Page 89 of Heartless

“Is Parker coming?” Tyler asked.

“No.”

The two of them shared a look. I had thought about that disaster of a Christmas party we had quite a lot these past few weeks. They all knew about Franny, I was sure of it. Everyone except my mother who acted like a jerk with all her questions. And no one bothered to give me a heads up.

“A drink?” Tyler asked.

I was usually a one glass of wine kind of girl. I hated the idea of being drunk and not fully in control, but I was so not my usual self lately, so I decided to go with the flow and follow my needs for once. And if that meant I would be leaving on all fours, so be it.

“I’m getting drunk tonight. Surprise me.”

“Okay,” Tyler mouthed and shot a pointed look in Hannah’s direction, then turned his back to us.

I heard my future sister-in-law clear her throat and looked at her.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked.

“Doyouwant to talk about it? I was under the impression you all knew a very important piece of information and kept it from me.”

It wasn’t fair to keep the pregnant woman who had zero obligations towards me responsible, but I had done worse in my life. Another reason I was the wrong person for Parker. What had he said about Franny?

“She had this energy that just drew people in. Everyone loved her.”

That was pretty much the last thing that someone could say about me.

Hannah took a sip of her water. “It wasn’t our business to say anything. It’s Parker’s story and it’s soul crushing. I’m sure that even you could agree that telling you behind his back would be a dick move.”

“So you just let me walk into that mess and find out on my own?”

“Yeah. That’s how dating works, Madison. You meet someone and if you like them enough, you start to peel off the layers. Some of them might be in perfect condition, others rotten.”

Oh, God. I was going to be sick. That was what happened with me and Parker, wasn’t it? We grew closer while we pretended to date and gradually transformed from fake to real.

Hannah placed her hand on top of mine and squeezed. “Don’t give up on him. The baggage he brings to the table? It’s a lot. But the fact that you’re in pain over it shows you care.”

I shook my head. “It's only a matter of time before I'll have to leave.”

Tyler silently placed my drink in front of me and left me and Hannah alone again.

“Nothing’s set in stone. Love is the greatest motivation for change.”

No matter how much I wanted to laugh in her face for using the L word, I couldn’t quite deny it. First of all, I compared myself to a dead woman. Hell, I competed with her in my own twisted mind. Second of all, on Friday night I deliberately went to the hot tub, hoping to provoke him to come out and find me.

The realization hit me hard and it probably showed on my face, because Hannah and Tyler let me drink in silence until Clementine and Lucas finally arrived.

“Sorry we’re so late. What did we miss?” My sister asked while she climbed on the high chair on my other side. I slowly turned to face her and her expression morphed from calm to worried in a second.

“What’s wrong?” She asked on high alert.

“I’m in love with Parker Wilson,” I blurted out in a morbid tone. “What the hell am I going to do now?”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Parker

Someone banged on the door of my villa. It was almost two in the morning, I was wide awake and the reason for that was yet again a woman. The only difference was that the one keeping me up this time was alive and hell-bent to prove to me and to herself that she didn’t want me or need me.

Another bang made me rise from the couch. There were two possibilities here. Either someone had an emergency that the staff couldn’t handle on their own, or Madison had finally had the meltdown I was waiting for and decided to admit that we were a thing.

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