Page 19 of When You Became Mine

Mrs. Reed jumped to her feet, running around the table to throw her arms around them both. Georgia squealed loudly, as Mr. Reed’s fork clattered to his plate. Lawson was the only one without a reaction. He continued to shovel food into his mouth, as though the words that just turned my world upside down weren’t any more surprising than if they’d announced it was sunny outside.

But I sat there frozen, my heart dropping into my stomach.

“What the fuck, Hampton?” I wanted to shout, using curse words I normally saved for when I stubbed my toe. Instead, my voice came out barely more than a whisper, “What?”

At my single syllable the room fell silent. Mrs. Reed stood stock-still behind her son and new son-in-law.

Hampton turned to me. “Pip…”

I wanted to remind him this was the same guy he told me just two weeks ago was getting on his nerves. But I didn’t. I just held his gaze and asked softly, “When did you do this? How could you not tell me?”

The words nearly burned on their way out. Since the moment he’d come out to me, Hampton had never kept anything from me. My chest squeezed and I had to gasp to get any air into my deflated lungs.

It hurt.

The secrecy that went into him freaking marrying someone and not telling me.

The lie of omission.

The outright betrayal.

Hampton’s lips parted and he looked at Smith for help. Smith at least had the courtesy to look ashamed and refused to meet my eyes.

My heart continued to pound from deep in the pit of my belly as I gaped at both of them.

Lawson let out a chuckle and murmured, “Really fucked this one up, didn’t ya, little bro?”

I’d forgotten he was sitting beside me until he spoke, but I swung my gaze in his direction and narrowed my eyes. “This is funny to you?” I growled. “Of course it would be. You disappear for eight years and then randomly show back up, just in time to fall back into your old habits of being a jerk.”

Lawson dropped his fork. “Just like old times. Hampton’s the one who screws you, and somehow, some fucking how, I am still the one getting the shit end of the stick.”

“Remember the offer you made me?” I countered. “How would I have taken you up on it? I didn’t hear one word from you from the second your plane left the runway.”

His eyes flashed, hurt and anger mingling together, and for a moment it was almost as though I was looking at a reflection of myself.

But what did he have to be hurt about? I was the one who had just been blindsided by the one man who was never supposed to hurt me.

I turned back to where Hampton sat with his boyfriend, now husband, and cleared my throat. “I never thought you would be the one to wound me. But the knife in my back tells me I don’t know you the way I always thought I did.”

His eyes widened and the knuckles on the hand that was woven through Smith’s whitened. “Pip,” he said, his voice low, “you’re being dramatic, don’t you think?”

My eyes widened. “I’m being dramatic?” My resolve began to crumble and even though I’d tried to keep it together, my tears seemed to have a mind of their own. I knew I shouldn’t say it, because it was cruel, but I couldn’t stop myself and the hateful words tumbled from my lips. “Well, I guess you better get used to it, since you’re now married to someone who considers musical theater a career.”

I pressed a hand to my mouth, horrified that I’d been unable to control myself. Smith sat beside Hampton, his back straight, a tight smile on his face, but didn’t say a word. I knew I should apologize, but I just couldn’t.

“Well, actually, honey, that’s a very lucrative career,” Mrs. Reed chimed in, finally shaking herself from the stupor she’d been in. She gave Smith a quick pat on the shoulder and then resumed her place at the table.

Wiping my eyes with my napkin, I pulled in a cleansing breath through my nose and when I exhaled, murmured, “I can’t believe this night.”

“That makes two of us,” Lawson muttered beside me.

I ignored him, too busy trying to get a handle on what had just happened at what was supposed to be a normal family dinner. It seemed as though I was the only one affected by this twist of events, though, because Hampton was back to shoveling food into his mouth.

He paused his feasting and a wide smile crossed his face. “Hey, Law, you said you bought a house out on Willow Lane? That’s close to the hospital, right? How many bedrooms you got?”

“Yeah. Not too far. It’s got three bedrooms,” Lawson responded. “Why?”

“Perfect,” Hampton breathed. He shoveled another bite into his mouth before dropping the biggest bomb of the night. “Piper can just move in with you.”

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