Page 86 of Shattered Oaths

Noah fucked me and pretended to forget. Justin, my cheating ex-boyfriend and the man who tried to sexually assault me, just outed my oldest secret to everyone I care about. My brother just broke said ex’s nose, and my best friend finished the job by knocking him out cold while Hunter restrains his brother dressed in a fucking tutu.

I’m aware of every eye in the room coming to land on me as I continue laughing, tears streaming down my face. I laugh and I laugh and I laugh, until I can’t catch my breath and my hysterical laughter turns into choked sobs, and the tears rolling down my face fall faster until suddenly, I’m not laughing at all.

“Bella.” Somebody says my name, but it’s muffled by the deafening sound of my heart pounding in my ears. A hand grips my arms, lifting me from the floor before I’m clutched against a warm, solid chest.

“Get the fuck off her.” Another voice demands as I’m carried to the doors of The Dusty Boot.

“Not a fucking chance,” the other voice replies and it’s only when I feel the rumble against my face that I realise who it is that’s carrying me.

“Put me down,” I order, breaking out of the fog I was suffocating under.

Noah’s movements come to a halt, and he sets my feet on the ground in the parking lot. The moment I find my bearings; I push against his chest with all the force I can muster. “Don’t fucking touch me.”

CHAPTER 37

NOAH

Istumble back a step, my hands coming up to clutch my chest where Bella just shoved me.

“Bella.” I take a step toward her, stopping when she takes one back, tears spilling down her cheeks unchecked as she looks at me like I’m scum of the earth.

She’s not wrong.

“Don’t!” Her hand comes up in front of her. “Take another fucking step.”

“Just let me explain,” I plead, not moving from the spot I’m in. My brothers, Killian and their respective partners all stand around watching silently, but I ignore them as I stare at the woman in front of me that holds my heart in her hands.

“You lied to me.” Her voice cracks and the sound is like a dagger straight through my chest. “You were the one fucking person I trusted more than anythingand you fucking lied to me.”

“I’m sorry,” I say, my chest aching as I watch her eyes shut down. As if a switch flipped, her entire demeanour becomes cold, distant, as she takes another step away from me.

She laughs, the sound hollow, and shakes her head. “You’re sorry?!” She looks away from me for a heartbeat before training those grey eyes back on me. “Do you know howdisgustingI’ve felt for the past eight years? All this time I’ve felt like I had taken advantage of you. I’ve racked my brainso manytimes, wondering how I could have possibly missed that you were drunk enough to not remember. But all this fucking time you knew.” An empty laugh leaves her. “Youknewand you never said anything.Were you ever going to tell me?”

I open my mouth to answer her, but she cuts me off. “No. You know what? I don’t even care. It doesn’t matter now anyway. The entire fucking town knows that I’m aboring, unmemorable bitch.” She spits those last three words, repeating what Justin had called her in the bar.

I open my mouth again, ready to tell her off for talking about herself that way but I’m once again, cut off.

“That’s enough!” Killian’s hard voice cuts through the air.

“Enough?” Bella repeats sarcastically as she stares at her brother. I don’t take my eyes off her as she nods, her lips pursed. “Yeah. It’s enough.”

I watch as her shoulders slump in defeat and I know in that moment that I’ve lost her. She blinks back to me, holding my gaze for what feels like minutes but is probably only seconds and when she speaks again, all the anger has dissolved from her voice, leaving only sadness behind in her quiet words. “I don’t ever want to see you again.”

And then she turns and walks away from me, and all I can do is stand there and watch as the love of my life climbs into the back of her brother’s truck and drives away, taking my entire fucking world with her.

My vision blurs as I stumble back a step before sinking to my ass on the step outside the bar. I clutch my head in my hands, every part of my body becoming numb as the last ten minutes sink in.

“What the fuck have I done?” I whisper, more to myself than anyone else.

Soft footsteps move in the opposite direction from where I’m sitting while two sets of cowboy boots enter my line of vision, but I don’t look up from the ground.

“Noah,” Hunter says, standing over me. “Come on, let’s go home.”

I shake my head with a scoff, glaring up at my oldest brother. “Home? That’s not my fucking home.”

Not without her.

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