Total pages in book: 235
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 227851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1139(@200wpm)___ 911(@250wpm)___ 760(@300wpm)
“Oh, there she is,” Coral muses.
I blink, turning my eyes slowly her way. She’s resting back on the couch, relaxed. I stand, unable to control my shakes, and bend, forcing her back farther. “Get the fuck out of my manor and my life,” I seethe, looking her up and down on a contemptuous sneer. “You pathetic leech.” She can’t hide her hurt. Good. Fucking hate me. Please, just fucking hate me and leave me the hell alone. “You’d better be gone when I get back.” I stalk to the door and yank it open, finding John on the other side. “Get her out of here,” I order, passing him and jogging down the corridor. I scan the summer room, try to see through the crowds of people who have taken to the dance floor, searching for an explosion of white. Nothing. I pass through, shrugging people off, smiling tightly, trying to get to the bar. No Ava. Sam looks up, as does Drew. “Have you seen Ava?” I ask.
“No.” Sam frowns. “I can’t find Kate either. Maybe they’re together.”
Drew laughs lightly. “Seriously. You can’t find your wife and you can’t find your girlfriend?”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” Sam breathes.
“Of course.”
“Coral turned up,” I say, backing out of the bar and looking up and down the foyer.
“Coral?” Drew blurts.
“Yes, Coral. Ava walked in on me talking to her in my office.”
“Talking about what?”
“Nothing, Drew,” I snap. “That’s the fucking point. There’s nothing between us, never has been.” And even though Ava knows that, she has every right to be upset about me leaving her—on our fucking wedding day—to appease an ex-fuck who won’t fuck off. Ava was right. I shouldn’t have uncuffed us. Fucking Coral.
I leave the boys and hurry upstairs to our suite, bursting in and scanning the space, checking the bathroom, before dashing back downstairs. Where the hell is she? I look at the door onto the driveway. Has she left? I’m a bag of nerves as I walk slowly to the doors, pushing out of them. I find Kate sitting on the steps nursing a cigarette and a glass of water. She peers back at me as she exhales. Her face is blotchy. Her eyes puffy. “Everything okay?” I ask, trying to sound concerned while scanning the driveway for Ava.
“Perfect,” she says, smiling.
Fuck it. I can’t just ignore the fact she’s been crying. “Sam’s looking for you.”
She turns back away from me. “I’ll be back inside soon.”
I haven’t got time for this. “I don’t know what’s going on with Ava’s brother, but—”
She swings around. “What’s Ava said?”
“Nothing. Just that there’s history.” I look back over my shoulder into The Manor. “Look, Kate, Sam’s a good guy. Don’t fuck him around, okay?”
She doesn’t answer. It’s hardly reassuring.
I sigh. “Have you seen Ava?”
A shake of her head.
“You’re looking for Ava?” Pete approaches, coming up the steps, an empty tray of champagne flutes lying across his palm. “I saw her leave out the glass doors at the back.”
“Thanks, Pete.” I don’t go back through The Manor but instead take the steps down to the driveway and circle round the side, jogging past the garages. I see a speck of white in the distance and breathe out my relief, crossing the lawn to the woodland at the bottom of the gardens.
She’s sitting on a trunk, and as I get closer, I hear her quiet, suppressed sobs. “Fuck,” I whisper, mentally beating myself up. I made my wife cry on her wedding day. What kind of arsehole am I?
Her shoulder blades pull in. She’s sensed me close by.
“I know you’re there,” she says.
“I know you do.” I circle the trunk and lower my arse next to her. She won’t look at me, but watches my hands playing nervously. How do I fix this mess? Pull it back?
“Isn’t it funny,” she says quietly, “how we’re so in touch with each other, yet you sit here now and you don’t know what to say to me.”
I sigh and move closer, touching her leg, at a loss for what to say.
“So he touches me,” she whispers, looking down at my hand.
“He loves you,” I reply quietly. “He wishes he could eliminate the past that’s hurting you.”
“Then why did you see her?” she asks, looking at me. I hate the glaze of affliction in her eyes. “On our wedding day, when you vowed to have me by your side all day, why did you desert me to see her?”
Because I’m an idiot. I should have been transparent with Ava and taken her with me to send Coral on her way. United. Fuck, why the hell do I always make the wrong choice? “I couldn’t leave her at the gates with guests arriving, Ava.” I’m not passing the blame to John. I would have done what he did.
“So tell her to go away.”