Her Reluctant Husband by Erica Marselas (summer beach reads txt) 📗

“Whatever you do, don’t follow me, Alex. Not till she tells you all about it.” She spins on her heel, not looking back at me before she rushes down the hall.

“She's moody isn't she?” Whitney whispers, watching June storm off.

“Shut up, Whitney,” I growl. “Is what she said true? Did your uncle pay her off and you fucking knew?”

Whitney crosses her arms and looks away from me.

“Answer me.”

“Listen, all I know is Uncle Jerry paid June to get out of town and she was to never ever come back. I did hear them fighting one night when I was over at their house. They were yelling. My uncle was super mad and I heard June’s name tossed around, along with yours. I figured it was about the accident. Deacon was going on about June being some liar.” Whitney chews on her lip as her brow furrows.

“What?”

She shakes off her confused look. “They caught me watching and my uncle told me they were trying to protect her from manslaughter charges, but she was trying to frame Deacon for something. I didn’t think it was…” Her eyes go wide, and she frowns deeply. “I didn’t think it could’ve been rape. I always thought he loved June and she was turning on him. If I had thought—”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me about this when I asked you about Deacon?”

“I wasn’t allowed to talk about it.” She shouts. “They made me swear I wouldn’t say a word. Deacon threatened me if I ever did. He said he would hurt me because it had to stay a secret. He seemed scared. But in true Deacon style, he gave me hope and told me you would now be available because June wouldn’t be in the way.” Tears start to well in her eyes, and I snarl, not in the mood for her dramatics.

“Oh, don’t start with the waterworks.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think…” Whitney’s head falls, and I can sense her guilt.

“Why do I think you believe her now?”

“I’m not June’s number one fan.”

“No shit.”

“But when she came into the office on Monday, she was asking me to have Deacon leave her alone.”

“What do you mean leave her alone?”

“She thinks he’s here. And she looked scared, like she did now.”

“I don’t fucking believe this. Is he here?”

“I don’t know. I don’t talk to him, Alex. I haven’t talked to him in five years after he threatened me and up and left. You would know better.”

I step back and pinch my nose. “This is—”

“Alex, I’m sorry—”

“No. I don’t want to fucking hear it from you. You goaded me. You sat there today, trying to make me think she was some tramp. All because you wanted me back? Or was there some bigger plan?”

“I—of course, I wanted you. I was mad she came right back to town and was able to steal you away, but no, there’s no bigger plan.”

“It doesn’t matter. It’s my fault for letting you get in my fucking head. For Deacon doing it all those years ago. Now it’s time to get rid of all the toxic gas that’ll just bring us problems. I should’ve done it after we got married.”

“What are you saying?”

“On Monday I need you to see HR.”

“Excuse me?” she shrieks.

“I might not be able to fire you, but I can have you reassigned. We can no longer work together. Plus, with my promotion, I’ll need someone more qualified, and August’s old PA, Cassandra, isn’t leaving, so…”

“Come on, Alex, you can’t do this.”

“I can, and I did.”

“Oh my god. This isn’t fair. I didn’t do anything."

“Are you really sure about that Whitney?”

13ALEX

I blindly leave the picnic, not giving a shit about my promotion. I don’t care about anything except June. Her phone is off as I race down the highway and I have no idea how she left the club. It’s driving me mad, and I only hope she’s safe. I pull her wedding band out of my pocket and a thousand knives pierce through my heart. I’ve seen June broken, hurt, sad, happy, every emotion in the book, but this was something I don’t have words for.

I shove the ring halfway on my pinkie finger just to have a piece of her close to me.

Why didn’t Liz just tell me all this in her letter? Why did she take this to her grave?

Would you have believed her?

She tried to tell you before!

I slam my hand on the steering wheel. June tried to tell me that night.

It’s foggy, but I see her bruised face, and the sound of the beeping heart monitor as she tried to tell me about Deacon and how she was drinking only fucking sodas, and I turned her the fuck away. I couldn’t believe her. I didn’t want to.

“Did you see the back of the car?” Her question echoes in the back of my mind.

The twisted metal of the car is seared into my brain. I’m trying to envision the back, but I can’t see it, all I can see is it wrapped around the tree. Back then, seeing that was enough for me to believe that she drove off the road. Then when I got to the hospital, Deacon got to me first, showing me the tox screen and telling me the story of what happened with Bradly. She didn’t have a fair chance.

I pull outside the tiny Kinder Falls Sheriff’s office. I’m not sure what brings me here, other than I need to see the full report of that night. I need to see the pictures, I want to see the back of the car where Deacon hit her, all with a clear head. I need to clear my mind of all the lies and figure out