Page 104 of Truck Me
Charlotte blinks a few times like she can’t believe what she’s seeing. Her eyes dart from mine to his. Her smile is gone and replaced with anxiety. My happiness to see her is gone. She’s letting him touch her and that pisses me off.
“This is Brad?” I point my thumb in his direction. My anger is evident in my tone. “The guy you were seeing for years?”
“Um, yeah.” She shifts nervously on her feet. She keeps looking between us as if she doesn’t know which one of us she should be focusing on.
“Char, honey.” With one hand still on her shoulder, Brad reaches out for Charlotte’s hand. She lets him take it. The primal beast inside me roars in protest.
Mine. Mine. Mine. Plays on repeat in my mind.
“Don’t call me that anymore,” Charlotte says, but she doesn’t pull away. I can’t stop staring at their joined hands. Why the fuck is she letting him touch her? It’s killing me to stand here and watch but I’m trying really hard not to make a scene.
“Please don’t be like that.” He pleads. “We need to talk. Can we go somewhere private?”
Charlotte is shaking her head before he finishes speaking. “Whatever you need to say to me, you can say right here.”
He glances around. Every eye in the gym is on us. “Okay, if you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
I’m still staring at their joined hands, and for the life of me, I don’t understand why she hasn’t pulled away from him. This is the asshole that cheated on her. He has some nerve touching her again after that.
“Charlotte,” his voice drops another octave into a deep, seductive tone. “I made a huge mistake. I’ve realized these past few months that I love you so much more than I ever thought possible. I miss you so very much. I want you back in my life. Permanently. Forever.”
Charlotte’s eyes widen as he drops to one knee and holds a small box out for her. Inside is a very large diamond ring.
She gasps. “Brad. You can’t be serious.”
“I’m very serious.” A sly smile spreads across his face and it makes me want to punch him. “I was a fool to let you go. I’m ready to spend the rest of my life making it up to you. All you have to say is yes.”
Brad takes her hand and holds out her ring finger. “Oh my God. This isn’t happening.”
Tears well up in her eyes, and Brad’s smile grows. “I love you so much, honey.” He slowly slips the ring onto her finger. She doesn’t say no or do anything to stop him. And my heart breaks into a million pieces. “I’ll never do anything to hurt you again.”
Tears stream down her cheeks as she stares at the ring he just put on her finger. The ring she isn’t objecting to.
“You can’t marry him,” I blurt out. All my anger and fury boil up to the surface.
The room falls silent and all I can hear is the pounding of what’s left of my shattered heart and my heavy breathing.
I stalk toward her. “You are not marrying that man.”
Fear covers Charlotte’s face. “Garret, not here.”
“Yes, here.” I bark out in anger. “He cheated on you, and you still let him put a ring on your finger. Have you lost your mind?”
“Garret, I didn’t …” Her gaze shifts to her hand—the hand that Brad is still holding—and stares at the ring. She shakes her head before she looks at me again. “I … It’s—”
Brad pushes to his feet and steps between us, cutting Charlotte off.
“Garret, is it?” He drops his voice in a low threatening tone. I puff my chest out, ready to fight for what’s mine. “I don’t know why you’re making a scene, but this is between Char and me.”
“To hell with you.” I grab him by his fancy suit jacket and shove him back until his body knocks into the table. Cookies go flying in all directions. “You’re not marrying her.”
He clutches his hands around my wrist and tries to loosen my hold but fails. Hands grab me from behind, and before I can wrap my head around what’s happening, Ash and Chase pull me off him and shove me back.
Brad quickly recovers, straightens his jacket and looks at me like I’m so far beneath him I’m not even worth the words he’s about to speak. “Why the hell not?”
“If she’s going to marry anyone, it’s going to be me!” I yell.