I Choose Him, Your Worst Enemy novel Chapter 83

Chapter 83 Stay Away from Me

Wynette hadn’t actually expected Adriel to have a real concussion.

When the medical report landed in her hands, her eyes went wide with pure disbelief.

Adriel was lying in a hospital bed with an IV drip in his arm, under observation for the night.

Finished

She looked at the man stretched out in front of her, all wan and pitiful, and told him, “I’ll go take care of the admission paperwork.”

Adriel had his head tilted down, texting someone. He heard her and murmured back, “Okay.”

Wynette turned and walked out.

The moment she left, Adriel’s phone screen lit up again.

Someone named Gavin typed out a message, and Adriel’s screen filled with it. “I already talked to the staff at the hospital for you,” Gavin had written. “Take it easy and don’t push your luck.”

Then another message came through right after it. “Wait, do you actually like Wynette? For real? That is wild. You like the woman and you walk around looking at her like she personally owes you money, not even a hint of warmth in public? What is going on inside your head?”

A third came right on its heels. “Because of how cold you’ve been to her, everyone outside thinks you two can’t stand each other. I believed it myself. And now you’re telling me it’s been a slow–burn thing this whole time? This is fucking insane.”

Then the final one arrived. “Say something. Adriel, I’m warning you, don’t think your silence is going to save you here.”

Adriel found Gavin’s relentless barrage deeply, deeply irritating.

If this hospital weren’t under the Holloways‘ ownership, and if he hadn’t needed Gavin to fabricate a mild concussion report, Adriel never would’ve let this loudmouth anywhere near his personal life.

He’d known exactly what would happen the moment Gavin found out. The interrogation was inevitable.

The concussion was fake. The IV was just harmless saline. The desire to keep Wynette close, though, watching over him for the night? That part was entirely real.

Adriel replied without any expression on his face at all. He typed back, “She was with someone like Noah. What’s wrong with me taking a few shots at him in public? If her taste had been any better, I wouldn’t have had to say a word.”

Gavin fired back immediately. “What? Okay, respect, you’re built different. You’re not even scared of running her off with that attitude. Good thing Noah turned out to be such a disaster, or I have no idea where you’d find yourself a wife. Honestly, serves you right.”

Adriel typed back two words. “Get lost.”

He muted Gavin’s number the second he hit send and put the phone face–down.

나.

2:21 pm

ppp.

Chapter 83 Stay Away from Me

Fitched

He could admit it to himself, at least. He’d spent years unable to resist making cutting remarks whenever Wynette and Noah came up, but it was never really about Wynette. Most of it was aimed squarely at Noah.

The problem was that the media had a peculiar talent for twisting things, and somehow the narrative always landed on Wynette instead.

Gradually, the story outside shifted. Suddenly it was him having a problem with Wynette, the two of them locked in a mutual, bitter feud.

When the whole time, Noah was the one he couldn’t stand.

And besides, Wynette’s taste in men had genuinely been terrible. Was he not allowed to feel some frustration about the woman he liked treating a man like Noah like he was a prize?

Even thinking about it now left a bitter taste in his mouth.

But Wynette had finally woken up and cut Noah loose, and that was what mattered.

There was no way he was letting that window close without walking through it.

He’d moved fast, brought up the marriage license right away, and locked things in place so he could take his time from there.

And it had worked.

Wynette had no idea Adriel had conspired with Gavin to fake the whole thing. She carried the paperwork out toward the main lobby, completely unaware.

Some people just had that kind of luck.

Because Wynette hadn’t expected to run straight into Noah and Lorelei in the middle of a hospital, of all places.

She rolled her eyes and immediately turned to put as much distance between herself and those two as possible.

“Wynette.” Noah spotted her in an instant.

He was carrying Lorelei in his arms and moving toward Wynette with quick, purposeful strides.

Lorelei’s ankle was too badly twisted for her to walk, so Noah had no choice but to carry her.

He hadn’t expected to run into Wynette here either.

Then he registered that he was still holding Lorelei, and he set her down to the side without ceremony. “Noah…” Lorelei reached out for him, but he sidestepped her hand without even looking.

She and Adriel are close enough now for her to take him to the hospital?

That’s impossible.

He absolutely refused to believe it.

In everything he’d ever seen, Wynette and Adriel had barely interacted.

Then the memory of Adriel praising Wynette to his face surfaced, and the resentment that had been building inside him spiked white–hot.

Wynette wrenched her wrist free with force and drove her open hand across Noah’s face. “If something’s broken in your brain, get it checked. What business is it of yours who I’m here with? Stay away from me.”

2:21 pm

ppp.

Chapter 83 Stay Away from Me

She snatched the papers out of Noah’s hand and stood.

**Finished

Lorelei had watched the whole thing, and now she pointed at Wynette with indignation burning in her eyes. “Wynette, what gives you the right to hit him? Noah was worried about you. How could you go behind his back and get close to another man, especially one who’s never gotten along with him?

“I see what you’re doing,” she pressed. “You’re trying to make Noah jealous. You want him to see you with someone else so he’ll come running. That’s low, Wynette. That is really, genuinely low.”

Even now, backed into a corner, Lorelei was still hurling accusations.

Wynette heard every word of it, and she brought the stack of papers straight across Lorelei’s cheek in one decisive swat. “Watch your mouth. The next time I hear you say one single word against me, I will make you regret it.”

She raised her hand again, ready to follow through.

Lorelei flinched and ducked to the side, terrified Wynette would actually go through with it.

But she forgot she was balancing on one foot.

That single sideways lurch sent her straight to the ground. A sharp, distinct crack rang out as she hit the floor.

Lorelei crumpled onto the tiles, her already–injured ankle now bent at a wretched angle. She sat there on the floor and wailed.

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