He Took Off His Hearing Aid And My Love Died Chapter 08
Chloe stepped in front of me before I could get a word out, her hands planted on her hips. “Who are you?”
Julian glared at her. “I’m her husband.”
Chloe scoffed. “Oh. You.”
“You’re the one who threw Clara under the bus for another woman, right? Clara hasn’t even come after you
yet, and you have the nerve to show up here?”
“What happened – did your side piece get boring, so now you want Clara back?”
She fired it all off without taking a breath. Julian’s face went dark.
His hand moved toward his hearing aid – the same reflex, the same escape route.
Chloe’s eyes went wide. “Oh my god, he’s hard of hearing too?”
“Clara stuck with you for seven years and this is what she gets? She’s an actual saint for not walking out
sooner.”
Julian staggered like she’d hit him. Audrey rushed in and caught his arm.
“Julian, are you okay?”
His face was white. He shook his head.
Chloe folded her arms, watching the two of them. “Oh, and you must be the other woman.”
Her eyes flicked to the hearing aid on Audrey’s ear.
“Matching hearing aids and everything – how cute. Two of a kind, ganging up on the only decent person
here. Honestly, you two deserve each other. Stay together and stop ruining other people’s lives.”
Audrey’s face cycled through three shades of red. “You-”
“You what? Tell me I’m wrong.”
The tension was about to break. I put my hand on Chloe’s arm. “Chloe, thank you.”
“But I need to handle this on my own.” She was still a kid. My mess wasn’t hers to fight.
Miles sighed from behind us. “Aren’t you supposed to be getting to class right now?”
Chloe’s eyes went huge – she’d completely forgotten. She grabbed her bag from Miles and shoved him
toward me.
“I can get there on my own. Miles, stay with Clara – the other woman literally showed up outside her house.
She can’t deal with this alone.”
She took off with her luggage before anyone could argue. Silence dropped over us.
Julian spoke first. He reached for me.
I stepped back. His hand hung in the air, and the hurt that crossed his face was instant.
“Clara, don’t do this. Just come home with me. Please.”
Audrey stepped forward. “Clara, you have no idea how worried Julian’s been since you vanished.”
“You’re completely fine this whole time and you couldn’t even send a text? Do you know what you put him
through?”
My nails bit into my palms.
Audrey never changed. Every word sounded like care. Every word landed like a blade.
I was about to fire back when Miles nudged me and pushed an Arizona Iced Tea into my hand. “Wow, the fake sympathy out here is making me nauseous. Good thing I brought this to wash the bitter taste out of
your mouth – here, drink up.”
I caught his meaning immediately. I took the drink and smiled at him – a real smile. “Thanks.”
Julian watched the exchange, and something in him snapped. He closed the distance in two strides and
grabbed my arm.
“Do you have any idea what I’ve been going through? And you’re standing here flirting with some guy right in
front of me?”
I wrenched my arm free. “Julian, I left you divorce papers.”
“I already filed. So do me a favor and stop showing up in my life.”
Julian held my gaze, his jaw set.
“I didn’t sign them. Clara, I’m not letting you go.”
A laugh broke out of me – the kind that comes from pure disbelief.
“You have some nerve, Julian. The second you used what happened to me seven years ago to protect
Audrey’s reputation – that was it. We were done. There’s no coming back from that.”
“So who’s this devoted-husband act for? Because it’s not fooling me.”
His mouth opened. Closed. Nothing came out.
I was done. I turned to go, pulling Miles with me. Julian caught my wrist.
“Clara, don’t go. I can’t do this without you. If nothing else – I saved you back then. Doesn’t that count for
something? Just one more chance. Please.”
I stopped walking. I turned and looked at him and he was staring back at me like I held his whole world in my hands.
The sound that came out of me wasn’t really a laugh. “Saved my life?”
“Julian, you are the reason it happened. You pointed them to me. If you hadn’t given them my name, none of it would’ve happened. So tell me again – what exactly did you save me from?”
