He Said Don’t Wait, So I Married Someone Else Chapter 08

He Said Don’t Wait, So I Married Someone Else Chapter 08

He stared at me, his lips moving silently before he finally forced out the words.
“I love you.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But not enough. Your love was never enough to make me your first choice.”
“And his is?” The bitterness in his voice was thick. “You don’t even know him—”
“I know he shows up,” I cut him off. “I know that when I needed someone, he came. No questions, no hesitation. He just came.”
“Because he wants something from you—”
“No, Garrett.”
Noah’s voice, calm and unshakeable, came from behind me. He moved to my side, his hand settling on the small of my back, a warm, protective weight that instantly steadied me.
He looked straight at Garrett, no anger in his eyes, just the cold precision of a lawyer stating facts.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Garrett snapped, his bravado paper-thin.
“Don’t I?” Noah’s tone was dangerously mild. “October twenty-third of last year, you missed signing the consent form for Maya’s mother’s surgery because Sloane’s dog ran away. February fourteenth of this year, you skipped the first anniversary of her floral shop because Sloane had an ‘emotional breakdown.’ May twelfth, just last month, you didn’t even go with her to pick up the wedding rings because Sloane got a flat tire.”
With every sentence, the color drained from Garrett’s face. The moments I had forced myself to swallow, to be ‘understanding’ about, were being laid bare with the brutal clarity of a legal deposition.
Garrett looked at me, his expression horrified, as if I’d betrayed a state secret. “You told him all that?”
“She didn’t have to.” For the first time, an edge crept into Noah’s voice. “I’ve watched you break her heart for three years, Garrett. I just kept wondering when she’d finally realize she deserved better.”
“You have no right—”
“I have every right.” Noah’s hand tightened possessively at my waist, a clear declaration to Garrett and the whole world.
“Because I’m her husband. The man who actually shows up.”