Considering I’d become infatuated with her after seeing her in another bridesmaid dress at another wedding, I couldn’t even imagine how I’d feel now that we were together.
I whistled, feeling so fucking content I almost sickened myself. Things were going great. Renovations at the Gloaming were nearing completion. Money was flowing again from the restaurant and bar at night. My Caelmore house was in the second-fix stages, and Ery and I had gone public.
The only shadow on the edges was that Lachlan’s team couldn’t trace the origin of the email, which meant whoever sent them really knew what they were doing. Still, I hadn’t received any more, and there was no certainty that it still wasn’t a prank. Lachlan had passed it along to an ethical hacker friend, and we were waiting to see if she’d have better luck.
Despite that hanging over me, things were good. They were great. Better than.
Dealing with the condom, I searched the bathroom for towels for our shower and found none.
While Ery was quite happy for me to roam around her main living space, she was a little cagey about her bedroom for some reason. But we’d been sleeping together for six weeks and dating for two, so I didn’t suppose she’d mind if I looked in her linen closet for a couple of towels.
She had a double closet for her clothes, and a single closet beside it. I looked in there and sure enough, folded linens sat on the upper shelves. Pulling out a couple of towels, the bottom of the closet caught my attention. It was stacked with boxes and what appeared to be an old trunk. The trunk wasn’t latched correctly and sitting on top were a pair of worn ballet shoes, wrapped tightly together by their pink ribbons.
Curiosity overtook my common sense, and I picked them up, pulling them out of the closet to see them in the light.
“What are you doing?” Ery’s shrill demand filled the room.
She stood in the bedroom’s doorway, holding two full coffee mugs, her features strained and wan, her eyes round with what I could only interpret as fear.
Confused, I waved the shoes at her. “What are these?”
Suddenly, she dumped the mugs on her vanity, coffee spilling out of them, and then she practically launched herself across the room to rip the shoes from my hands. “What the hell are you doing?”
Shocked because I’d never heard her raise her voice like that, I held up my hands, trying to appease her. She was shaking. Fuck. “Ery, I’m sorry. I was just looking for towels.” I pointed to the towels at my feet.
“You had no right!”
“Ery—”
“Get out.” She grabbed my jeans off her vanity stool and threw them at me.
Stunned, I fumbled to catch them. “Eredine!”
“I thought I could trust you, but as soon as my back is turned, you snoop!” She threw my T-shirt next. “Get out!”
“Ery—”
“Get out!” she shrieked, stumbling into the corner like a frightened animal.
Horrified, beyond confused, I hurried into my clothes. “I don’t … What’s going on here?”
“I knew this would happen,” Eredine whispered, not looking at me, her knuckles pale from holding the dance shoes so tightly.
“What would happen?” I snapped impatiently. “I have no fucking idea what just happened.”
Finally, she looked at me, expression stark. “I can’t do this with you.”
Fear sliced through me. “Can’t do this?”
She shook her head. “I can’t do this. We’re … over.”
Anger cut through my fear. “Because I opened a fucking closet door?”
She flinched. “It wasn’t your door to open.” Then something occurred to her, something that made her look nauseated. “What else did you see?”
What the hell was going on here? “Nothing. Just a trunk. But I didn’t open it, and unless you’ve got body parts in it, I don’t see what the big damn deal is.”
She didn’t laugh at my joke.
Instead, tears filled her eyes. “Just go, Arran.”
“Not without a reason. You can’t end this without a reason.”
“Yes, I can.” Her tears slipped free. “It’s called free will.”
Panicking now, I tried to step toward her, but she looked so afraid of me, I stopped. And did that not hurt worse than anything? “You don’t trust me.”
Ery didn’t say a word.
“Jesus Christ!” I bit out, grabbing my shirt and yanking it on. “Aye, I guess if you don’t trust me, this was never going to work, was it?” Stuffing my feet into my shoes, I rounded the bed to grab my phone off the charger. “Keep your secrets, woman,” I spat angrily as I stormed across her bedroom toward the door. “I hope they’re worth a lifetime of loneliness.” Slamming the bedroom door behind me, I marched out of her house and got into my car.
My hands shook as I pulled on my seat belt.
Feeling sick, I sucked in a breath and sped out of there, wondering how it was possible to go from utter bliss to the worst bloody nightmare within minutes.