Chapter 73 The Things I Never Said
POV Scarlett:
“Not yet.” I open my eyes, facing four furious people and one whose feeling I can’t quite define. “I need to talk to you.” Maya thrashes in Logan’s arms as he holds her tight. She wants to kill me, probably, and who am I to blame her? She only knows the Hawthornes’ side, and if I were in her place, I would’ve punched me too.
“Let me go, Logan, let me go right now, fuck.” Logan held her even tighter. “You caveman, I hate you.”
“You don’t hate shit.” Logan said, making her huff.
Looking at Maya’s fury, I realized something… It’s not the Hawthornes I need to talk to. It’s not them I need to tell what happened to me. To be honest with myself, I don’t owe an explanation to anyone except Asher, but I can’t make Maya any more nervous. I can’t put Asher in a position that forces him to choose. I’ve been through that, and it’s fucking awful.
“Maya.” I called her. “Can you talk to me?” Her brow furrowed, and then her face turned even redder.
“What’s your deal? What are you doing here? Not satisfied with everything you already did and came back to do worse? If that’s it, I won’t allow it.” I broke into a smile.
“You must drive Logan and Cole crazy.” I looked at the two of them, and their expressions hardened even more. “Maya, do you know Burt?” My question made her flash a small, complicit smile.
Of course she knows.
“Scarlett!” Cole said my name with a pure rage only he can show.
“Bitch!” Logan swore.
“Who’s Burt?” Damian’s voice was low, but furious.
Oh, possessive man.
“I do.” Maya answered, smiling. “A perfect gentleman. Once he helped me when my car mysteriously broke down in the middle of nowhere.” Her smile widens, and for some very insane reason, I like her. Actually, I’m tempted to want to be her friend.
“Maya, don’t start, fuck,” Cole warned, grimacing.
“Can we talk?” I tried again, and this time I got a nod from Maya.
“Of course we can.”
...
Maya sits on the couch and I stay in front of her. I glance back and the nine strange men are standing with their arms crossed, watching us like hawks. Do more possessive men than these exist? I look back at Maya, who’s snapping a photo of them, and I hold back the urge to laugh. Maya seems… very sharp. I’d give anything to know how she got into the lives of these men who take everything so calmly. I’m pretty sure it must have been priceless.
“Logan and Cole have serious Neanderthal problems, and I even asked my mother-in-law if she ever had their heads examined, because something really crazy happens in those sick brains.” She smiles, but then her expression closes off. “What do you want to talk about?”
“I’m guessing you don’t like me,” I begin. “But I want to explain my reasons, and maybe you’ll understand me.”
“First, I hate you, and second, why do you want to explain yourself to me?” Her question makes sense, but there are two reasons.
“Logan and Cole wouldn’t listen to me, and they wouldn’t let Asher listen to me, and I don’t want to disrespect you.” Maya nodded once. “Before I start explaining, I need to say this: I loved each one of them so much. I loved them equally. There was no difference in my love…”
“Really? That’s not what I heard.”
“I lied, Maya. I lied about everything.” She parted her lips, caught off guard by my confession. “My father… he caught us together, and after he beat me like I was the worst person in the world, he forced me to choose.”
“Choose—choose what?”
For a few seconds I closed my eyes. Remembering that damned day isn’t easy. It brings so much pain, so much guilt.
“Choose between the Hawthornes or my mother with cancer.” My eyes filled as I remembered the sensation—the pain of my choice. “Choose between the men I loved, or my mother, who was the person I loved most in my life.”
“You chose your mother,” she deduced.
“I did, and I’d choose her a thousand times again.” I confessed without a shadow of doubt. “Now do you want to hear my story?” Maya cleared her throat, touched her belly, and leaned back on the couch, looking at me.
“I do.”
With tears rolling down my face, I told Maya my story—and she listened.
(...)
POV Noah:
They’re not all that! I look again at the four men in front of me, and honestly I don’t know what Scarlett ever saw in them. Thinking that my woman once slept with them makes my blood boil. The only reason I’m putting up with being here is because of her—only for Scarlett would I endure all this shit.
“So you’re her husbands?” the idiot I found out is named Logan asks, and I don’t like the tone in his voice.
“Not yet.” I answer honestly. “But we intend to be.”
“Hm.” He laughs and looks at the brother beside him. “Do you believe Scarlett will marry them?”
“No way.”
“Why so much hate for her? Do you really know her? Because to me it looks like you don’t.” Ethan said, and I agree with my brother. These guys don’t know Scarlett.
“Manipulative? Check. Heartless, miserable bitch? Check.” Logan says, making three of his brothers laugh. Asher is the only one who stays silent. “Am I forgetting one? I know I am.”
“No, you don’t know her.” This time it was us who laughed. “Should I thank you? Fuck, I think I should.” I say, irritated that they’re disrespecting her like that. “Thanks. Because of you, we have the best woman by our side, the best mother our daughter could have…”
“Scarlett has a daughter?” Asher cut me off.
“For you, Scarlett, and yes, we do.” Damian answered, not happy at all about the nickname Asher keeps using for our woman.
Silence stretched between us again. There isn’t much we can talk about without wanting to smash each other’s faces in. The staring contest continues. I don’t know how long Scarlett has been talking to Maya. I just want it to end already so we can get the hell out of here.
“Why is she in a wheelchair?” Asher’s question makes Damian close his eyes.
“She was in a car accident,” I answered. “She was in a coma for more than a year.”
“Fuck—and what about her parents?” Damian laughed beside me at the question.
“You don’t know, do you?” My brother asked, bitter. “Her mother died, and her bastard father said she’s to blame.”
“To blame? Why would Scarlett be to blame?” Cole asked, but Damian didn’t have time to answer. Scarlett appeared with Maya at her side, both with red eyes. They’d been crying.
“We’re done. We can go.” Scarlett says, and we all stand up at the same time. “Thank you, Maya, for listening to me. I wish happiness to all of you, and I hope this baby comes with lots of health.”