“You good here?” Not that I wouldn’t go to Charlie straight away, but I needed to know where we were with the club.
He nodded. “Yeah. I’m gonna wait for Bronze to get back to me and then make plans from there. We’ll be sitting tight until then.”
Five minutes later, I was on my way to the hospital. My gut churned with worry for Charlie. I knew it was an overreaction, because a broken bone, if that’s what it was, could be fixed. But I hadn’t answered her calls, and I was pissed off at myself for putting her in a situation where neither parent was there for her.
Chapter 30
Monroe
It wasn’t often I met a woman I took an instant dislike to, but Hyde’s ex-wife was one of those women. I’d been at the hospital with Hyde for almost two hours before Tenille showed up. She hadn’t liked the fact I was there with him and had spent the half hour since glaring at me. But besides that, there was something about her that I couldn’t warm to. And it wasn’t just because she was Hyde’s ex.
Hyde was pissed at her. I could tell he was fighting like crazy not to lose his shit at her, which, full points to him, but I wouldn’t even blame him if he did.
Raking his fingers through his hair, he barked, “You left her alone when she needed you? When she was sick?”
Tenille turned her glare to him. “That doesn’t even have anything to do with Charlie’s fall,” she snapped.
His face contorted with anger. “She told you she felt sick, really fucking sick, and still, you left her alone. What was so fucking important that you had to leave her then, Tee?”
Tenille was right—this had nothing to do with Charlie’s fall, which happened because she was running to the bathroom to vomit—but I was with Hyde. What kind of mother would leave her child when she was sick with a raging temperature and had been vomiting? I wasn’t up on first aid, but even I knew that level of sickness required attention.
“That is none of your business,” Tenille threw back.
Tension coiled itself around Hyde’s body, and he took a step towards her. “I’m fucking making it my business.”
Oh Lord. He sounded like he could murder her. I felt the need to step in on her behalf, even though I agreed with everything he said.
Reaching for him, I said, “Hyde—”
Tenille’s steely gaze snapped back to me. “Take your hand off my husband.”
I lifted my brows. “Your husband?”
A smug expression filled her face. “Oh, you didn’t know? We’re still married.”
“Tenille,” Hyde warned in a low voice. “Stop trying to fuck with shit that doesn’t involve you, and answer my question.”
Her words hit their mark, leaving me confused and upset. Surely she was lying. He’d never told me they weren’t divorced.
Tenille moved closer to me. “He never told you, did he?” The woman was awful. I could practically see the venom dripping from her lips. How the hell did he marry and have a child with someone like her?
Well, she wouldn’t see me crumble. I didn’t believe in letting bullies win. “You can try and change the subject as much as you want, but the fact remains—you were a shitty mother this morning. And I think Hyde deserves an answer to his question.”
She slapped me. “Fuck you, bitch.”
My hand flew to cover my face where she’d left a sting. She was a crazy bitch.
Hyde finally lost his shit. Gripping her bicep tightly, he dragged her away from me, down the hospital hallway. She argued with him every step of the way, but he paid no attention. To think I’d tried to help her earlier when I thought he was about to explode. Good luck to her. As far as I was concerned, she deserved anything he said to her.
I pulled out my phone and sent Tatum a text.
Me: Did you know Hyde is still married? She’s fucking insane BTW.
Tatum: No. Where are you?
Me: At the hospital with them. His daughter is sick.
Tatum: She okay?
Me: She’s got a vomiting bug and has broken her arm I think. They’re doing X-rays now.
Tatum: I’ve never heard about Hyde’s wife. You okay?
Me: IDK. I don’t like being lied to. You know that. Honesty is at the top of my list.
Tatum: Hear him out, Roe. I think he’s a good guy.
Me: Yeah, we’ll see.
Tatum: Sorry, babe, gotta go. Billy’s in a mood today.
Me: Love you xx
I didn’t have to wait long for Hyde to return. He stalked down the hallway towards me, alone, with a furious look on his face. It softened a little as he came closer, but not much. Tenille had worked her way under his skin.
“Sorry about that,” he said.
“Did you figure it out with her?”
“No. She won’t tell me what she was doing, and now she’s fucked off downstairs.”
“Does it really matter what she was doing? I mean, nothing could have been more important than staying with Charlie, so whatever it was doesn’t make any difference, right?”
He scrubbed his hand over his face, and for the first time that day, I noticed how exhausted he looked. Or maybe not exhausted, but agitated. Something. He was off, whatever it was.
“You’re right. At the end of the day, it doesn’t fucking matter. I just can’t believe she did that.”
I bit my lip as I contemplated the best way to ask my next question. But there was only one way to ask it, so I just blurted it out. “Are you still married?”
He held my gaze and nodded. “Yeah.”
My heart splintered in my chest, and I realised just how invested I had become in this relationship. But putting up with dishonesty wasn’t something I was willing to do. I’d been burnt by lies before and I wasn’t willing to go down that path again.
The busy hospital blurred as I focused solely on Hyde. People swarmed around us in the waiting room, but I saw none of them. All I saw was Hyde staring down at me, with what looked like regret.
Taking a step away from him, I said, “Okay, I’m out. I’m done.” The words hurt to say, and I felt shaky on my legs. I just needed to get out of there, to my car, where I could sit and process all of this. And cry. Because, fuck, he’d broken my damn heart with his lie.
He took hold of my arm and stopped my retreat. “It’s not what you think.”
I snorted and tried to wrestle my arm free of his hold. “Yeah, that’s what they all say.”
His jaw clenched. “Stop fighting me, Roe, and hear me out.” The tone he took with me made it sound like I was in the wrong, not him.
Using force, I yanked my arm free. “Don’t you do that! Don’t you make out that I’m the bad guy here when you’re the one who hasn’t been honest!” This situation had worked me up, annoying the fuck out of me. I hated sounding like a fucking harpy.
“Fuck, that’s not what I’m trying to do. I’m just trying to get you to listen to what I have to say.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Fine, say it.”
“Tenille and I haven’t been together for fourteen years. But we never got divorced.”
“Is it over?”
“Yes.”
“So why does she think it isn’t?”
“Fuck, it’s a long story—”
“I’ve got time.”