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Chapter 17 - Marcus: Conflicted
“Are you stupid or are you stupid?” Ethan threw the ball and missed the hoop by a mile.
“I think he is all of the above,” Grayson called from the bench where he was drinking some water.
I needed to clear my head and Ethan and Grayson had suggested basketball. I had been thinking more along the lines of alcohol, but exercise worked, too.
“I’m not stupid.” I had been trying to defend my actions from last night, but even I knew I was in a losing fight. There was no way that I was winning this fight. I had messed up, heavily.
“Yes, you are.”
Ethan asked for the ball which I passed to him. “How do you allow your fiancée to get beat up by your dead ex’s psychotic sister. Your fiancée had to come and get checked after Ash attacked her. And where were you?”
“I had to take Ash home.” Like that was a good enough defense. “Danny wasn’t driving, and mom and dad needed to get home.”
“Again, I repeat Ashleigh McNeil is a psychopath. You need to drop her before she ruins your life.”
“Ash is not psychotic,” I tried to defend Ash, but I didn’t even believe my own words as they hit my ears.
“Yes, she is.” Grayson got up from the bench and walked onto the court. “She has been clinically diagnosed with PTSD and chronic depression, not to mention she is off her meds. The girl is unhinged. From my perspective, she created this whole fake scenario of you and her together. I think it’s why she hates Maddie so much.”
“Even though it pains me to say it, Grayson is right. The girl is unhinged, M. You need to wean her off of you. She is using you like some kind of trauma comfort blanket.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. Ash is just still dealing with Sarah. It was tough for her. She not only lost her sister; she also lost a whole part of her. They were twins, two halves of one flame.”
“She moved five doors down from you. She showed up wearing Sarah’s perfume and even wearing the clothes she used to wear and now you just told me that she lightened her hair, to almost the same color Sarah used to have.” Grayson walked up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders. “I don’t know what it’s going to take for you to open your eyes, but this girl is not okay, and you being close to her is not good. She thinks she can be your new Sarah.”
I heard everything they were saying, but I still found it hard to believe that Ash was that unhinged. A part of me felt like I should have called Linda but then another part of me felt like it wasn’t my place.
The last time I had mentioned Dr. Finigan to Ash, things took a dramatic turn for the worst.
“I can’t believe you are getting married tomorrow,” Grayson brought me out of my trance. “I can’t believe he is getting married before you.”
Grayson turned to Ethan who gave him the finger.
“Hey, I am trying, but your sister won’t let me,” Ethan grumbled, “I think maybe after the baby she will say yes.”
“Or she will just keep dragging it out cause she wants to see you sweat,” I poked fun at him, “you did put her through the wringer when you two first started bumping nasties.”
“And I said I was sorry for that. Something you failed to do with Maddie.”
“I tried but she is icing me out. When I woke up, she was gone, and she isn’t answering my calls or my texts. Apparently, she went to the ranch with Danny today.”
Grayson ran a hand through his wet hair. “Can’t believe she is Pete’s daughter. She looks nothing like him.”
“She kind of does. But she has her mother’s eyes.”
“Lily told me that Maddie was thinking of castrating you in your sleep last night,” Ethan chuckled, “she even had knives sharpened.”
“I wouldn’t put it past Maddie to try. She doesn’t take crap from anyone, least of all me.”
And it was true. Maddie was like a woman made of iron. She let things wash over her like water. She was never one to back down from a fight. It was actually a turn-on if you asked me.
We continued with our game for a little while longer before the sky darkened, and it was time to head home. I was going to be a married man tomorrow.
I had taken time off of work to focus on the wedding, so I had been free for the majority of this week. Was I nervous about my fake wedding? A little bit, especially when my mother was so excited about it. She hadn’t stopped smiling since the day I told her that Maddie was my fiancée.
A part of me still felt like I was cheating on Sarah. She had been dead almost four years but to me, she lived on. I felt like I owed her some loyalty.
