Chapter 51

I hadn’t bothered to really dress. If I were going to still be in the wedding, my hair and makeup would be done by the people Ellie hired, and if I weren’t, I probably wouldn’t be getting out of my sweats.

My hands were fully pulled inside the long sleeves of my t-shirt, a pure sign of nerves, and Hawk’s hand rested on my knee as we pulled up to the estate.

“Do you want us to come with you?” Cade asked.

“Not to talk to her, but please don’t leave.”

“We won’t,” he promised.

When I picked up my phone this morning—the guys had brought it back with them yesterday—it was a mess of frantic texts from every person I knew. Ellie, begging to talk to me and promising it was okay. My parents. Rin and Ocean, having found out through the grapevine.

I read them, but barely absorbed them.

Hawk slid out and held the door for me. The storm left nothing but perfect weather behind. It would be a beautiful day. For an outdoor wedding, you couldn’t ask for anything better.

That would be nice.

The guys were behind me, following me inside, but the rest of it I needed to do alone.

I didn’t wait for Geoffrey to open the door. I knew the codes, and I let myself inside, heading straight for the suite where Ellie and Warren were staying.

He answered my soft knock with a grim expression. “Hey, Iz.”

“Hi.”

Sighing, he pushed the door wider to let me in. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“And I’m sorry that my relationship has played such a big part in your wedding. I really am.”

Warren smiled. “Even though Beau can go fuck himself, you dating him allowed me to meet Ellie.”

“At least one good thing came out of it. Are your parents okay?”

“After hearing the shit he pulled? All of it? They’re just fine. We’ll see how they deal with Beau’s parents later.” He nodded toward their bedroom. “She’s in there.”

“She okay?”

“Okay isn’t the word I’d use, no.”

I nodded. “Then that makes two of us. Thanks.”

“Are the guys here?”

“Yeah, though I don’t know where they ended up.”

Not waiting for more, I went to the bedroom door and opened it slowly. Ellie sat at the vanity in a white robe. Crumpled tissues covered the surface of it, and I heard her sniffle. What little I could see of her face was red and puffy. She looked like she’d been crying almost as much as I had.

“Hey,” I said.

She jumped, turning to look. “Oh my god.” She threw herself across the room at me and pulled me into a hug, sobbing. “I’m so sorry. I promise it’s not like he made it sound. I wanted to go after you as soon as you ran but they wouldn’t let me and⁠—”

I hugged her, still feeling pretty blank. “Well, I’m here to listen. I said I’d do that.”

“Yeah. Right.” She pulled back and went to grab another tissue, dabbing at her face. “After everything happened with Beau. And I mean right after. You’d already booked a flight and were gone, but we didn’t know that. No one had heard from you, and even Ocean and Trinity didn’t have any idea where you were. We were panicked.”

I winced. Not my finest moment. Mom cried in relief when I finally answered their call from my hastily-rented apartment.

“So I went to your house. Beau’s house. I don’t know if he didn’t remember I had a key or if he just didn’t care. But I walked in, shouting your name, because your car was there, and I found Beau fucking Angela on the kitchen island.”

“God, I hope he sanitized if they were doing it in there the whole time.”

We both laughed a little, the tension breaking.

Ellie wiped her nose and sank down onto the bed. “I handed his ass to him, obviously, and left. I’m pretty sure I threw the key at his head. Because to me, it seemed like you’d found him cheating and bolted. Then, when you told us what happened, and you didn’t know…” Her eyes watered again. “You were in so much pain, and it was already over. So I said to myself that I’d tell you later. I told Mom, and she told Dad, and everyone agreed that we would tell you when you were a little better. But then you didn’t get better. Or not much, and none of us wanted to be the one to re-break your heart all over again.” Her voice drops to a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

“Fuck.” I scrubbed my hands over my face.

They were right. Beau had made it hurt as much as possible, lashing out where he knew my weakest point was, and I let him. Was I happy they’d kept it from me? No. But holding back on something they didn’t know until after he’d already thrown a grenade into the middle of our relationship was worlds away from my whole family knowing Beau cheated on me—and had been cheating on me—and choosing not to tell me.

“God, he really is a dick, isn’t he?” I burst out.

Ellie laughed. “Yes. Yes, he is.”

But she wasn’t smiling. Her face was filled with hope and fear, and I knew exactly how that combination felt. I’d lived with it almost daily. I went and sat on the bed, pulling her into a hug.

“I’m not happy about you keeping it from me,” I told her. “No matter what I was feeling, I deserved to know. My feelings aren’t your responsibility. They’re not Mom’s or Dad’s either. So don’t ever do it again, okay?”

All I got back was a sob, and I held her tighter. She managed, “I promise.”

“But I’m sorry I ran away before I could listen. It hurt me where I had the least armor, and it felt like if I stayed I was going to unravel completely.”

She sighed. “I could have prevented all of it if I’d just told you.”

“No more secrets, okay?” I asked. “Sorry I didn’t tell you they were escorts.”

Ellie snorted. “Yeah, we already knew that.”