Chapter 2The Gardenias Vow

Zack's POV

When Sophie got out of the car, her knees nearly buckled. Then I heard what she was thinking.

[This is all Darren's fault. That bastard just had to try a new position last night.]

I stiffened when Darren leaned in. My hand shook as I shoved him away.

He cried out as he lost his balance and went down hard on the gravel.

"Darren!"

Sophie reached for him on instinct, then caught herself and stopped.

Darren gritted his teeth against the pain. Without warning, he raised a hand and slapped Sophie across the face. The slap landed with a sharp crack, leaving a red handprint on her cheek.

"Sophie! If you hadn't kept pushing me, Zack never would've gotten hurt!"

Sophie helped him back to his feet, her voice turning cold. "Don't act innocent. You started it."

I wanted to cover my ears, but Sophie's thoughts came through again.

[I want to kiss his tears away. Doesn't he know how much it hurts me to see him in pain and still trying to tough it out?]

She could barely stand seeing Darren take one fall. Meanwhile, my left hand was badly burned, and somehow, I was still the one she thought was causing trouble.

That told me everything I needed to know about who she loved. The whole thing was almost laughable.

Once the doctor finished bandaging my hand, I pushed myself off the exam bed. Sophie and Darren immediately reached for me.

I kept my voice flat. "I just want to go home. I need some time alone."

I took a cab to the house Sophie and I were supposed to move into after the wedding.

Whenever we fought badly enough to talk about breaking up, I would come here alone and plan out the renovations.

Six months ago, Sophie told me the place still needed time to air out after all the work, so I stopped coming by.

The moment I opened the door, I stopped dead.

The sight hit me hard. Punk-inspired wallpaper covered the walls, gaming consoles were everywhere, and a gray cat wandered through the room.

Then it hit me. Darren had moved six months ago, but when I offered to come over and celebrate his new place, he'd gotten strangely evasive and wouldn't let me.

I'd even joked about it with Sophie once.

"He's being so secretive, you'd think the two of you were living together."

Sophie immediately got angry. "Zack, are you seriously suggesting there's something going on between Darren and me?"

She stayed angry with me for days. I thought I'd crossed a line, so I spent forever trying to make it up to her.

It turned out Darren really had been living in my house.

My hands and feet went cold.

I looked around slowly. The slippers, toothbrushes, and cups all came in matching pairs.

No wonder I'd noticed that several of Sophie's clothes looked almost identical to Darren's. Back then, I'd assumed they were just trying to get on each other's nerves again.

I let out a bitter laugh as an ache spread through my chest.

Then my gaze landed on several framed photos and trophies sitting on a wooden cabinet. I couldn't look away.

In one photo, Sophie and Darren were laughing as they held up a trophy they'd won together. In another, from back when they supposedly hated each other, they were making mocking faces at each other.

Sophie and I had been together for five years, but we had never taken a single photo together.

She could never remember that I was allergic to blueberries or that I didn't like shrimp. But she remembered everything Darren liked and disliked.

Whenever I mentioned it, she always brushed it off. "Darren's my biggest rival. If I don't know him inside and out, how am I supposed to beat him?"

I could have let all of that go, but there was one thing I couldn't forget.

Once, in the middle of an important case, I realized I'd left a crucial file on my computer. I called Sophie and asked her to send it over.

She got on my computer and asked, "What's the password?"

"My birthday."

Ten minutes later, the file still hadn't come through.

Then, in a strangely hesitant voice, she asked, "When's your birthday?"

By then, I was out of time. I lost the case.

My firm disciplined me afterward. The client's family went to the media in tears, calling me an unethical lawyer.

Even then, I made excuses for Sophie.

Tears spilled over before I could stop them. I quickly wiped them away when I heard the front door open. Panicking, I scrambled under the bed in the master bedroom.

"Sophie, you're crazy!" Darren snapped, then bit down hard on her lip.

Instead of getting angry, Sophie buried her face against his chest. "Stop it, Darren. My head hurts."

The way she softened toward him made something inside me go cold.

"Sophie, I'm saying this one last time. We're never lying to Zack again. If we do this again, I'm done with you!"

That set Sophie off. Her expression hardened, and she sank her teeth into his shoulder.

"You started this, Darren. Now you think you can just walk away? Dream on!"

Darren grabbed her and threw her onto the bed.

"Sophie, we can't keep doing this! Zack was there for me when my ex-wife had me backed into a corner and no one else would help. He took my case knowing it could cost him his career!"

Sophie's eyes were red and wild, but she still kissed him passionately.

"I know. And I know he was there for me too. When I was drowning in debt, he stayed and helped me build everything from the ground up. But that doesn't change how I feel.

"Darren, you're the one I love now. Even if loving you destroyed me, I'd still choose you!"

What a touching declaration of love. Too bad it wasn't meant for me.