After He Left Me Behind, My Wedding Ring Changed Hands Chapter 05

After He Left Me Behind, My Wedding Ring Changed Hands Chapter 05

More than ten hours later, I landed and turned my phone back on.

Missed calls flooded the screen, every one of them from the same person. So many messages came through at once that my phone nearly froze, buzzing against my palm until my hand went numb.

I looked down at them in silence.

Reid: [Mara, where are you? What is that pinned post on Instagram supposed to mean?]

Reid: [Can you stop this and be reasonable for once? I really don’t have the energy to calm you down on top of everything else.]

Reid: [Answer me!]

The messages started out angry, but his tone gradually softened, with a hint of unease creeping in.

Reid: [Mara, can we talk? You can’t just disappear like this.]

Reid: [There’s been a misunderstanding between us. I’ll wait for you at home tonight.]

I scoffed, deleted them all, and didn’t bother reading the rest.

Meanwhile, back in Ravenport, Reid stared at his unanswered messages, his expression growing darker as the unease inside him intensified.

In five years together, this was the first time things between them had ever gotten this bad.

What he couldn’t understand was why.

Was it because he’d left her on the train?

But he’d already explained that Elise had been in a car accident and ended up in the hospital.

Was it because of his parents?

They had always treated Mara the same way. He’d told Mara a long time ago, “She has a sharp tongue, but she doesn’t mean any harm.”

Reid rubbed his brow wearily and stared at Mara’s breakup announcement pinned to the top of her Instagram profile.

The house was full of people.

Beside him, Elise bit her lip, looking hurt.

“I’m sorry, Reid. This is all because of me. Should I apologize to Mara?”

“Please get her to come back so you two can stop fighting.”

In reality, Elise was thrilled as she said it. She desperately hoped Mara would never come back.

She was the one who had grown up with Reid. She had only let her guard down for a moment, and that shameless Mara had beaten her to him.

Now that they had broken up, things were simply being put back the way they were supposed to be.

Reid and a broke nobody like Mara had never belonged in the same world.

Elise did.

Reid pressed his lips together and looked at her.

“Elise, when Mara comes back, I need you to apologize to her.”

Elise froze.

Apologize?

He actually wanted her to apologize to Mara?

She was so shocked that she couldn’t hide it.

But she couldn’t lose her temper. She still had to play the sweet, understanding one, so she forced herself to agree.

“Okay. I understand. I will.”

Her downcast gaze grew increasingly venomous.

Come back?

She would make damn sure Mara never came back.

She discreetly angled her phone and took a photo that made her and Reid look intimate, then sent it to Mara.

As long as Mara stayed away, Elise was confident she could win Reid over in no time.

Reid’s mother sat off to the side, visibly irritated.

“Unbelievable. She’s so unreasonable!”

She kept complaining. “You can’t say a word to her without her throwing a fit. The nerve of her!”

“Does she really think Reid can’t live without her?”

As Reid listened, anger rose inside him.

If his mother hadn’t spent the past two days stirring up trouble, maybe things never would have gotten this far.

“Enough!”

His sharp command startled her.

She instinctively opened her mouth to complain, but one look at her son’s expression stopped her. She had never seen him this furious before, and suddenly she didn’t dare say another word.

“Reid, what is wrong with you?” she asked, still completely baffled. “Isn’t it better that Mara left? You and Elise are obviously in love with each other. Now there’s no one standing between you.”

Reid’s breathing grew heavier.

“Who told you Elise and I were in love with each other?”

His mother stared at him.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Elise quietly reached over and tugged at his sleeve.

“Reid, why don’t we just make it official? Mara already broke up with you, so there’s nothing standing between us anymore.”

Reid looked down sharply.

The shy, expectant look on Elise’s face suddenly filled him with revulsion.

He ripped his arm away from her as if her touch disgusted him. The movement was so forceful that Elise lost her balance and landed hard on the floor.

She stared up at him in shock.

“Reid?”