When Blair left for a couple of days, Sage felt both relieved and unsettled. She and Euan had slipped back into their strange rhythm—dinners that sparked with electricity, silences that were heavy but not unfriendly.
She wasn't gone long, though. Blair stormed back on her motorbike with a friend, and they spent the evening trailing Sage, making snide comments. But the barbs didn't stop this time—casual jabs about Sage's clothes, her hair, even her weight, the way she always "hung about" Euan. But though Euan asked her to behave, he didn't rein her in, and refusing to play target, Sage had taken to eating quickly and escaping the table.
On the seventh night, her phone finally lit up with David's name. Ronin kept calling, but David had been silent all these days. Sage's chest squeezed as she answered.
"Mum?" His voice was sharp.
"David." She felt she could breathe again.
"Why did you leave?" His anger burst through. "You just...you left. Do you know what that did to me?"
Her throat closed. "I know, baby. I know. I love you. I didn't mean to hurt you."
"But you did," he shouted back. But then the words cracked, a sob breaking through. "Please. Please, Mum...please just come home."
Tears blurred her vision. "Soon, baby. I promise. Soon."
She hung up before her voice could betray her further.
When she turned, Blair was standing in the doorway before sliding away with a snide expression.
Later, as she lingered in the hall, Sage realised Blair had overheard her call with David earlier that evening. The girl's expression was ugly as she whispered to her uncle, loud enough for Sage to catch, "She's stringing you along, Euan. I heard her telling some David that she still loves him. She's playing you both. She has abandoned someone and is now shacked up here. That's what women like her do."
The cruel, unnecessary words landed like a knife, and that was the final straw.
Sage deliberately got up, her voice shaking. "You need to grow up, Blair. You know nothing about me.Nothing."
The girl blinked, momentarily startled, but Sage barrelled on, her chest heaving. "I didn't abandon anyone. Do you hear me? I found out that my partner of more than twenty years had a child with another woman—an affair that went on fortwo years—while my own son knew and said nothing. So, no, I didn't walkaway on a whim; I walked away because my life blew up in my face."
Blair opened her mouth, but Sage cut her off with a tremor in her voice that was equal parts fury and grief, "I don't know why you hate me. Maybe it makes you feel powerful, maybe you think it's funny. Or maybe you're just a spoilt brat. But let me be clear: I'm not after anything. I'm paying your"—she jabbed a finger towards Euan, who had gone utterly still—"your uncle for the doubtful pleasure of staying here and enjoying your harassment. I'll pay more if that's what it takes to make you shut up. I didn't approach him; he approached me, though God knows why. The way you behave, anyone would be forgiven for wondering if he is your uncle or your boyfriend. I am leaving early tomorrow morning. Just leave me the hell alone until then."
The room fell into stunned silence. Blair's eyes widened, but she had nothing to say. Euan had a strange expression on his face as he slowly pushed his chair back and stood. He seemed about to speak when Sage put her hand up.
"Not another word from you. I don't know why you helped me, and this time here has helped, but my life is complicated enough as it is. So, if you could call me a cab or drop me off in town tomorrow, I will be on my way. And now I am off to bed. Your niece...she needs help if she is treating others like this. If myson"—she deliberately looked at Blair—"David behaved like this, he would be grounded for the next two months. And he behaves better at fourteen than you do at twenty-one."
Sage, trembling now, turned away, her hands clenched into fists. She had run her mouth and did she care? NO. Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough.
Chapter 17
Sage pressed her trembling hands to the door to steady herself.
A few minutes later, through the walls, she could hear raised voices. Blair's voice was shrill, incredulous. "You want me tae apologise?Me? You've never asked me tae do that, never! Not once! Are you fucking her?"
Euan's deeper tone rumbled in reply, sharp enough to carry. " If ye’re askin’ that, ye should ken fine it’s none o’ yer business if I am. You crossed a line, lass. Ye'll go and apologise tae her."
"Never!" Blair's voice cracked like glass, but this time it wavered with tears. "Ye just dinnae want me anymore, do ye? Ye’ve got her now — some floozy ye dragged in aff the train — an’ suddenly I don’t matter!"
Euan's reply was too low for to Sage make out the words. Blair's sobs rose sharper and angrier.
"You've never said no tae me before! Never! You promised...you promised you would always be there forme. But now...now ye'll stand there and let her talk to me like that?!"
A door upstairs slammed so hard the whole house seemed to rattle. Another followed, the whole house shuddering with the violence of her retreat. Then the front door crashed shut, the echo rolling through the walls until all that could be heard was to occasional creak of the timbers.
Sage retreated deeper into her room, curling into herself on the edge of the bed, her heart still racing. She almost didn't answer when the knock came—she waited, hoping he'd leave. But the knock came again, softer this time. Against her better judgment, she rose and opened the door.
Euan stood there, his broad shoulders filling the frame. His hair was as wild as ever, falling in disarray, his worn T-shirt clinging to broad planes of muscle inked with dark tattoos right down to his knuckles. His eyes, pale and glacial, were confused, but they held hers with an intensity that made her throat dry.
For a wild, reckless moment, Sage thought,He'd make an excellent rebound.Her stomach tightened.No. Bad girl, Sage. What's wrong with you?
