There Goes My Heart (The Sullivans #20) - Bella Andre Page 0,71

I forgot to call Britt back about her wedding. I wonder if that’s someone she brought along to help convince me?”

“I very much doubt they’ve met before,” Rory told her. “That’s Chelsea.”

Zara spun to face him in the passenger seat. “Chelsea? I thought she was in California.”

“I thought she was too.”

Zara undid her seat belt, and before he could stop her, she was striding toward his ex and her stepsister. “Hey, Britt, we’ll talk about your wedding in a minute.” With that, she turned to Chelsea and bared her teeth in a faint approximation of a smile. “I’m Zara. Rory’s colleague here at the warehouse. And,” she said pointedly, “his girlfriend. I’m surprised to see you here.”

Chelsea lifted her chin defiantly. “We have a few unresolved issues to discuss.”

“You sure as hell do,” Zara agreed.

Rory heeded the alarm bells ringing in his head by reaching forward to take Zara’s hand before she could deck his ex with it.

Chelsea had the same delicate look about her, as though she might blow away in a strong wind. The only difference a year had made was her California tan. A glance between his ex and Zara confirmed what Rory had finally realized this week: Only a truly strong woman like Zara could ever have rocked his world…and broken through to his stubborn heart.

He focused on his ex. “I’ve been wanting to talk to you too, Chelsea.” He had never had a chance to apologize to her, and as he’d said to Zara, he believed expressing honest remorse was important. And though he no longer believed he was fully to blame for Chelsea’s accident, he would always wish he had been kinder to her during their breakup. “Come in, and I’ll make you a cup of coffee.”

“Make it three,” Zara said after he decided it was safe to let go of her hand to unlock and open his garage-style door.

“Four,” Brittany said as she led the way into his woodshop. “If my sister is staying, I’m staying too.”

“First of all, I don’t drink caffeine,” Chelsea said to Rory. “I’d have thought we were together long enough for you to remember that.” The implied blame in her words was easily evident. “And this conversation—” Chelsea was looking at Zara and Brittany now. “—is only between me and Rory. So I would appreciate it if you would both leave.”

He almost laughed at her assumption that Zara would back off. Zara, on the other hand, actually did laugh, a sound of disbelief tinged with fury.

“Once you and your friend put that massive guilt trip on Rory’s shoulders after your accident outside the bar,” Zara said in a lethal voice, “you involved every person who loves him. Which is why I’m not going anywhere.”

“It was his fault.” Chelsea’s cheeks held two blotches of color. “I never would have hurt myself that night if he hadn’t been so cruel.”

“Cruel?” Zara took a menacing step toward Chelsea before Rory could intervene again. “How dare you say that? How dare you even think it?”

Growing up, Rory’s mother had been the ultimate protective mama bear for her seven kids. In this moment, when he should have been working to diffuse the situation, he couldn’t stop thinking what a great mother Zara would be to her kids one day. To their kids. She wouldn’t put up with anyone hurting them.

Unfortunately, while he marveled over Zara, his ex was busy baring her claws. “You think he loves you?” Chelsea was the one laughing now, a sound as bitter as nails screeching down a blackboard. “Well, let me tell you—he’s great at making you think that. Great at making sure you keep hanging on. Until one day, it’s over.” She snapped her fingers. “Just like that.”

“Chelsea—” Rory tried to get between the women, but Zara stepped around him.

“I get how much breakups can hurt. I really do.” Zara nodded at Brittany. “My sister stole my boyfriend earlier this year.”

Brittany gasped. “You and Cameron only went on a couple of dates!”

Zara turned a look on her stepsister. “We went out for two months. One-sixth of a year. Sixty days. However you want to calculate it, it was a hell of a lot more than a couple of dates.” Her point made, Zara refocused on Chelsea. “Being cheated on sucked and hurt, and I was furious with them both.”

“You were?” Brittany interjected again.

“Of course I was!” Zara told her stepsister. “Which I promise we are finally going to get into after this.” Again, she turned to Chelsea.