Again (34 page)

“And you think getting rid of me is going to save your marriage?
 
Ha!
 
You’re already doomed.
 
He needs a woman who will take care of him.”
 
Brandi was quiet for a moment, eyes narrowed, and then her voice lowered. “Or should I say he
needed
a woman to take care of him.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
 
Eryn’s stomach lurched.
 
She and Bryce would be going away in a couple of days.
 
Was he trying to make their marriage better or was he covering up guilt?
 

Brandi brought her glass up to her lips, looking at Eryn over the top of the glass.
 
The glint in her friend’s eyes was sharp and almost, Eryn thought with a shiver, evil.

Brandi’s lips curled in perverse satisfaction at the pain she was inflicting on Eryn, seemingly in no hurry to end the suspense.
 

Eryn’s mind reeled with the implications, but she needed to know the truth directly from Brandi’s lips.
 
She closed the space between them with two quick steps before slapping the glass out of Brandi’s hand, sending it crashing against the wall.
 

“Answer me, Brandi!
 
What the hell did you mean by that?”
 
Eryn’s breaths were coming in quick bursts now, her patience completely tapped out.

Brandi didn’t flinch as she studied Eryn’s face coolly.
 
“You don’t like it when you don’t have all the answers, do you?”

Eryn straightened her shoulders as hate surged through her body.
 
She spent too many years of being a doormat for Brandi, making sure she was okay, and now here the woman stood, vile words dripping from her mouth.

Brandi’s attention flickered over Eryn’s shoulder for a second, then she looked back in her eyes.
 
“I finally took something that was yours.”
 
Her smile grew wider.
 
“And he was absolutely incredible.”
 
She leaned forward, inches from Eryn’s face.
 
“An animal,” she whispered.

“God damn it, Brandi!”
 
From the doorway, Bryce’s voice shook the room.

“I guess you’re really going to kick me out now, huh?”
 
Brandi shrugged as she stared at Eryn.

Eryn felt the blood drain out of her face and pool somewhere in her feet.
 
She couldn’t focus and a sharp pain ripped through her chest as she tried to take a breath.
 

Bryce and Brandi?
 
But he hates her, doesn’t he?
 
Why won’t he say something? God, Bryce, why are you taking so long to deny it?

“Bryce?”
 
Eryn’s voice sounded pitifully woeful to her own ears.
 
A pregnant silence was her only answer.
 
She bit back the nausea that was coming in waves, and then her anger exploded, shattering her confusion into pieces.
 
She looked up at her long-time friend.
 

Brandi, whose face was cocky with victory, didn’t look so much like her friend any more.
 

Eryn lost what little control she had left and locked onto Brandi’s gaze like a vice.
 

“You!”
 
Eryn shoved Brandi in the chest as hard as she could.
 
“Bitch!”
 

Before Bryce could reach her, Eryn had slammed her fist into Brandi’s jaw, sending her crashing over the bar stools.
 
Eryn lunged for her, but Bryce was there, grabbing Eryn by the waist and pulling her back.

“Don’t touch me!” Eryn shook him free and backed herself against the wall, cradling her throbbing hand against her body.
 
The touch of his hands sickened her.
 
She glared at Brandi who sat tangled up in the bar stool legs with a look of surprise on her face.
 

Brandi kicked the stools from her feet and got up, dabbing the corner of her mouth.
 

“Huh.”
 
She studied the blood that stained her hand.
 
“I think you just lost your crown, Miss Congeniality.”

“Get out.”
 
Eryn ordered.

“I’ll just get my stuff.”

“Leave it.
 
I’ll send it to the nearest homeless shelter.”
 

“Yeah, right.”
 
Brandi’s voice was slick with defiance.
 
She turned to the bedrooms.
 
“I’ll just be a minute.”

“Take one more step in the wrong direction and I’ll have you arrested for trespassing.”
 
Eryn reached for her cell phone and flipped open the top.

Brandi turned to look first at Eryn and then at Bryce.
 

“You’re right Bryce,” she said.
 
“She wouldn’t understand.”
 
She grabbed her purse from the counter and walked out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

Eryn didn’t realize she was holding her breath until she heard the sound of the car’s engine finally fade away.

Emptiness filled up her lungs and quickly spread to her arms and legs.
 
It was almost as if she expected this betrayal, for the hurt was eerily familiar.
 
Her body shook, racking hard with tears, with anger, and with pain.
 
The world as she’d known it had just dropped out from under her feet and she was falling hard and fast.
 

Oh, God. Tell me this isn’t happening.
 
Tell me this was just a big misunderstanding.
 
Please, please, please, oh, please.
 

She waited, her eyes scrunched too tight, but there was no sound, no answer to her prayers.
 
No one was going to fix this for her.
 
She drew a ragged breath through the big, empty hole in her soul.
 

Finally opening her eyes and straightening her shoulders, she released the grip she’d had on her cell phone and snapped it shut.

“Eryn.
 
Eryn.
 
I’m sorry.”
 
Bryce made no attempt to come closer.

Finding her voice, Eryn was surprised at her calmness.
 
She made herself look at him.
 
“I should have seen this coming.”

“I had sex with her because I was pissed off!
 
I was angry because you are having an affair!
 
I know it didn’t make it right, Eryn, but still…”

“What?
 
You think I’m having an affair?”

He pulled out the crumpled paper that he had shoved in his pocket and held it up to her.

Her face went white.
 
She recognized the pink tinted page from her journal.
 
Brandi had made damn sure the knife was going to go deep.

“Do you deny it?”
 
The look on his face told Eryn he thought he had her.
 
That little piece of paper gave him a valid reason for what he did.

Eryn shook her head at irony.
 
The words she wrote to heal herself were the words that ultimately caused her pain.
 

“Why didn’t you just ask me about it?”
 
When he didn’t answer, she just sighed and shook her head.
 
“Those are just words on a piece of paper, Bryce.
 
Call it what you want, but I wasn’t having an affair.”

Without waiting for a response, she put her phone down and turned to go upstairs.
 

It wasn’t until much later, deep into the night, that Eryn felt Bryce get into bed.
 
Her back was to him, shielding herself.
 
He laid on his back, not touching her, his breath smelling of alcohol.
 
A lot of it.
 
There was no sleep for either of them.
 

Her anger was gone now and she was ready to tally her options.
 
She knew she was going to leave.
 
Bryce had given her no choice.

Chapter 34

Galen stopped mid-stride and paused, listening.
 
Silence drifted through the corridor.
 
Perhaps it was nothing after all, he thought.
 
Then he heard it again.
 
It was muffled, but it was the unmistakable sound of crying - painful, full of despair, soul-breaking tears.

He followed the sound to Sara’s chamber and knocked lightly on the door.
 
“Sara, ‘tis Galen.”

“Leave me be.”

Her voice was anguished, and though he avoided Catherine’s sister as much as possible, he could hardly ignore such suffering in any woman.
 
He knocked harder.
 
“Please, Sara, open the door.”

A few moments passed before Galen heard the bar slip free and the door slowly open, revealing Sara’s tear-stained face.
 
She turned very slowly and walked to the window.
 
Leaning against the sill, Sara seemed lost and deflated, her shoulders bowing under an unseen weight.
 
Outside, the sky was gray, with darker clouds beginning to billow.
 

Galen closed the door behind him. “What troubles you, Sara?” he asked.

She stood, her silhouette etched against the darkening sky.
 

Grasping her shoulders, he gently turned her towards him.
 
In the fading light she looked at him with red-rimmed, swollen eyes.
 

“What is it?” he asked again.

“I know not what to do.”
 
Her tears flowed freely again and Galen took her in his arms and held her close, rocking her back and forth, murmuring soothing words.

“It is all her doing, you know.
 
She tries to take everything away from me!”

Galen cringed at the anger and jealousy in Sara’s words.
 

“She has done this to me!
 
This time, I will have my revenge!”
 
Sara pushed herself away from Galen, wiping away the tears from her cheeks.
 
Hatred and vengeance washed over her face. “Do you know, Galen, that she writes him letters?
 
That she goes to him when his ship arrives in port?”
 
Her hands clenched at her sides.
 
“You, Lord Oakley, everyone grovels at her feet.
 
She plays you all for fools.”
 
She paced the room, fueled by her own anger.
 
“She chooses and tosses men aside at her whim.”
 
She stood straighter, her mood suddenly calm.
 
“But she has not won.
 
No.”
 
She looked down lovingly at her hands, lightly touching her belly.
 
Her voice was soft.
 
“I shall be a lady in my own right for I carry the child of Lord Oakley.”

Galen stared, his jaw slack.
 
Had he heard her clearly?
 
Aye, from the way she stroked her stomach so protectively, he knew what he heard was the truth.
 
The muscles in his jaw tightened as he fought to control his growing rage.
 

“He has gone too far this time.
 
I shall rip him apart limb from limb,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Nay, you will do no such thing!”
 
Sara stomped her foot.

His steel blue eyes turned icy as he regarded her.
 
“Did he force himself upon you?”

Sara tossed her head, standing tall, chin tilted upwards.
 
“I went to him freely.
 
He said he wanted me.
 
He said I was beautiful.”

Galen closed his eyes against his rage.
 
“Do you believe you are the sole female he has ever told that to?”

She glared at him.

“Does he know of this babe you carry?”

“He knows.
 
I told him when we stopped for the night on our way to Rynonshire.”
 
She frowned a little.
 
“He was surprised, but he will become accustomed to the notion of being a father once he and I have wed.”

Galen grabbed her arms, wanting to shake sense into her.
 
“You believe he will wed you?”

Sara winced under the pressure of his grasp.
 
“You are hurting me!” she cried.

He quickly released his grip and backed away.

She rubbed her arms.
 
“I confided in you because we fight the same foe - Catherine.
 
She takes our love, but does not return it.
 
She did not want Lord Oakley, so I offered myself in her stead and he accepted me, willingly.”

“He has you fooled,” he gritted.
 
“He will not marry you.
 
He only beds women for his pleasure.”