It Started with a Crack by Piper James

Chapter Thirty-One

Dakota

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

I swiped angrily at the tears in my eyes as I banged on Ember’s door with the side of my fist. I didn’t even know if she was home. I hadn’t called or texted first. My phone was turned off, and I had no intention of turning it back on in the foreseeable future. I couldn’t.

Not after what I saw, followed shortly after by the text I got from Noah.

He was working out.

The realtor surprised him.

We need to talk.

“Fuck,” I sobbed aloud just as Ember’s door swung open.

She took one look at me and growled. Her hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist, jerking me inside before leading me to her couch. Without a word, she went to her small kitchenette, grabbed a bottle of water from her pantry, a pack of tissues from a drawer, and two wine coolers from her fridge.

“What are we, fifteen?” I asked, a bark of laughter escaping through my tears as she handed me the strawberry flavored wine cooler.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,” she said, plopping down beside me. “Besides, I like wine coolers. They take the edge off without making you sloppy, and they taste good.”

“If you say so,” I said, taking a sip of the fruity drink before plucking a tissue from the plastic wrapper.

“What happened, and who do I need to stab with a rusty fork?”

I didn’t want to tell her the truth. It was humiliating. But when I opened my mouth, the whole story came spilling out, anyway.

“I got a call from Chantelle Newsome. She was on her way out to the ranch for a showing,” I said, my breath hitching as I tried to keep the sobs at bay.

“Is that that plastic-looking bitch on all the billboards in Oakley?” Ember asked, and I nodded.

“I tried to call Noah to warn him,” I said, my voice cracking on his name, “but it went to voicemail. I texted him, too, but when he didn’t respond, I left the office to go home and make sure the house was prepped.”

Ember’s frown deepened. “This better not be going where I think it’s going.”

“When I got there, the front door was wide open. I saw them, Ember.”

“Saw them what, exactly?”

I tried to catch my breath, but the tears were choking me, and I ended up gasping several times before finally filling my lungs. Ember waited patiently as I blew my nose and took another long drink of the wine cooler.

“Chantelle was touching him. He had his shirt off, and she was running her hand over his bare skin.”

“Okay,” Ember said. “Maybe there’s an explanation. She’s a cutthroat realtor, right? She’s probably aggressive in all things, and came onto him. What did he do?”

“I didn’t stick around to find out,” I said, my eyes filling with fresh tears.

“What?” Ember gasped. “Why not? Why didn’t you go yank that bitch off your man?”

“Her lipstick was smeared across his mouth,” I muttered, feeling my heart crack all over again as I said the words out loud.

“I’m going to fucking murder him,” Ember growled. “Forget the fork. He’s not good enough for the fork. I’m going to murder his ass with a toothpick, making his death long and painful.”

“They’d obviously been kissing,” I went on, as if that weren’t apparent. “We agreed to be exclusive, Ember. I was starting to have…feelings for him. And he threw it all away on a whim. For Chantelle fucking Newsome.”

“Did he see you? Does he know you know?”

I was shaking my head before she finished speaking. “He didn’t see me. He was too…preoccupied. I slipped away, and got a text from him a little later.”

“What did it say?” she asked, her eyes narrowed as she prepared for battle.

“Some bullshit that he missed my text because he was working out. That the realtor surprised him, and that now we need to talk.”

“Mother fucker,” Ember gritted out between clenched teeth.

When she grabbed her phone and started tapping at the screen, my heart double-pumped with instant fear. “What are you doing?”

“I need backup,” she said, tapping the screen again before setting it down with a satisfied sigh. “There. Sage and Belle should be on their way, soon.”

“What?” I asked, panicking. “No, Ember. Tell them never mind.”

“Why would I do that?” she asked, arching a blonde brow at me.

“Because of Ryder and Chase,” I said, giving her an incredulous look. “It’s a conflict of interests, and it’s going to put them in a terrible position.”

“Don’t be stupid, Dakota. Jesus, when did you stop being the voice of reason in the group?” When my head reared back with shock, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Belle and Sage are our best friends. They don’t have to take sides, but they can still be here for you. Shit. They’d fucking stab me with a rusty fork if I didn’t tell them what was happening and call their asses over here.”

I gave her a single nod, and she returned it with a determined expression. Her phone chimed, and she tapped at the screen a few times before setting it aside.

“Okay, Sage is having a day out with Daniel, but Belle is on her way. Where’s your phone?”

I pulled it from my pocket and waved it in the air. “I turned it off. I didn’t want to deal with…anything.”

“Don’t you use that for work? What if a client tries to reach you?”

I knew she was right. But I was afraid. Afraid Noah would get tired of waiting for me to come home, and just call or text me and break things off. Or even worse, pretend like the thing with Chantelle wasn’t happening and try to continue things with me while fucking her on the side.

And why wouldn’t he? She was gorgeous, successful, and, if I was being honest, better suited for him. She would come into a relationship with him on equal footing, not broke and homeless like me.

Chantelle Newsome would never need Noah to pay for her car repairs, her utility bills, or groceries. She had her own wealth—if gossip was to be believed, and she got the windfall people said she did after her divorce.

And with her blonde hair and big boobs, she was just Noah’s type.

The women I’d seen him propositioning at the bar were the same—blonde, beautiful, and the complete opposite of me. I’d let myself forget for a while, but deep down inside, I knew the truth. I wasn’t enough for him. I was a distraction. A way to pass the time until something better came along.

Hell, I’d only slipped into the bathroom for two minutes that night before he found something he thought might be better—a threesome with two gorgeous strangers. And I wouldn’t be forgetting that again.

I turned on my phone, and as soon as it powered up, it began to chime notifications. Taking a deep breath, I tapped on the icon for my messaging app. Noah had texted me several times, each one more frantic than the last.

Noah: Please, Dakota. Just tell me you‘re okay and not lying dead in a ditch somewhere.

I steeled my heart against his apparent worry, knowing it was an act, and typed out a message.

Me: I’m fine. We’ll talk soon. Have fun.

As soon as I sent the text, I regretted adding that last bit. It was facetious and petty, and it would definitely clue him in that I was angry, and I knew what he was up to with Chantelle.

My phone started to ring almost immediately, and I tapped the icon to ignore and send him to voicemail. I wasn’t ready to talk, yet.

I didn’t know if I ever would be.

* * *

“And you’recertain they slept together?”

I looked into Belle’s blue eyes, pain shooting through my chest at the hope I saw there. She wanted this to be a mistake. A misunderstanding. I understood. She didn’t want her brother-in-law to be the man I was painting him to be.

“No, I’m not certain,” I admitted. “But I saw her touching him. I saw him letting it happen. And her lipstick was all over his mouth. And she couldn’t have been there more than a few minutes. When I talked to her, she was ten minutes away, and I showed up fifteen minutes later.”

“He didn’t waste any time,” Ember grumbled.

“That son of a bitch,” Belle muttered, gritting her teeth together. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Get in line,” Ember said, twisting off the top of her second wine cooler. “I called dibs.”

She pulled out the toothpick she’d stuck in the corner of her mouth earlier and made little stabbing motions with it. It was so ridiculous, a laugh barked out of me, shocking everyone. Especially me.

Ember smiled, shot me a wink, and stuck the toothpick back in her mouth. Belle shook her head, still looking pissed. I could see the determination in her expression as she planned her next move, and honestly, it made me scared for Noah. Not that the asshole deserved my concern.

But Belle did, and I couldn’t have this situation causing issues between her and Ryder. That was why I didn’t want Ember to call her and Sage to begin with.

“Listen, Belle,” I said, and she turned her gaze my way. “I’m going to be okay. Ember said I could stay on her couch for a while. I’ll take some time to regroup, come up with a new plan, and move on.”

“I have a bedroom you can use if you get tired of sleeping on this couch,” she offered, her face softening.

“I appreciate that,” I said, shaking my head, “but I hope you realize why I can’t. I don’t want you or Ryder to have to take sides. Noah is your family.”

“You’re my family, too,” she said quietly. “With my brothers living so far away and my dad blackballed from my life, you, Sage and Ember are the family I chose. Don’t ever forget that, Dakota.”

“I love you, too,” I said, my eyes welling with moisture again.

I didn’t mind the tears, though. They proved I wasn’t completely dead inside. I would heal.

Eventually.