Ruin The Wedding (The Murphy Brothers #1)

𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐞

It was 9pm when her phone finally started to ring and she hesitated for a few seconds before answering. It was unclear what would be said during this phone call and she was scared to find out but she had promised him a chance.

Could it be true? Was he really innocent in all of this and that he didn't go on a date with Nora which apparently wasn't a date but only a trick by them. Who was them? His parents?

What was she supposed to believe? If you asked her a week ago, she would have said Fabian in a second without a doubt. But so much had happened after that. Him not answering his phone and then their argument about that and now Nora and the rumors about them.

He didn't cheat on you. Remember what he said, it was a trick by his parents.

Shut up! You don't know that for sure.

Men have hurt and lied to you before, why is he different?

Because he loves me and the girls.

Like Mason did? Their father?

He's not their father. Fabian is.

Nope, she didn't want to go in there. It was way too soon to even think about Fabian stepping up to be their father. They had dated only three, almost four months and now they were already on the verge of breaking up.

If Fabian could read her mind, he would probably run away. Sure, he had said that he loved all three of them and in a way, he had been a pretty damn good father figure to them without even trying. Still, being a father figure was different compared to being a father.

Now he still had time to change his mind and walk away which would probably hurt a thousand times more than Mason's abandonment but it was still his choice. But if they stayed together and things become more serious and eventually, the girls would start calling him a Dad... Charlie couldn't do that to them. They couldn't have an another father abandon them.

That was why she had to be careful with where this relationship was going. Maybe she had made a mistake when got together with Fabian and officially became his girlfriend so soon. Maybe she should have waited longer before introducing him to her daughters but considering that he was there when Juliet took her first breath - literally - it came almost naturally.

But had she done more harm than good when Fabian spent more and more time with the girls, making them get to know him, remember him and his face, and fall in love with him as much as she had.

Now he was already seen out with Nora and then what? How would that affect her girls who knew who Fabian was and loved him. What if he wouldn't be coming here anymore? What then? She should have waited longer instead of letting her lust and hormones take over like a horny teenager. That would only hurt the girls in the long haul.

Charlie didn't even care if she got her heart broken by Fabian - okay, that was a lie - but she would do her best to stop him from hurting her girls. She had experienced heartbreak and knew how to deal with it even if the heartbreak that Mason caused wouldn't be nothing compared to what it would feel like if Fabian ended up leaving. These few days alone had been horrible and so damn painful already.

"Are they sleeping?" Fabian asked, waking her up from her thoughts.

"Yeah, have been since eight," Charlie explained and couldn't help but add, "She asked about you again. Rory. She has been calling out your name a lot since you've been gone."

Why did she say that? It was against everything she had just thought about Fabian and his relationship with the girls and how they would end up hurt.

Fabian let out a voice that was something like a very painful cry. "I miss her so much too. I'm guessing that she has grown up to a teenager by now and Jules is starting the school."