Exposed - Part Three (The Exposed Series, #3)

  Exposed - Part Three

  The Exposed Series, Volume 3

  Deborah Bladon

  Published by Deborah Bladon, 2014.

  Copyright

  First Original Edition, May 2014

  Copyright © 2014 by Deborah Bladon

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and situations either are the product of the author's imagination or are used factiously.

  All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written consent from the author.

  Cover design by Amanda Bystrowski

  Image courtesy of Studio10Artur

  Also by Deborah Bladon

  The Obsessed Series

  Exposed – Part One

  Exposed – Part Two

  Coming Soon

  Still Obsessed

  Pulse

  For you.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Thank You

  PULSE Preview

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  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  "Sadie." Alexa's voice drifts into my ear as if I'm in some sort of transparent bubble. I can barely hear it, but it feels as though it's vibrating through my body. "Sadie, what the hell is going on?"

  I turn to grab hold of her. She'll steady me. She's my anchor. She'll know what to do.

  "Is that Hunter with that redhead?" she's whispering now. "Why is she clinging to him like that? Go over there and tell her to get her hands off of him."

  "She's Christina," I say as if that's going to somehow make Alexa shut up. She has no idea who Christina is. Until five minutes ago she was just Coral's sister. Now, she's Hunter's fiancé. No, wait; she's Zander's fiancé. How could he be marrying someone else? He said I was his destiny.

  "I don't give a fuck who she is. Tell her to back off or I will." She's pulling away from me and I can't let her go. I cling to her arm, clawing at the fabric of her dress, trying desperately to get her to stay here, beside me. I'll fall over if she walks away.

  "Sadie?" There's another voice next to me. It's low and unfamiliar. It's so soft but the fraught emotion within it is unmistakable.

  I turn slowly. My heart already knows who it is. "I'm Sadie," I say in a broken hush.

  She's even more petite than I am. Her hands are trembling. I stare at them. I can't bring myself to look at her face. I know that within it I'm going to see all the pain that has washed over her since that day so many years ago. The day when Coral's heart became mine.

  "Sadie," her voice breaks as she speaks my name again. "I'm..." the words trail.

  I raise my eyes slowly and I realize in that instant that the air is silent. No one is moving. Alexa is next to me, now holding tightly to my hand.

  "You're Coral's mom." I look at her face. It's weathered. The fine lines around her eyes are clear signs of her age but there's more there. I sense the sadness as soon as her gaze catches mine.

  She nods silently and her eyes drop to my chest. I pull my hand up to cover the scar. I suddenly feel as though my heart is on display. In this room, it's not my heart anymore. It's Coral's heart.

  "I'm sorry," I say to her as I squeeze Alexa's hand willing her to understand that I need to leave. I have to get out of this restaurant. I feel as though the walls are closing in on me so rapidly that soon I'll be buried beneath all of the raw emotion that is permeating the air.

  "Sadie, let's go." Alexa takes my cue and guides me softly to the right in the direction of the door.

  I can't move. Coral's mom has pulled me into a tight embrace. I close my eyes as I feel her sobs radiate through me. How can I walk away? How can I leave this woman standing here alone? I can't control my own emotions anymore. I feel a tear stream down my cheek.

  "This isn't the place or the time." A man's voice, deep and comforting breaks through the heavy cloak of stunned silence that is drifting through the room.

  My eyes pop open and his blue eyes lock with mine. He's older than me, his brown hair a soft mess of curls around his handsome face.

  "Mother, let her go." He gently grasps the arms of Coral's mom and pries them from my shoulders.

  "This is her, Clive," she whispers through her tears. "She's here for us."

  "She's overwhelmed, Mother." He pulls his mother's head into his chest, cradling it as she cries. "I don't think she was expecting all of this." The way he raises his eyebrow as he looks at me suggests he's asking me a question.

  I shake my head slowly from side-to-side. How could I have ever expected any of this? How did I even end up here? I'm in the middle of a room filled with people who loved Coral. Everything was so perfect just an hour ago when we were standing outside the front door of the restaurant.

  "Mother, Zander brought her here for me," Christina's voice is next to me again and I instinctively melt into Alexa.

  "Christina, stop." Hunter is so close now too. I can't look at him. "I didn't. It's not like that."

  "We have to go," Alexa's voice cracks. Her arm is cradling my waist, pulling me towards the entrance of the restaurant. I glance up and look at the door. That's my salvation. I have to get through it. I have to walk out of here.

  "I'll see you out," Hunter says as I feel his hand sweep across my elbow. I yank it away violently as a rush of emotions course through me.

  "No." Clive tenderly pushes his mother towards Christina. "I'm seeing her out." His tone is authoritative and calm.

  I don't look at anyone but Alexa. I can see the utter confusion in her face. She can't comprehend what's happening. How could she when I can't? I want to go. I want to go to the train station and go back to Boston.

  "Sadie." Hunter is behind me. The mere sound of his voice is making me nauseous. How could he make love to me and be engaged to her? How could he have lied to me? How could he be marrying Coral's sister? We talked about Coral so much and he never said anything.

  "Leave her alone," Alexa seethes.

  I hear sobs. They have to be coming from Coral's mother. I've imagined meeting her for more than a decade but not like this. Never like this.

  I turn around abruptly to face her. I sense Hunter to my left and Christina to my right. My eyes are locked on Coral's mom. "Ma'am," I mutter. "I have to go but..." But, what? How can I tell her that I'm thankful that her daughter lost her life so mine could be saved?

  "I'll give you her phone number, Sadie." Clive's voice calls from behind me. "You can call when you feel it's time."

  I nod as I reach to embrace Coral's mom. "I will call," I whisper into her ear. "I will call."

  Chapter 2

  "I can't believe he's marrying someone else." Alexa runs her hand over my forehead as we lay together on one of the beds in our hotel room. "How did you know her name?"

  I briefly glance up at her face. She's still wearing all the makeup she had on when we left our room hours ago. "Hunter told me about her." I wince as I say his name. Ever since Christina scolded me for calling him that I've been struggling to view
him as Zander. That's who he is though. He's Zander to all of them.

  "He told you he was marrying that bitch?" She bolts to her knees. "Why didn't you tell me he was getting married?"

  "No." I roll over so I don't have to face her expression once I explain about Christina. "She's Coral's sister. He's marrying her sister. I had no idea."

  She reaches for my arm in an effort to pull me back over. "Sadie. You're telling me that he's marrying the sister of the dead girl he used to date?"

  I pull in a heavy breath. I know she needs answers but I'm so tired and spent. Talking about this is only adding salt to the open and gaping wound that is my heart. "I don't know." I bite my lip to hold in a sob. "I don't know what's going on."

  "I'm sorry." I feel the bed shift as she lies back down and pulls her arm over me. "Let's not talk about him anymore."

  I nod at the welcome break in the conversation. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that Hunter is marrying someone else, let alone Coral's sister. "Thanks," I mutter as I close my eyes in the hope that sleep will envelop me quickly and chase away the night's events even if it's just for a few hours.

  "Let's talk about Clive." She pulls in a breathy sigh. "He didn't have to ride all the way back here in the taxi with us but he did."

  My eyes jar open. Is she seriously talking about him right now? "Alexa, I'm really tired."

  "He's hot." She giggles into my back. "Do you think he was interested in me?"

  I'm more than mildly annoyed that she's actually talking about how hot she thinks Coral's older brother is right when I'm trying desperately to forget the last few hours ever happened.

  "He put his number in my phone in the taxi." I motion to the desk where I dropped my phone when we got back to the room less than an hour ago. "Call him and ask him yourself."

  I turn over to watch her spring from the bed and scoop up my phone. Her expression instantly shifts as she slides her thumb across the screen. "There are fourteen missed calls."

  "From Hunter?" I ask, not because I don't already know the answer but because I want to stall this conversation while I absorb the idea of talking to him again. I set my phone to silent in the taxi after we left the restaurant when he called the first time.

  "Twelve from him." Her eyes don't leave the phone. "Two from your dad."

  As much as I know I should call my dad to see what he wants, I can't do it. He'll hear the pain in my voice and as soon as I say Hunter's name everything else will pour out. I'm ashamed that I slept with someone who is engaged to another woman. My parents would be distraught if they ever found out.

  "I'll call my dad in the morning." I turn back over to close my eyes. "I have to sleep. I can't think anymore."

  ***

  "Clive is waiting downstairs in the lobby for you," Alexa says as I emerge from the washroom, my hair still wrapped in a towel. I must have spent the past forty-five minutes in the shower. The warm water was only a gentle reprieve from the realities that I have to face, beginning today.

  "He's what?" I feel instant panic tear through me.

  "He's downstairs." She swings her legs over the side of her bed. I marvel at how great she looks even when she first wakes up.

  "Why?" I quickly towel dry my hair before I start searching through my purse for a hairbrush. "How do you know this?"

  "I texted him as you when you fell asleep." The words tumble out of her so quickly that I'm not sure I heard her.

  "You texted him pretending to be me?" I stop and turn to look right at her. "Tell me that's a joke."

  "I did it so I could tell him how great I was." She shrugs her shoulders.

  "So you pretended to be me to get him to want you and now I have to go meet him?" I tap the brush in the air as I try to make sense of the words. "I don't want to meet him. You go."

  "No can do." She brushes past me. "He wants to talk about Coral. You have to go."

  "I don't want to talk about her." I feel a pit forming in my stomach. "Why would you do this to me?" I shoot the words out. I can't believe she's put me in this position all because she wants to get laid.

  "He misses her a lot." She reaches for my phone and shoves it into my hand. "Read his texts. He needs this."

  I glare at her before dropping my gaze to my phone. I rifle through the countless text messages that Alexa exchanged with him. My heart drops as I read his responses. It's obvious he's in pain and misses his little sister.

  "I'll go." I walk back into the washroom to blow dry my hair.

  "You're an angel." She winks at me as she surveys the room service menu.

  "I hate you." I call back before slamming the door behind me.

  Chapter 3

  "You looked really overwhelmed last night." Clive stands as I approach the small table he's sitting at. He's dressed in a three-piece suit and he looks as stunning today as he did last night.

  "I was." I smile awkwardly as I sit down before he does the same.

  I watch as his eyes drop to my chest. I'm wearing a sweater that completely covers the scar. I can't display it anymore. It feels so private. I feel so vulnerable and betrayed.

  "Zander didn't bring you there as a surprise, did he?" He cocks an eyebrow as he waits expectantly for me to answer.

  I pull in a heavy breath at the sound of his name. Zander. How am I going to get used to that? He's Hunter to me. "No," I offer in response.

  "How did you know about the party?" He leans forward, resting his elbow on the table.

  "I knew there was a party. I just thought it was the opening of a restaurant that Hunter, or, Zander was helping with." I grimace at the fumble of his name.

  "One of his restaurants?"

  "One of the ones that he's been consulting on," I push back. I didn't come to talk about him. I came based on the tone of the text messages that Clive had written last night. I felt I could help him deal with the pain of losing Coral. Now it's all turned into an inquisition about Hunter.

  "He owns Axel. You know that right?" he snaps.

  His words hit me like a sharp slap across the face. I feel as though I'm a sitting duck and he's the hunter with the rifle. In this case, the ammunition is the truth and it's hitting me square in the face.

  "The one in Boston too?" I ask sheepishly.

  He nods. "He didn't tell you that?"

  I shake my head slightly. He didn't tell me anything. I don't even know him and I shared so much of myself with him.

  "What's going on with the two of you?" There's a dark edge to his voice.

  "Nothing," I whisper. "Nothing."

  "He told you he was Coral's boyfriend, right?" He leans back in his chair and I feel as though the room suddenly has more air.

  "Yes and that I had her heart." I instinctively look down at my chest.

  "Did he tell you my sister and mother wanted desperately to meet you?" His arms are crossed. I can sense that he's shifting into an offensive mode. Maybe he knows that something is going on with Hunter and me.

  "He told me about them." I sit up and stare directly at him. "He told me about you too. He said you were an asshole."

  He laughs and I see something shift in his eyes. "He's the asshole," he counters.

  "I won't argue with you." I smile.

  He cocks a brow and a sly grin runs over his lips. "My mother wants to see you. She called me twice already today asking me to arrange it."

  "I want to see her too." I give him a brisk nod. "I have to go back to Boston today. I can come back in a week or two." I mean it but right now I can't even imagine seeing Coral's mother.

  "I can bring her to you," he offers. "She'd like to talk to your parents if they're open for that."

  I exhale sharply. I haven't even considered the thought of my parents meeting Coral's family. "I'll need to talk to them first."

  He runs his index finger over his lips as he takes in my reply. "Just let me know when the time is right."

  I move to push myself back from the table. As much as I wanted to help him by talking about Coral's heart
, I need to get back to the room so Alexa and I can make it to the train station on time. "I have to go."

  "He didn't say a word about you to any of us." He stands at the same moment I do. "Nothing. We didn't realize he'd found you."

  "He's full of secrets," I whisper before I turn and walk away.

  Chapter 4

  "We need to talk."

  I jump at the sound of his voice behind me as I lock the heavy door of the bistro. I should have taken Alexa up on her offer of a ride home but I wanted to walk to clear my head. Now, after avoiding him for days, I'm finally going to have to face Hunter face-to-face.

  "Zander," I pull the name across my lips slowly. "Leave me the fuck alone."

  "Don't call me that." He grabs my shoulder.

  I pull back harshly as I twist my body so I'm facing him. I don't look up. I can't. I don't want to face him after realizing how easily he played on my emotions. "That's your name," I spit back.

  "Look at me, Sadie." He takes a step towards me and I retreat so my back is pressed against the door.

  I pull my gaze up so I'm staring directly into his face. "Why?" I seethe. "Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be with your fiancée?"

  He doesn't flinch at the words. He doesn't move an inch. His gaze darkens as he runs his eyes over my face. "I need to explain."

  I laugh at the suggestion. "You can't possibly explain everything." I try to push past him but his stance is resolute.

  "I can and I will." He sighs and shoves a hand through his hair. I use the opportunity to quickly escape. "You're not leaving." I feel his hand grab my elbow just as I take a step towards the parking lot.

  "Let go of me, Zander," I say his name again. It's giving me the emotional distance I need to keep myself in one piece.

  "Never." He pulls me into his chest with both hands. "I will never let you go."

  I stand silent for a moment soaking in the words. When he said that to me last week it offered an oasis of comfort and desire. I got lost in the words. I was so lost in him.

  I twist abruptly until I'm free of his grasp. "It's not your choice." I turn and face him.