out. Have fun in London.”
Then he turned and walked away. Not a moment later, I collapsed into my father’s arms and started to sob in earnest.
“Brock, you know she didn’t have anything to do with his,” my father said.
I could hear Brock let out a long exhale. “I know she didn’t.”
“It was Lindsay!” Morgan said. “I walked up and heard Lindsay saying something to Georgiana, and she was clearly upset.”
My entire body felt numb, and my legs were giving out.
“I need to get her to the hotel,” my father said. “Morgan, will you please go get her things?”
“Yes. Of course. Of course.”
As we left the festival, I called Blayze and sent him text after text. He ignored it all. Before my father brought me to his hotel, we went to Brock’s house. Everyone was there. I shared what Lindsay had said to me. I knew why Blayze was so angry with me, but I also knew part of his anger was toward the article. That didn’t excuse why I hadn’t told him yet. A small part of me had worried if I told him, he would react exactly like he was.
Once we got to the hotel in Hamilton, I fell onto the bed and cried myself to sleep.
I didn’t remember the drive to Missoula. Or the drive from the airport in Dallas to our family’s ranch. I didn’t even remember how I got up to my old childhood bedroom. The only thing I remembered was sitting on the window seat in my parents’ dining room, crying until the tears would no longer come.
Chapter Eighteen
BLAYZE
The doorbell rang, followed by loud knocking. “Go the fuck away!” I called out.
More knocking.
I got up and made my way into the kitchen, grabbing another beer before I found myself back on the sofa in my living room.
The sound of the front door opening caused me to turn and see who in the hell would dare ignore my demands to be left alone.
Ryan and Hunter stood there. Both of them had looks of pity on their faces. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have let him wallow away like this for a week,” Hunter said as he stared at me with disapproving eyes.
“A word of advice, little brother,” I said. “Don’t ever fucking give your heart to a woman. They’re trouble.”
Hunter walked in, picked up an empty beer bottle, and then set it back down.
“I get why you’re pissed, I really do. Georgiana should have told you when she told Mom and Dad. But don’t you think your anger is geared more toward the fact that Lindsay gave the magazine that information?”
Looking up at my younger brother, I frowned. “And who told her about the article? Georgie was the only one who knew about it besides us.”
Ryan huffed. “Do you honestly think Georgiana told Lindsay she was there to write an article about your family, and they came up with this plan to out you? Blayze, think about it.”
Drawing in a deep breath, I dropped back onto the sofa. “Well, she clearly found out somehow. If not Georgiana, then who?”
Ryan walked up to me and glanced down at the coffee table. “Jesus Christ, have you even showered or eaten real food in the past week, Blayze?”
“I’m sure I have. Morgan brought me something to eat a while ago, and Mindy was here last night being all motherly. I finally yelled at her, and she left.”
Ryan shook his head. “Dude, I’ve never seen you like this. If you’d stop drinking your sorrows away and actually talk to Georgiana, you could fix all of this mess.”
I snapped my head up to meet Ryan’s gaze. The room spun, and I had to reach out to steady myself.
“I fucking trusted her, and she kept this from me.”
“She didn’t,” Hunter said as he sat down on the sofa next to me. “Georgiana said she told you the magazine wanted to her to write something she wasn’t comfortable writing. Then she told you she wasn’t writing the article at all. Stop and think a goddamn second why that is! She didn’t want to hurt you. And she was probably afraid to tell you because you’d react exactly like you are right now.”