“I know,” I whisper.
We turn back to the house and the red door opens. Stood in the doorway, intimidating and unapproachable, is his mother.
She storms down the steps, Wesley following her with a tight expression. “Grace, please, not tonight.”
She ignores her husband, her daggers and thorns aimed at Drew and me. “What on earth has possessed you to bring that girl here?”
“Good evening to you too, Mum.”
“Answer me,” she snaps, her voice just lower than a screech.
I step closer to Drew, curling my arm into his. I don’t know what is going on. Why she is acting this way. “Mrs Wyatt, I—”
She holds her hand up to my face. “Do not speak to me.”
“Mum,” Drew scolds, his voice tight, and his expression pinched. “Do not ever speak to her like that again.”
“You brought her to your sister’s rehearsal dinner after everything she did.”
“She hasn’t done anything.”
“She attacked poor Eloise!”
“I didn’t hurt Eloise,” I explain, recoiling at the lethal look she throws my way. “I pushed her. That’s all. And that’s only because she came at me. It was an immediate reflex.”
“You are trash, and my son can do a lot better than the likes of you.”
I stiffen. “You mean Eloise?”
“Yes, Eloise. She is respected amongst all, and has manners. You—”
“And what about your son? What about what he wants?”
Her expression is livid as she turns to Drew. “Do you care that you’re embarrassing our family name?”
“I’m not the one embarrassed, Mum.”
She continues like he hadn’t answered. “And don’t think we didn’t hear about what happened at that place you work. We had a friend look into it and they reported back that it has something to do with this case.”
“Grace,” Wesley murmurs, trying to pull her away. She pushes him away.
“And if that wasn’t the worst of her transgressions; there was a body found in that place she works at. How could you do this to us, Drew? How?”
His silence has the hair on the back of my neck standing on end. “Maybe we—”
“I’m here for Alison, and Alison only,” he tells her, his voice harsh, the bite in it sharp and unforgiving. “But before we walk through that door you need to realise that I won’t be coming back, not until you apologise.”
“All this because of this, this girl.”
“Please, stop this. Don’t. You are family,” I plead.
Drew takes my hand, running his thumb over the top. I look up, but his attention isn’t on me. It’s still on his mum. “One, Eloise is a manipulative bitch.” His mother gasps. “Her father is threatening to cut her off if she doesn’t get her act together and marry. She thinks marrying me will get her back in her father’s good graces. And you want me with her because of your reputation, Mother. You don’t care what I want or about the lies she has spread about me. You are too self-centred to care.”
“Don’t you dare—”
“And if you knew about the gym, why didn’t you call me? Dad called me the minute he found out and wanted to come and check up on me.”
She rears back, her hands shaking. “Because that place is an embarrassment. You could have been anything you wanted and thrived at it, but you chose to do that. The damage has done you a favour. You still have time to go back to school. Be something—”
He groans. “I’m not going to close the gym and I’m not going back to school because you aren’t happy. I’m doing a job I love; one I’m damn successful at. My gym makes a high percentage of profits each year but that doesn’t matter to you. It doesn’t matter that it thrives. None of it matters. Because it will never be good enough for you.”
I squeeze his arms as tears gather in my eyes. His sisters, Alison’s fiancé, and Eloise pile out of the door to watch the argument unfold.
“Drew.”
The hurt in his voice has my stomach bottoming out. “And if you held any kind of remorse, if you had even a tad of decency, then you’d apologise to Charlotte. Not only for how you’ve treated her from the moment you met her, but because you’ve just brought something up that was traumatic for her. You didn’t ask who was found or why they were dumped in her library. And I’d like to say that if you did know, you wouldn’t have mentioned it, but you would have.”
“Drew,” I whisper, my fingers digging into his arms.
I don’t want this. I don’t want to be the person who comes between family. I don’t want Drew hurting, and the anguish I heard in his voice… it has my knees locking together.
“I was there,” he grits out, still glaring at her as he slams his fist against his chest. “I heard her screaming so loud the windows shook. I saw him. I saw what was done to him. And you threw it out there like it meant nothing.”
My eyelids pinch shut at the reminder. All this time. I have been selfish once again, not realising how badly this affected him, how deeply it had traumatised him, like it had me. I hadn’t asked him. All these weeks and I hadn’t asked him if he was okay. It makes my gut clench.
I should have asked.
I whimper, trying again once more to pull him back. “Drew.”
“Son,” Grace whispers, pain shining for a moment before she masks it. But I saw it.
She loves her son.
“No, Mum. I’m done. I’ve taken your criticism for years and I did it because I love you. But I’m not going to have you do the same thing to her. I won’t let you or anyone run her away.”
Eloise steps forward, tears running down her cheeks. “Can’t you see what she’s doing? She’s trying to put a wedge between you and your family.”
He doesn’t even spare her a glance. “This has nothing to do with you.”
“Eloise is right. This is because of her. She’s gaslighting you. She’s pushing away those who have your best interests, who love you.”
“Do you have my best interests?”
Grace has the audacity to look taken aback, like moments ago she didn’t show signs of remorse. If I hadn’t witnessed it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. “Of course, I do.”
He snorts. “No, you really don’t. Otherwise she wouldn’t be here.”
Wesley steps forward. “Maybe we should all calm down and take a minute.”
“No, Dad, let him speak,” Natalie drawls.
Eloise wipes her tears away. “This is my fault. If I hadn’t told you about the baby…” She gulps, glancing away like it’s too hard to face him. This girl doesn’t realise I have grown up a Carter and can spot a bull-shitter a mile away. When she continues, her voice is raspy, filled with a fake emotion so good, the others move a little toward her, all except Alison. “If I hadn’t told your family about the baby, this rift wouldn’t be here.”
“Honey, no, it’s not your fault,” Grace coos, stepping closer to comfort her.
My spine straightens at the sign of affection she willingly displays for this woman and yet her son, pours his heart out, and she stands there, frozen, like an ice queen upon her throne. She has no right. None at all. “You are a very mean lady.”