Begin Again novel Chapter 38

"Are you okay?"

Eden turned to the all too familiar gravelly voice and spewed out a string of expletives under her breath. She really must have been a very terrible person in her previous life to experience so many misfortunes in one night.

"Simon," she said quietly, her lips pressed together, her arms crossed over her chest.

When she found out she's pregnant, she lost interest in all things Simon, never thought of him, never stalked his social media pages and never wanted to hear about him.

She forgot him the moment she moved to the Blue Mountains.

But now, here he was, in all his Greek god glory, still very much the handsome devil he was when he sent her a breakup text. He looked happy, healthy, and still very married if the ring on his left finger is any indication.

"Hi!" Her ex-fiancé waved at her, his mouth curled upward, his face beaming as if their chance meeting was a much anticipated joyful reunion when in reality it was anything but.

Eden wanted to scratch his gorgeous steel-grey eyes out—the same eyes she'd lost herself in more times than she cared to count. If she had talons, she would have. It was motivation enough to start growing her nails and keep them long again.

"Can we talk?" He asked, smiling that same smile she'd fallen in love with back when she didn't know what an asshole he is.

He had no right, Eden thought. No right at all to smile at her like that, as if he didn't leave her broken and bleeding.

At that moment, overwhelmed by everything— Lydia and her constant niggling, Liam and his wife or mistress or whatever the blond was to him, and now her ex who suddenly wanted to talk— Eden felt her world spin out of control. Like someone had thrown her on a violently moving merry-go-round.

She lost her head.

"Talk about what Simon?" She yelled, not caring at all that they were in a very public space, and the guests in all the other VIP booths, safely hidden behind paper-thin screen walls, had front row seats to a drama two years in the making.

"About us," Simon murmured, anxiously looking around them, making sure her banshee screams weren't attracting any unwanted attention. He never did like drama, hated confrontations of any kind. Probably why her parents had loved him so much, he really would have made the perfect son-in-law with his calm, apathetic approach to just about anything, even the most calamitous situations.

For years Eden was just like him, a perfect replica of her parents, never allowing emotions to sway her. Hard as the last two years have been on many fronts for her, they were also the most liberating, she'd learned to speak her mind.

And she did, going nuclear on Simon for a solid few minutes. "Where were you when I wanted to talk, and I called you like a madwoman and sent you millions of texts bordering on stalking? Where the heck were you when I had to reach out to all hundred guests and explain you ran off with one of my close friends and that's why there wasn't going to be a wedding? Where in sweet Jesus's name were you when I had to explain my poor life choices to my parents and why my intuition was way off the mark when it comes to you? Now you want to talk, huh?"

Her friends sprung out the shadows and tried to diffuse a highly volatile situation.

"Eden, that's enough!" Sienna tugged at her arm, trying to get her to stop. "People are listening."

But, like a high-speed, derailed and out of control train, nothing would slow Eden down; she was on a roll tonight. She'd waited a very long time to say her piece; there's no way she'd allow anyone to rip this chance from her.

All the rage and hurt she'd held in for the last two years bubbled out of control, like a volcano erupting after many years of sleep, spewing hot lava everywhere.

"All of you stay out of this!" She pointed an angry finger at her friends and glared at her ex again, bunching up her hands at her sides. "Listen to me carefully, Simon, I got over you. I am over you. You don't need to explain anything to me, you are two years too late in any case, and I sure as hell don't need your sorries now."

"I know I was wrong, but why the hell do you think I went to Olive? Because you were such a prude, that's why!"

"I'm sorry if saving myself for our wedding night was such a terrible inconvenience to you!" Eden crinkled her nose in disbelief. He truly is her parents' son, had perfected their art of blame-shifting to the T. "And I'm sorry I pushed you straight into the arms of one of my best friends. I should have known your dick couldn't handle a little patience!"

"You call four years a little patience?" Simon threw up his hands, his nostrils flared. "So much for saving yourself, you gave it up to Liam fucking Anderson the moment he looked at you!"

"Shut up!" Eden spat at him. "And how the hell do you even know about that? Are you keeping tabs on me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart," Simon sneered, his eyes narrowed, his mouth curled in disgust. "I saw you in his arms that night, and I watched you leave with him, and everyone knows what happens when any woman leaves with Liam or any one of his crew. Really of all the rebound guys you had to choose him?"

"Yes Simon, I did, and you know what, he was bloody amazing! If I could sleep with him again, I would!" She cried, stunning everyone with her admission.

Simon carried on. "I meant nothing to you since you jumped in the arms of the first man that came along."

"What the hell did you expect me to do? Shrivel up and die of a broken heart? Beg you to come back? You watch too many movies!" Eden laughed incredulously. "And you know what you're right, looking back, that wasn't love. You were a comfort zone; a beautiful place to be in, but nothing ever grows there!"

She shoved him aside and began walking away, but he followed her and grabbed her arm.