Burn My Hart (The Notorious Harts 2)

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I grip a tumbler in my palm, staring at the wall behind the bar. I see Asha as she was on that last day, standing in the pouring rain, so beautiful, so fucking heartbroken, and all because of me. ‘Yeah. It’s over.’

‘Do you...?’ Her voice trails off into nothing.

I spin around to face her, sloshing some Scotch in my glass. ‘Do I what?’

‘Would you like me to talk to her?’

‘No.’ I laugh, a dismissive sound. ‘You think if you call her up out of the blue and ask her about me she won’t hang up on you?’

Grace narrows her eyes and her voice is the closest to haughty I’ve ever heard it. Gone is the light banter she usually reserves for me. ‘It’s not out of the blue, and I had no plans to call her up and ask about you. I’m having lunch with her tomorrow. I thought you might come up in conversation is all.’

Every cell in my body begins to screech. ‘You’re what?’

‘Catching up with her tomorrow.’ Grace speaks more slowly, as though I’ve developed a hearing problem.

‘What?’

‘They’re friends.’ Jagger’s grin is broad, like he’s enjoying this way too much. I shoot him a look of impatience.

‘Since when?’

‘Pretty much since we met,’ Grace interjects.

‘Convenient, right?’ Jagger bounces back, twisting the knife in.

‘Why?’

Grace lifts a brow, looking beautiful and somehow more vibrant than normal, which is saying something. ‘Erm...because she’s really lovely?’

My gut strangles.

‘Is that a problem for you?’ Grace asks gently, a frown crossing her face.

Jagger’s grin drops and now his face holds a warning.

‘Nah,’ I lie. ‘Suit yourself.’ I throw the Scotch back.

‘Anyway...’ Grace’s voice shows she’s a little uncomfortable. ‘We actually stopped here on our way back to Sydney because we wanted to talk to you both.’

My ears prick up. ‘It sounds serious.’ Holden’s body is similarly poised. We’ve had enough bad news for a lifetime, enough unpleasant discoveries.

‘It is.’ Jagger puts an arm around Grace.

‘What’s going on?’

Then Grace’s smile spreads across her face and she presses a hand to her stomach at the same time Jagger says something loud and excitable that sounds a lot like, ‘Grace is pregnant’.

‘You’re for real?’

Grace nods. ‘I’m three months along. We knew at the wedding but wanted to wait...’ Her eyes fill with tears. ‘We’ve just been so blessed... It felt a lot like tempting fate to tell you guys any sooner...’

Holden’s the first to react. He stands and wraps Jagger in a massive bear hug, then folds Grace in. Her eyes meet mine over Holden’s shoulder and it spurs me to act. I cross the room and pull her away, hugging her, then shaking Jagger’s hand.

‘This is great news.’ And I mean it. I see how happy they are and for the first time in two months I remember the noble sacrifice I’ve made—Asha wants exactly what Grace and Jagger have. She deserves that. She deserves this. But I’m not the guy to give it to her.

Much later, on the terrace, when it’s just Jagger and me, I turn to him, a tightness on my face. ‘Listen.’ I force a smile to my lips. ‘I’m happy for you, man. I really am.’