Free The Hidden Life by Erin Noelle Page B

into account the fallout Allison and Mending Hearts is going to have because of this, and don’t forget about your staff and kids at the Chicago house. I’m sure it won’t be long before they hear you referred to as a home-wrecker, among a slew of other nasty things, on TV or see it on social media. And when they start talking bad about you, I’m gonna lose it…” She feathered her thumb over his cheek. “This isn’t just a roadblock, baby. There’s a mountain range sitting in front of us, and right now, we need to focus on meeting on the other side.”
    Oliver reluctantly pushed up to his feet, defeat and devastation washed over his face. “All right, if that’s what you want, I’ll go.” He looked over his shoulder at me and nodded. “Let me get my shoes and stuff from upstairs. Just tell me what to do.”
    Less than a half hour later, I’d derived a less-than-fail-proof plan to sneak Oliver out undetected, and after they said their goodbyes with a single kiss and “I love you,” he and I slipped out the back door and over the back fence. Little did I know that would be the easiest part of my day.

 
    “My heart constantly
    weighs upon me with the
    draining notion that I
    am not enough for the
    people around me.
    I am terrified that they
    will want more than I
    could ever imagine
    giving them.”
    -Christopher Poindexter
     
    Seth
     
    AFTER DROPPING OLIVER off at the airport, I hightailed it back to Monroe, returning through the backdoor just the way I had earlier. It appeared that she hadn’t moved from the floor where I’d left her, although the papers were strewn across the hardwood floor in a disheveled mess. Scooping her up off the ground, I carried her up the stairs to her third-floor master suite and carefully lowered her onto the bed, my eyes searching hers.
    “Roe baby, I’m gonna call Colin now, okay?”
    She didn’t respond, so I kept talking.
    “They’re three hours behind us, and I’m sure he was up late last night after the game, so chances are he’s still sleeping. He needs to know what’s waiting for him so he can be prepared with a statement,” I explained, my voice gentle, compassionate.
    Again no response.
    Sighing, I grabbed my phone and called Colin for the second time in as many days, and as much as it pained me to hear his voice, my bruised heart was trivial in the scope of the huge issue surrounding me.
    “Hello? Seth?” Colin rasped, half-asleep.
    “Hey, sorry to wake you up. I know it’s early there.” My voice didn’t sound right; it was forced, fake.
    “No problem,” he responded, sounding a little more alert. “Is everything okay with Monroe? Did something happen to JoJo?”
    I closed my eyes and concentrated on the message I needed to deliver. “JoJo is stable the last I heard,” Pausing, I inhaled a deep breath and blew it out before adding, “but we’ve got a problem, man.”
    “What? What’s wrong? Is Monroe in trouble?”
    There was no good way to say it, so I adopted the “band-aid method” and blurted it out all at once. “Photos of Monroe and Oliver together were leaked overnight. They’re on the cover of every newspaper I’ve seen this morning, and it’s all over the internet and TV. A mass of reporters is set up out on the front lawn waiting for either you to come home or her to go out, and I don’t know what you want me to do.”
    “TOGETHER?!? Like how together are we talking?” he seethed. Wide-fucking-awake.
    “Colin,” I warned, not giving a shit what my place was in his life anymore. I wasn’t going to allow him to punish her for this. “Calm down and think rationally about this. Please. I’m here with Monroe now. It’s safe to say she’s more than a little shaken up and what she doesn’t need is for you to be an asshole.”
    More angry shouting. “I’m acting like an ASSHOLE?!? The only damn asshole in this situation is the piece of shit who’s sleeping with my wife! Where is the little pencil dick? Is he there? In