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Olivia watched as Sadie followed Marcus through the double doors. Unsure of her intentions, she followed closely behind Sadie, pushing the doors open just in time to see her pull roughly at Marcus' sleeve.
“What happened to you?” Sadie asked as Marcus whirled around to face her. “When did you become so hard, so incredibly cruel?”
Marcus' lip curled into a sneer. “Let's see,” Marcus said in a hushed tone. “It was probably around the time I lost you.” The air between them was highly charged and crackled with electricity. Something elusive simmered in the air between them.
Upon hearing Marcus' words, Sadie's face fell and her lips began to quiver uncontrollably.
“Marcus, I never--,” Sadie said, her eyes moist with tears.
He held up his hand, abruptly cutting her off. “Let's not take this walk down memory lane, Sadie. We both know how the story ends.”
Marcus turned on his heel and walked away from Sadie, who crumpled the minute he was out of sight. She let out a sob and raced down the hallway towards the bathroom. Neither Marcus or Sadie seemed to realize that Olivia had witnessed their encounter, and under the circumstances, she had no intention of bringing up the matter with either one of them.
Olivia hadn't meant to eavesdrop. She felt like a voyeur since she'd witnessed such a private moment between two people who were both in pain. She had never suspected there was any kind of history between Marcus and Sadie. Judging by their conversation, not only did they share a romantic past, they shared some serious unfinished business.
**
As the rehearsal dinner was winding down, Callie’s parents made an announcement inviting all the guests to step outside on to the balcony. Once all the guests were assembled outside, waiters began to hand out crystal flutes filled with the club's best champagne and sparkling cider. Jax grabbed hold of Callie’s left hand and raised his glass in the air. “May we spend the rest of our lives as blissfully happy as we are tonight,” Jax pronounced as he clinked flutes with Callie and leaned in to place a tender kiss on her lips. The guests went wild in response to the romantic gesture.
Hunter glanced over at Olivia, sending her an apologetic look as their eyes met. He would have loved to be standing by her side and toasting to Jax and Callie’s future happiness. But, after the trouble with Marcus, both he and Braxon had stuck like glue to their older brother on the off chance that further trouble might erupt. The more Hunter was around Joshua the more it became painfully clear that something was eating him up inside, something that he'd gone to great lengths to hide from the family.
Joshua hadn’t been the same since he had returned home from military duty. It raised all kinds of questions with Hunter—ones he felt determined to find answers for.
As the guests raised their glasses in celebration, the pewter night sky filled with an explosion of colors and a cacophony of sound. As the fireworks exploded in a fury of light and sound, the guests reacted with wonder and amazement to the beautiful love letter Jax had written in the sky for his soon-to-be wife. Hunter caught a glimpse of Callie’s reaction—her mouth opened in surprise, tears misted in her eyes and she immediately reached out to clasp her fiance’s hand in her own.
As the first of the fireworks exploded, Joshua reeled backwards as if he'd been shot. Hunter turned towards him, his concern ratcheting up to full-fledged fear as he caught sight of him. His face had been leached of his warm brown complexion, his eyes were wide with a panic he'd never seen before on his brother's face. Strange, keening sounds were coming out of his mouth.
“Are you all right?” Hunter asked as he pulled at Joshua's arm. “Joshua, talk to me.”
Joshua flinched at the contact, his face shuttered, his eyes vacant. He didn't let on that he'd heard Hunter talking to him or speaking his name. At the moment he seemed to be in another zone, far away from the current place and time. It was as if he'd totally checked out.
“We've got to get him out of here,” Braxon said in an urgent tone, his eyes flashing warning signs.
“Have you seen him like this before?” Hunter asked, wavering between concern over Joshua and irritation with Braxon for holding out on him.
“Once or twice,” Braxon admitted with a sheepish look. “What?” he said in response to Hunter's steely glare. “He's only been back a couple of months. Things have gone south in the last few weeks.”
“Weeks?” he spit out. “And I'm just now finding out about this?”
Braxon snorted loudly. “Don't go there, bro. Joshua returned from the rehab hospital back in July. You could've paid him a visit and checked out the situation for yourself if you were so concerned.”
Hunter took a deep, calming breath. On some level he knew Braxon's words were right on the money. Although he'd visited Joshua at the Walter Reed hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, he hadn't made the trip back home to Savannah. Until recently, avoiding his
hometown had always been high on his agenda. Too many memories. Too many might-have-beens. But now, everything had changed, and he planned on being a presence in Savannah. Not just for Joshua's recovery, but for Olivia as well.
“We can talk about this later,” he conceded. “At the moment we need to get him home without Mama noticing there's a problem. Let her enjoy herself tonight.”
Luckily, Mae, along with all the other guests on the balcony, was transfixed by the sight of fireworks brilliantly lighting up the night sky.
Braxon grabbed one arm while Hunter took the other. Between the two of them it took every ounce of brawn to maneuver Joshua back through the ballroom, into the corridor and then out one of the side doors to the parking lot.
“Hunter! What's going on?”
He turned towards the sound of Olivia's melodic voice, an inexplicable feeling of joy bursting inside him at the sight of her. She'd followed them to the parking lot, clearly having witnessed Joshua's episode on the balcony. As always, she was thinking of others.
“I think the fireworks set something off inside Joshua. He had a strong reaction to them and he's been out of sorts ever since.”
“C'mon, Hunter. We need to get him home,” Braxon said impatiently.
