Hyde's Absolution (Sydney Storm MC 4)

I pulled out my phone and sent Tatum a text.

Me: Did you know Hyde is still married? She’s fucking insane BTW.

Tatum: No. Where are you?

Me: At the hospital with them. His daughter is sick.

Tatum: She okay?

Me: She’s got a vomiting bug and has broken her arm I think. They’re doing X-rays now.

Tatum: I’ve never heard about Hyde’s wife. You okay?

Me: IDK. I don’t like being lied to. You know that. Honesty is at the top of my list.

Tatum: Hear him out, Roe. I think he’s a good guy.

Me: Yeah, we’ll see.

Tatum: Sorry, babe, gotta go. Billy’s in a mood today.

Me: Love you xx

I didn’t have to wait long for Hyde to return. He stalked down the hallway towards me, alone, with a furious look on his face. It softened a little as he came closer, but not much. Tenille had worked her way under his skin.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

“Did you figure it out with her?”

“No. She won’t tell me what she was doing, and now she’s fucked off downstairs.”

“Does it really matter what she was doing? I mean, nothing could have been more important than staying with Charlie, so whatever it was doesn’t make any difference, right?”

He scrubbed his hand over his face, and for the first time that day, I noticed how exhausted he looked. Or maybe not exhausted, but agitated. Something. He was off, whatever it was.

“You’re right. At the end of the day, it doesn’t fucking matter. I just can’t believe she did that.”

I bit my lip as I contemplated the best way to ask my next question. But there was only one way to ask it, so I just blurted it out. “Are you still married?”

He held my gaze and nodded. “Yeah.”

My heart splintered in my chest, and I realised just how invested I had become in this relationship. But putting up with dishonesty wasn’t something I was willing to do. I’d been burnt by lies before and I wasn’t willing to go down that path again.

The busy hospital blurred as I focused solely on Hyde. People swarmed around us in the waiting room, but I saw none of them. All I saw was Hyde staring down at me, with what looked like regret.

Taking a step away from him, I said, “Okay, I’m out. I’m done.” The words hurt to say, and I felt shaky on my legs. I just needed to get out of there, to my car, where I could sit and process all of this. And cry. Because, fuck, he’d broken my damn heart with his lie.

He took hold of my arm and stopped my retreat. “It’s not what you think.”

I snorted and tried to wrestle my arm free of his hold. “Yeah, that’s what they all say.”

His jaw clenched. “Stop fighting me, Roe, and hear me out.” The tone he took with me made it sound like I was in the wrong, not him.

Using force, I yanked my arm free. “Don’t you do that! Don’t you make out that I’m the bad guy here when you’re the one who hasn’t been honest!” This situation had worked me up, annoying the fuck out of me. I hated sounding like a fucking harpy.

“Fuck, that’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to get you to listen to what I have to say.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Fine, say it.”