It wasn’t until I pulled into the parking lot that I realized I knew exactly what I was going to do. The flutter of anticipation in my stomach made me smile. Suddenly, I was eager to give this bag to Rafael so I could finally focus on why I was here. It was my own fault that I hadn’t done it before now, but I wasn’t going to waste another minute.
Eight
Bradyn
I told Nyx that I didn’t mind that she wanted to go shopping alone today because I wanted to spend some time in the stables. She’d said that she wanted to get something for me, and I wanted to believe her, but I couldn’t stop seeing her walking into that hotel room.
“Dammit, Nyx.” I kicked a bale of hay instead of punching something like I really wanted to do. Bruised knuckles would be a bad look for the wedding.
If there was going to be a wedding.
I hated the fact that a part of me was wishing she’d just get it over with and tell me she was seeing someone else. And I hated worse that I didn’t want her to tell me because until she did, I could cling to that sliver of hope that I was wrong.
I was so caught up in feeling sorry for myself that I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone until Isaac said my name.
“Lookin’ to go for a ride?” he asked as he leaned on the wall next to me. “Don’t suppose you get to go much in the city.”
“Not really.” I forced myself to keep my voice light. “No time for it.”
“Yeah, Mom told me that you and Nyx have been keepin’ pretty busy.” He gave me a careful look and then added, “She said she’s worried the two of you haven’t been takin’ enough time for you as a couple.”
I glared at him. “Shouldn’t she be worryin’ about your love life instead of mine?”
Isaac’s expression stayed as mild as always. “You think Mom can’t worry about both?”
I almost smiled at that. He was right, but I didn’t really feel like smiling at much of anything right now.
“You can talk to me, you know.” He leaned a shoulder against a stall. “I know we’ve never been close, but I like to think we’re friends enough for me to be a listening ear. Maybe offer some thoughts.”
I’d always been a bit of a loner, though I did have friends. My cousin Perenelle. Maury Nieto, a local cop. But none of them were here. And who knew? Maybe Isaac could give me some insight. Something I was too close to the situation to see.
“All right,” I said as I turned to lean on the wall next to him. I explained everything the same way I had to his parents, and he listened all the way through without interrupting once. Even after I finished, he was quiet for a few seconds before speaking.
“You’re an idiot.”
His tone was so casual that it took me a minute to realize what he’d said. “What?”
“I’m not saying she isn’t hidin’ somethin’.” He shrugged. “I don’t know. But neither do you. That’s the thing. You’re making assumptions based on only part of the facts.”
“That’s pretty much what your parents said, right before they told me to talk to Nyx.”
“But you haven’t talked to her, have you?”
I sighed, and my head fell back, hitting the wall with a hollow-sounding thunk. “As bad as it is not knowin’, it’s gotta be better than findin’ out she’s cheatin’ on me.”
“And that’s the other reason you’re an idiot,” Isaac said. “That woman is so in love with you that she’d never even think of cheatin’ on you. Especially not after everythin’ the two of you went through to be together.”
I felt a flicker of hope. “You think?”
“I do.” His expression turned serious. “And I think if you don’t talk to her, you’re goin’ to lose the best thing that ever happened to you, and you’ll never forgive yourself.”
He was right.
Before, he’d believed in Nyx when I hadn’t, and it’d eaten at me back then, but I hated myself more for not having his faith now. She was my fiancée, the love of my life, the woman I never wanted to live without. But I’d done the same asinine thing I did before. Taken a few bits of information, come to my own conclusion, and then been too chickenshit to actually ask Nyx about it.
“Thank you.” I pushed off the wall and put out my hand. “I think I’m going to have to start doing a new thing whenever I find myself acting like an ass.”
“What’s that?” Isaac asked as he shook my hand.
“Ask myself WWID: ‘What Would Isaac Do?’”
He laughed at that. “So, if I get a call from Nyx saying that you were checkin’ out a hot guy, I can explain that you were just tryin’ to think like me?”
It was my turn to laugh. “As long as I don’t ever think I have any sort of musical talent, I think I’ll be safe.”
“I agree,” he said. “I’ve heard stories about just how bad a singer you are.”
Before the end of our conversation could turn awkward, I said I was heading back to the cabin to talk to Nyx and then left. A glance toward the main house showed the car Nyx had taken a couple hours ago was back. I didn’t know if her not having come to find me was a good or a bad thing, but I wasn’t going to debate it in my head.
The Huxleys were right. All of them. I should’ve talked to Nyx from the start.
Secrets had destroyed my family. Destroyed lives. But it wasn’t all on the person keeping the secrets. The people who wouldn’t ask the necessary questions for fear of the answer were also culpable, in my opinion. It was one thing to be honestly clueless, and entirely something else to ignore signs and warnings and even gut feelings.
When I opened the cabin door, Nyx jumped, then put her hand over her heart.
“You scared me.” She picked something up from the desk.
A box.
A wrapped box.
Shit.
She really had gone to get me a present.
“You almost spoiled the surprise,” she said, her tone teasing.
But I saw something else behind that good humor that caught my attention, that reminded me that there was more to what was going on than just where she’d been today.
She looked guilty.
“We need to talk.”
Her expression fell, and she sank down in the closest chair. Something very much like resignation crossed her face, and her shoulders sank. “Okay.”
I wanted to pace, but that would’ve felt too much like me lecturing her, talking at her rather than with her. Instead, I pulled one of the chairs over so that I could sit across from her.
“I want to know what’s been going on,” I began. “Because I’ve been seeing things, hearing things, and the places my mind has gone…” I let the thought trail off for a moment before shifting to a different but related one. “I’ve been reminded that coming to my own conclusions without all the facts hasn’t worked that well for me in the past. So, I’m asking you to tell me why you really made that phone call. Why you went to meet Rafael Gonzalez at a hotel yesterday morning. Where you really were earlier today.”
She straightened when I mentioned Rafael, shock clear on her face. “How did…” She stopped and shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. What matters is that I fucked up.”