Page 81 of Hard To Stay

He knew how uncomfortable I felt and he didn’t like that at all. What did he expect—that things would magically go back to normal? That I would somehow overlook that he was blackmailing me into being his bride?

I made my way past the waiters and all the guests that were filling the ballroom. I felt nauseous. I wasn’t sure if it was because of Colton or the baby.

There was a woman at the sink finishing up washing her hands when I walked into the bathroom. As soon as she left, I went to the marble counter and exhaled. I was so in over my head. I was still shocked and trying to process that fact that I was pregnant. I fought the urge to cry whenever I thought about what Colton would do when he found out. I was only a few weeks along, but I would start to show, eventually. I took a measured breath before releasing it. The sad thing was that I might have broken Brad’s heart for nothing. Nothing made sense and there was no easy way to handle this. I was torn between telling him the truth and protecting him. I knew I would have to tell him, eventually; I just needed time to figure out how to make that happen—to organize a plan. I needed to be careful because Colton wasn’t an idiot.

I reached inside my purse for my lip-gloss when the bathroom door swung open. I jumped at the sight of my sister who looked equally surprised and entirely unsure on how to approach me. She studied me then pushed a nervous smile past her lips.

“You look pretty. I love your dress.”

I’d been avoiding her since I’d been back. Whenever she walked into a room, I would leave. She would ask a question; I would give her one word responses. Everyone always said we looked so much alike that we could’ve been twins. We may have looked alike, but apparently we had much different moral codes.

With that reminder, I rolled my eyes and then applied my lip-gloss. “If you’re looking for Colton, he’s out there. Maybe the two of you can squeeze in a quick fuck in a coat closet.” I knew I was being a bitch, but I couldn’t help myself.

“Lexi, please stop this.” There was a tremble in her voice as she stared at me. I turned my head and forced myself to look at her. “You think this is all my fault, don’t you? You think I wanted my sister’s boyfriend so bad that I decided to fuck him behind your back? You ran away convinced that I wanted to hurt you. I’m not sure what hurts more. The fact that you would believe that or what actually did happen.” She sighed, sinking her body against the wall.

I wasn’t prepared for what I saw in her eyes. I didn’t want to feel anything towards her because she didn’t deserve an ounce of my thoughts. “You fucked my fiancée behind my back. I saw it with my own two eyes.”

“I don’t blame you for thinking that. I don’t.” She pressed her eyes closed and shook her head. “But that’s not how it happened.”

I tilted my head to the side feeling more frustrated by the second. Did she honestly think that I misunderstood what I saw? I felt anger move through me. The betrayal of what she did to me still stung.

“You’re serious?” I shook my head. “I know what I saw. You disgust me. You and Colton are both sick. You deserve each other. You fucked him. Plain and simple. Don’t you dare insult my intelligence and try to spin this into something it’s not.”

Her voice was shaky as she brought her hands up to her cheeks and squeezed her eyes shut. “That’s not what that was.” It was only then that I noticed that she was crying.

I was so damned confused. I narrowed my eyes on her, ignoring the ping of emotion that hit me. She looked sad and defeated. I knew that look well.

“You know what? I don’t give a damn anymore. If I could hand Colton over to you on a silver platter, I would.”

A look of confusion crossed her face as she reached for a tissue on the counter. “Why would you say that? You’re back together.” She looked down at the ring on my finger and wiped the moisture off her cheeks. “You’re wearing his ring.”

I sighed. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be. He’s blackmailing me.”

She reared back, shocked. “Oh my God.” Her chest started heaving as she ran her hands through her hair. “Lexi, I need to talk to you. I thought you came back because you loved him. You don’t understand…” Before she could get the next word out there was a knock on the door.

“Alexis, are you finished?” I looked at my watch and realized that I had been gone much longer than I should have.

Laney started to panic as fear flooded her eyes. She brought her hand to her lips. “Please don’t tell him I’m in here.” She tugged anxiously on the hem of her gold dress. Something wasn’t right. I tried to ward off the nausea simmering in my stomach. I no longer felt smug. She shifted nervously in front of me. “You have to get back to him. We’ll talk tomorrow, I promise.”

I swallowed tightly and gathered my things off the counter. I tried to push down the haunting thoughts that moved through me as I slipped out the door.

We didn’t talk the next day, or the day after that, because she packed a bag that night and disappeared.

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