Reckless Hearts (Oak Harbor #2)(50)

Up close, she’s even more gorgeous than I thought: model-perfect with blue eyes and pale skin, so chic and put-together in her red dress, it makes me wish I was wearing something other than my cut-offs and a plain shirt.

His sister, I tell myself desperately. He has a younger sister. Who else would show up like this?

Will clears his throat. “I’m sorry,” he says, so low I almost don’t catch it. Then he finally meets my eyes, and my heart drops for real this time to see the guilty expression in those steady hazel depths.

“Who is she?” I ask, trying like hell to keep it together. But it’s like I’m watching from outside myself, hurtling towards the edge of a cliff, with no way to stop or slow down. “Will, what’s going on?”

The silence is agonizing. Will opens his mouth to speak, but before he can say a word, the woman steps forward, giving me a brisk smile. “I apologize. Where are my manners? I’m Helena Carpenter, a pleasure to meet you.”

I shake her hand numbly, still confused. “Delilah.” I look to Will again. “Who is she?”

“She’s nobody.” Will’s voice is harsh, and I see Helena flinch at his words. “She’s leaving now.”

Helena stands her ground. “Just listen to yourself,” she says to him. “Everyone’s worried about you. All our friends, the people at your job. You can’t just shut us out. What about our apartment, all your stuff, our whole life together?”

“I don’t want it.” Will’s jaw is clenched, but my head starts spinning.

Friends. Apartment. Life together.

She turns back to me, looking regretful. “I’m sorry you’ve wound up in the middle of this, clearly William hasn’t been telling the whole truth.”

“Dee—” Will takes a step towards me, looking desperate, but he can’t reach me before Helena lands the knock-out punch to my heart, the last words I ever expected to hear.

“I’m Will’s fiancée.”





Seventeen.


Will



It only takes two seconds. Two seconds for my new beginning to shatter, and the life I’ve been building here to crumble to ash.

“Ex-fiancée,” I correct her desperately, but it’s already too late. I see the words hit Delilah like a bullet, each one tearing through the connection we’ve built, the lazy afternoons learning about her life, and the hot, carnal nights claiming her body for my own.

None of that matters anymore. Not now she knows the truth.

Pain flashes across Delilah’s face and I feel it too, ripping me up from the inside out. But I don’t have time to go to her, to even try and explain, before she shuts it all down and pastes on a wide, bright smile, so fake it makes me ache.

“Wow, you’re right, I guess there’s a lot he didn’t tell me.” Dee won’t even look at me; she’s still smiling at Helena. “I’ll leave you two in peace then. Lovely to meet you.”

“And you.” Helena smiles back. The two of them are acting so sweet and civil, it makes me want to break something. But I guess I already did that, judging by the look on Delilah’s face.

She turns to leave, but f*ck, I can’t just let her walk away.

“Dee—” I catch her arm, needing her to listen, but she shakes me off with a sharp gesture and just keeps walking. Not looking at me, not turning back for a second. She gets in her car and drives away, and just like that, the best thing that ever happened to me is nothing but dust on the old dirt road.

Fuck.

The truth crashes through me. The sight of her leaving. God. What have I done?

This is what I was afraid of, deep down. That sooner or later, the past would rear its ugly head. The shadows I’ve been ignoring, praying to god they would just fade away of their own accord. And they did. Every day with her, my past receded, until it felt like some other life, belonging to some other man, hundreds of miles away. Barely a memory.

Still, I should have told her. I even came close, earlier today, but then the moment was gone. Damn, I should have told her everything, right from the start!

But I didn’t. I failed her, and now there’s no going back.

“Will?” Helena’s voice comes. “Who was that girl?”

“What the hell are you doing here?” I turn on her, and it takes everything I have to keep my voice even. My anger contained. Still, she flinches back.

“You wouldn’t talk to me, you wouldn’t even take my calls. What was I supposed to do, William? You can’t just shut me out.” Helena’s voice cracks. “Why won’t you just talk to me?”

I take a deep breath and look at the woman I thought I would spend the rest of my life with.

“I don’t know, finding you f*cking some other guy might have something to do with it.”

Helena’s pretty face crumbles, and then she’s crying, like she has any right at all. “I’m sorry, you know I’m sorry. It was a mistake,” she sobs, “it should never have happened, but we both made mistakes. It wasn’t just me. Our relationship was broken, but now we need to fix it—”

“No!” I interrupt, past breaking point. “You don’t get to put this on me! You’re the one who cheated!”

“But can you blame me?” Helena cries, tears filling her wide eyes. Once I would have done anything to keep those tears from falling, but not anymore. “You were never there,” she insists. “You were always at work, or in your stupid studio, it was like you couldn’t even make time for us. You never put me first!”