Page 120 of Full Mountie

Beth: Are you okay?

Lachlan: Damn it, Hugh. Call me.

Beth: We’re worried about you.

Beth: Please let me know you’re okay.

Lachlan: Hugh. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but I’m going to kick your ass for making Beth cry.

Lachlan: She thinks she did something wrong. You need to fix this.

A rock-hard knot lodges deep in my chest as I stare at Lachlan’s last two texts.

Then my phone vibrates and Lachlan’s ringtone comes through the speaker.

Shit. I’m still not ready to talk to him, but I need to suck it up. We still have to work together.

And it’s the middle of the night there. If he’s calling me at one in the morning, I’m an asshole if I don’t pick up, no matter how much I don’t want to yet.

I take a deep breath and answer before the call has a chance to flip to voicemail. “I’m here.”

“Jesus, Hugh.” I can almost see his hand sliding over his head, his fingers sifting through his hair as he says it.

He sounds more relieved than angry and I’m a little surprised.

There’s silence, and I don’t know what to say, so I continue to gather my thoughts and wait.

“Where are you?”

“Ottawa.”

“You knew you were leaving, didn’t you? It wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. It was planned.”

There’s no point in denying that. “Yeah.”

“I don’t get it. How could you spend the night fucking and sucking Beth and me like we are the most important people in your life if you were going to sneak out afterwards?”

I want to be flip. I want to tell him I needed one more fabulous memory for the spank bank. I want to make it easy for them to let go. But they deserve the truth, at least.

“You are the most important people in my life. And I needed to show you that one last time.”

“Damn it, Hugh—”

“Go to bed, Lachlan. I said I needed space, and I meant it.” I end the call. I can’t talk about this yet. Somewhere along the way, I lost control of what I was doing.

I need to find that control again. And when I do, I’m never letting go again.

41

Lachlan

When I returnto the cabin, there’s a lamp on and Beth is sitting up in bed. I was sure she was sleeping when I got up. How much did she overhear?

“Well?” she asks, her eyes bright with hope.

Fuck. I’d hoped to have some time to calm down and process that call. My heart is pounding and I don’t want Beth to pick up on my agitation.

“You should be asleep,” I say, gently.

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