My Ex-Boyfriend’s Brothers (Ex Marks the Spot)

48. Maggie

48

***Maggie***

C hristina let us into her suite that morning after we’d spent hours in my bed crying together. We were both at our lowest but somehow stronger for it. She was ready to confront Brad and I was ready to be at her side through everything. The way I saw it, she was about to set herself free from a nightmare of a man.

Brad was snoring on his back, his naked body exposed as Christina and I stood at the foot of the bed, hands on our hips. He had no idea the trouble coming his way.

She kicked the bed and hissed his name. “Brad!”

He jerked awake and immediately gripped his head. “Jesus. What time is it? I need more sleep, Chris. I feel like shit.”

“You’re about to feel a whole lot worse.” I took pleasure in watching him shoot up at the sound of my voice. I laughed as he yanked a sheet over himself and turned red at the sight of us.

“What the fuck is this?”

Christina inched her chin higher. “This is your reality check. You and I are through, Brad. I want nothing to do with you. You’re a lying, cheating pig and I feel sorry for the woman who eventually does end up stuck with you.”

“Wait. Wait a second. What are you talking about? Christina, baby, what’s wrong? Talk to me.” He shot a nervous look at me. “Has she been lying to you? You can’t believe her. She wants this. She wants to break us up.”

I scoffed. “You think I worked my ass off just to break up the wedding? Are you fucking stupid?”

“I went through your phone.” Christina’s voice shook and I gripped her hand in mine. “You’re an asshole.”

Frantically searching the bed for his phone, as if that would make it not true, Brad finally gave up and glared at us. “Whatever you saw, it’s not real.”

“Shut up already.” She sighed. “This is over. I’m not marrying you. I want you out of my house and I never want to see you again. You’re a piece of shit. Worse, you’re mean just because you can be.”

“Nice black eyes, by the way.” I smiled even wider. “Did Jackson do that?”

His reddening face gave him away. I was right. “You can’t do this. You can’t call off the wedding. Our families are here.”

“They can stay for the party if they want. I’ll be celebrating dodging a massive bullet.” Christina scowled down at him. “Get out of my room. If you’re still here when I come back in an hour, I’ll have security throw you out.”

“This is ridiculous! You’re going to regret this. This is the biggest mistake you’ll ever make! You walk away from me and I’ll never give you another chance. You’re losing the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

A rushed knock on the door made me flinch but when Christina pulled the door open a moment later and Sharon sauntered in, the flinch turned into a full-body chill. As elegant as ever in a white shift dress, she sauntered into the room with her nose in the air. She only seemed to notice something wasn’t right when no one acknowledged her.

“What’s going on?”

“Your son is a cheater and the wedding’s off. That’s the gist.”

Sharon’s sharp gaze lasered in on me. “This has something to do with you, doesn’t it? My husband told me exactly what you were up to with Luke and I can see you’re causing a scandal here.”

“Me? No.” I’d always been a little terrified of Sharon. She’d never been shy about letting me know Brad was dating beneath his means.

“She had nothing to do with this. Brad’s been cheating on me with several women.” Christina moved closer to me. “None of them were Maggie.”

“Mom, she’s-” Brad tried to speak up but Sharon just spoke over him.

“You’ve invited the entire family here, Christina. I had to leave Milan to be here. You’re getting married.”

“No, I’m not.” Grabbing my hand, Christina pulled me towards the door. “Have a nice flight back to Milan. Try not to be too disappointed in your son when you hold him accountable for wasting so much of your time.”

“This is ridiculous. Grow up-”

“She wants Brad out of this suite. Now.” I kept my shoulders back, even as Sharon glared at me. “She’s wrong about one thing. You should be very disappointed in the man you raised.”

We let the heavy suite door close behind us and cut Sharon ’s rant short. Christina looked over at me and I watched as her eyes swam with tears. She gripped my hand harder and I gently tugged her away from the room. Brad didn’t deserve to see her cry.

“Come on. Let’s get away from the lodge so you don’t have to talk to anyone until you’re ready.”

“I can’t go anywhere else right now. Look at me.” Tears leaked down her cheeks and she whimpered. “God. Just look at me. I’m pathetic.”

“Luke’s cabin is still open. We’ll hide there.” I looked away. “Since he’s gone, we can drink anything left behind and hide for as long as you want.”

She gripped my hand even tighter. “I’m sorry.”

“Come on. The faster we get to the cabin, the faster we can start drinking.”

Thankfully, Luke’s cabin had a fully stocked liquor cabinet. Christina and I settled on the same leather couch where I’d first slept with the guys with a bottle of whiskey. We were both fighting back tears as we drank straight from the bottle in silence for a while. Christina rolled her head to the side to look at me eventually and I could tell she was already drunk.

“Are you okay?”

I laughed. “Not at all. You?”

“Not even a little bit.” She sighed. “I’m so embarrassed, Maggie. I’m ten years older than you and I’m going through something you went through three years ago. You’re so far ahead of me. I already felt behind. All of the women I used to be friends with already have kids and here I am, failing to even find a good man.”

“I’m not ahead of you. We’re literally both crying over the same thing right now. Almost. Slightly different situations but still.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders. “You shouldn’t be embarrassed. Brad is the only one who should be embarrassed.”

“I’m part of the reason you’re hurting right now, Maggie. I have every reason to be embarrassed. I hurt you.”

“No. They hurt me. They chose to believe the worst of me and left me here. I thought Luke was going to tell me that he loved me a few days ago. And then they just fled as soon as anything rocked the boat. You didn’t do this. They did. They’re not the men I thought they were.” I angrily wiped more tears away. “Seems like all of the Heath men should be put out to pasture and left alone.”

“You don’t believe that.”

I hardened my gaze and took another pull from the whiskey bottle. “I do. Or at least I will.”

“I need to text everyone.” Sinking lower into the couch, Christina groaned. “Social media is going to have a field day with this.”

“I’ll do it. I may be fired but I still have all the contact information for the guests.” I saw her wince and patted her hand. “I’ve never been happier to be fired. I never want to throw a wedding for a man like Brad. They don’t deserve a beautiful wedding.”

“Okay. Just… Say whatever you think sounds right.” She brushed her hair out of her face and swallowed. “And maybe text my family and friends that they should stay for a big party tomorrow.”

“A bullet dodging party. I like it.” I pulled out my phone and grunted when I saw it was still dead. “Houston, we have a problem.”

“Come on. If we run fast we’ll be able to find a charger and get back here without anyone seeing us.” Her logic was flawed but I had to get the charger either way.

“Let’s go.”