Happily Never After

Chapter 8

"D-Daniel," I stutter in shock at the sight of my ex-husband standing before me.

He looks at me and clasps his hands together in front of him. "Sarah."

"Wha-" I clear my throat and try again. "What are you doing here?" 

"I wanted to see you but I can see this is a bad time." His gaze moves from me to look into the house.

I turn and look at Carter who stands by the doorway of the kitchen, eyeing Daniel closely but never uttering a word. I could see a hint of both curiosity and hurt in his eyes. I take a deep breath and turn back to look at Daniel. "Just tell me what you want."

"Can I come in?" He asks, sounding hopeful.

"No, you can't." My grip on the door tightens as he slightly moves closer to me and I tense up.

"Sarah, I just want to talk to you."

"Daniel, I said no." He takes another step closer to me and I can feel his heavy breath on my face. "Daniel-"

"Sarah, let me in." His adamant voice gets louder

"No." I say simply, hoping he got the message.

"Sarah-" He starts before shutting up.

I feel the door I hold, open wider behind me and I let it go.

"She said no," Carter's stern voice butts in from behind me.

My tense body relaxes a little at the sense of Carter standing close behind me. His left hand moves to grip the door frame I lean against and I look at Daniel who doesn't move at the sight of the tall male that came to stand behind me.

Daniel looks up at Carter and his jaw tightens. "This has nothing to do with you."

"It does if you're upsetting her." Carter moves closer to me so I can feel his stone body press against mine.

"Sarah, tell pretty boy to leave us alone. This has nothing to do with him."

"Daniel, I don't know why you're here and quite frankly, I don't care. I left you three years ago and now you turn up out of the blue, asking to talk to me." I take a breath and relax even more into Carter. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say to me. I let go of all the memories I had with you when I left. Get over it."

"Sarah, you can't just shut out all the memories we had together. I won't let you." He tries to catch my hand with his but Carter was faster to react than I was.

My body becomes caged against the door frame as Carter moves to stand in front of me so Daniel couldn't touch me. His body cut the view I had of him and I was thankful to him for that. He moves his hand from the door frame and that allows me to get back into the safety of the house with ease.

"Touch her and see where that gets you." I saw Carter's body tense slightly under his suit jacket. "You don't want to mess with me, little boy."

"Why are you so protective over her? I bet she hasn't even told you about me and that I was her husband three years ago before she walked out on me for no reason."

My eyes shoot up in shock. How dare he stand there and tell Carter that we were married and that I had walked out on him for no reason!

Carter hesitates for a moment before replying in a calm voice. "She has actually and I know you're lying when you said she left for no reason."

I restrain myself from the urge I have to reach out and place a hand on Carter's back as a way of thanking him for lying. He didn't need to lie for me but he did.

No doubt, Daniel would be reaching boiling point inside at the thought of Carter being the guy who replaced him in my life. Even though Carter wasn't my boyfriend, it didn't matter that he was pretending to be. I would even lie and say that I was married to him if it meant getting Daniel to leave.

"If I were you, I'd turn around and leave while you still can." At that, I place my hand lightly on Carter's back and he takes a deep breath. "If you come anywhere near her again, you will find yourself spending time in a jail cell."

Carter steps back and slams the door closed, the slam making me jump back a little. I move my hand away from Carter's back as he stands facing the closed door.

"Thank you," I whisper while looking down at the floor.

"Why didn't you tell me?" His voice strains. I look up at him and he turns to look at me.

I swallow hard. "It doesn't normally come up. It was a part of my life that I left behind and wanted to forget. Up until now, I didn't see the point in-"

"In the car, when you were telling me about your friend being there for you, you were talking about when you were going through your divorce, weren't you?" He asks, trying to clarify the new information about me that was dumped on him by my ex-husband.

"He put me through hell with all the times he cheated on me and I always believed he would change. I lost all my friends and my family stopped talking to me because I wouldn't listen to them and leave. I was close to going off the rails because of it but I finally found the courage I needed to leave and never look back." He stays silent and I huff in disbelief because I knew he didn't want to believe what he was hearing. "You know what, just leave. Clearly, my lying ex-husband has got you running for the hills inside. So I'm giving you the courtesy of leaving and never having to see or speak to me ever again."

I turn and start to walk up the stairs. I knew this would happen.

"Wait, wait, wait!" He shouts. I stop halfway up the stairs and look down at him. "I know I'm not perfect either, trust me. But if one of my exes turned up and told you things about me that shocked you, no doubt you would run and never look back."

"I doubt you have an ex-wife in the wings, just waiting for the right moment to come and mess everything up for you." He looks away from me and my hand flies up to cover my mouth in shock. "You have an ex-wife?"

He nods. "I was nineteen and she was twenty-six. I didn't know any better and thought what I felt for her was love but it wasn't. When my dad found out, he made me file for a divorce because I was too young and she only wanted my family name."

"Why would she want that? I don't-" I start.

"Twelve years later and I've only just sussed it out." He sighs. "The Romero name is known worldwide due to my great-grandfather starting up his own business. We own so much and when people hear our name, they know who we are instantly."

His confession comes out easily and I slowly slide to sit down on one of the steps, gripping either side of the staircase railings as I do so. "What does-"

"My little sister, Alyssa, didn't want to take over the business with my brothers and myself. She made that very clear to my parents and had a child out of wedlock to prove it." He moves from where he stood and sits down on the stairs in front of me. "She's now getting married to a guy who isn't my niece's biological father and my family have only accepted it just recently. After she gets married, the business is left to my youngest brother, Ayden, Landon and myself."

"And let me guess, you own and work in the building I work in?"

"Yes," he nods.

"This is so fucked up!" I express loudly.

"We have just revealed so much personal information to each other without knowing the basics about each other first," he laughs before looking up at me.

"We certainly have," I smile. I moan to myself and let go of the staircase railings, stretching my arms out in front of me to try and get rid of the ache I had growing in them. "I don't know about you but I feel like I need a drink."

"I hope you mean alcohol."

"After all the information we have just revealed to each other, it's the only thing that will help."

He smiles and we both stand up. I walk back down the stairs and go into the kitchen with Carter following my lead.