Chapter 1 - You Ruined Me

"Hi" a low voice reached her from the other end of the room. She turned around slowly and a smile spread on her lips as soon as she realised who it was. Alex. She hadn't expected to see him before the ceremony. A bunch of nervous butterflies started to make a notice of themselves in her stomach. She took a deep breath and breathed out. "Hi" she answered him nervously and watched him take a careful step forward.
He was thrown back by how beautiful she looked and for a moment he managed to put aside what he came there to do and just adore her, take in her presence. He returned her smile but the reason for him being there started to find its way back to him, hitting him like a brick - It didn't allow him to think of anything else but that. He took his eyes of her and looked at his feet. He knew he had to do it but how could he? How could he stand in front of her like this, well-knowing that what he was about to say would ruin absolutely everything. How could he take away her happiness?
"Is everything alright?" Claire asked and walked towards him with a frown on her face. His expression started to scare her, she had never seen him like this before. He sighed and looked back at her. Her presence made everything so much harder than he had expected it to be. "We need to talk" was all he said and walked further into her bedroom, battling whether or not to tell her.
"I'm kinda letting people wait out there" she said as her cheeky self hoping to lighten his mood but it didn't. His expression stayed the same. Serious, sad and nervous. "Oh, you have time for this. Believe me" he continued and shook his head. Not only was he aching because he knew he was about to shatter the happiness for the only person he ever truly cared for but he was feeling outraged at the same time. How could someone do this to her?
"Alex what is it? You are scaring me now"
"You can't marry Peter" he said as collected as he could. "What?" Claire snorted trying to understand where he was coming from but he didn't answer. She felt a bit of anger crawl its way to her. How could he do this to her. How could he stand in front of her minutes before she was about to marry Peter, saying she couldn't. He kept looking at her in all seriousness and his eyes didn't hide the ache he was feeling. "Alex?" her voice changed to a more firm one. "He's already married" he blurred out, not giving much thought of how to get the actual words out. It wasn't something he could wrap up as something nice, it would destroy her either way.
She was thrown back. Married? What was he talking about - Peter wasn't married. He was about to get married, to her, now. "What …" She said confused but then she felt herself getting angry at him. He couldn't just walk up here and tell things like this. If he wanted more from her, he should have taken his chance when he had it. "I know you don't like him, but this is low, even for you!" The anger in her voice made him look hurtful at her, questioning how she could think that off him. She took a step back, realising this wasn't a poor attempt of a joke. "I don't believe it" she said in the most firm and collected voice she could find but she couldn't even fool herself.
"Her name is Julia. They have two kids together and they live in Queensland" He said with tears to his eyes and pulled out an envelope from his pocket. It killed him to say it, more than she would ever know. In that moment he cursed not only Peter for putting Claire through this but also Harry. It hadn't been more than an hour ago Harry pulled Alex and Nick aside, letting them know what he had dug up in his search to find something on Peter - something he could use to ruin his business but he had no idea he would come across something like this. And now Alex was left with the option to hurt Claire now, or later. Nick hadn't agreed on telling it to her now, but Alex couldn't let her marry someone like him - She would hate him forever if she found out he knew before the wedding and didn't say anything. Sure she was going to hate him now but it wouldn't last.
"Give me that!" she hissed and pulled the envelope out of his hand. She carefully skimmed through it and then tears started to fill her eyes. She felt her hands starting to shake and a lump in her throat started to grow. "Claire …" he said and took a step closer to her, wanting to put a hand on her shoulder but she stopped him and took a step back. She couldn't believe this. Any of this. Moments ago she had it all and now everything was getting wiped away under her. She felt her heart break in a million of pieces.
A desperate knock sounded on the half closed door followed by Peter's voice. "I know it's bad luck to see the bride before the altar but is everything okay? We've waited 45 minutes" he looked happy and had the biggest smile on his face as he walked in - until he saw Claire's smeared makeup. He quickly looked at Alex, almost as he was blaming him for Claire's tears. "What is it Claire? What's wrong?" he asked and walked passed Alex, eager to get to her. "Is it true?!" Claire asked with teary voice and a harsh look met him. "What is true?" he asked confused, trying to figure out what Claire was on about. "You married?" she managed to dig out that piece of strength in her that hadn't been completely lost yet. Peter went quiet, it threw him off guard and he had the look everyone else had when they got caught in a lie. "No!" he exclaimed but it only made Claire snort. "You have a wife and two kids in Queensland. Stop lying!" she said and threw the envelope in his face.
"Claire, listen to me - It's not as it looks" he said as he took his eyes off the note. "Do you mind? Can I talk with Claire alone?" Peter asked irritated, knowing Alex in fact was the cause to Claire's tears now, just not in the way he thought when he first entered the room.
"I'm not going anywhere" Alex answered cold blooded. Peter had hurt Claire enough, he wouldn't let him hurt her any more than he had and it took everything in his power not to swing a punch at him.
"We are seperated, Claire. Believe me" Peter spoke again, trying to ignore Alex's presence in the room. "Believe you? How should I believe you?!" She asked with the same firm voice and silent tears rushing down her cheeks. He walked closer to her and put his hand on her shoulder, but she pushed him away and took a step back instead. "I was about to walk out there and make a complete fool of myself. Do you understand what you have done?!" She yelled - And in that moment it felt like someone was stabbing her in the heart with a handful of knives. All the things that had lead to this exact moment was gone, killed. There was nothing left. Peter looked at her with a great deal of pain in his eyes but she couldn't feel sorry for him. He had broken her. In a matter of a couple of minutes he had managed to break her completely.
"Claire, please" he begged but she didn't flinch. She turned around facing the window, his presence was too much to deal with. She closed her eyes and more tears started to fall in a steady stream, heavy but silent. Voices from outside reached her and her heart shattered even more, reminded of what she had just lost.
"Could you leave?" She suddenly heard Peter ask. His voice was cold, nothing like she had ever heard before. She knew he was talking to Alex, without even looking their way. "No" was all he said. Nothing more, nothing less. "This is between Claire and I!" her name on Peter's lips caused a stir in her and she opened her eyes again - Somehow hoping everything would be better, but it wasn't. She looked down herself. The white dress shattered the last remaining piece of her heart and she felt like screaming, crying, yell at them to leave her alone but she remained silent.
"Like hell I'm leaving Claire alone with you!" Alex said with a voice saying he'd had enough of all Peter's bullshit. "You are nothing but a pathetic, cheating bastard!" he continued and walked towards Peter, one step at the time. Everything about him despite him and the urge to swing a punch at him was getting harder to resist.
The words hit Peter like a ton of bricks and without much thought he pushed to Alex, hard enough to force him a couple of steps back. Alex breathed out slowly, shaking his head - His eyes was burning and he couldn't fight the urge to plant a fist right in his stupid face anymore.
"You want some?" Alex asked with a harsh voice and flung his arms threatenly to the sides. He had nothing left for someone like Peter and before he knew it, he found himself swinging a arm right in his direction, hitting him straight on the side of the head.
"You should have left when you had the chance!" Peter yelled and punched Alex right on the nose, making a heavy stream of blood run down his face. Before Claire could react to anything, the two of them was going at each other, right in the middle of her bedroom. A feeling of panic started to travel through her body, not knowing what to do to break them off - She tried calling them out but in vain. Everything was happening so fast and it was becoming unreal. She woke that morning, expecting this to be the greatest day of her life and instead, she woke to a nightmare.
"Hey, hey, HEY! - That's enough!" a voice suddenly sounded from the door. Nick. He quickly got between the two of them, preventing anymore punches from happening. He looked towards Claire and got met by a makeup smeared face, telling him just how devastated she was.
"What's taking so … long" Tess's voice sounded, surprised by the sight in front of her. She scanned the room, looked at both Alex and Peter, and then at Claire. She rushed to Claire's side as soon as she realised she was crying. "What's going on?" She asked and was starting to freak out. She had left the room 20 minutes ago to tell everyone they was ready for the ceremony to begin - getting back to see this wasn't exactly what she had imagined.
"Claire, please" Peter begged again and freed himself from the tight grip Nick had on him, keeping him and Alex from each other. "You have to talk to me!" he continued and walked towards her. He placed both his hands on her shoulders, just as he had earlier and seeked her eyes. She snivelled and looked away from him, feeling a new stream of tears ready to rush down her cheeks. "I don't want to hear it" Claire almost whispered, trying to stop crying. "Claire .. I love you! Please, let me fix this" but his pleading didn't get him far - At once Claire's crying stopped, she somehow managed to get it under control and then she looked back at him. Dead cold, no feelings, no life to show.
"I don't care if you love me. You've ruined me!" She almost yelled. She looked down at the floor and took a moment to gather herself. "You ruined us…" she almost whispered. And with those words she stormed out of the bedroom, ready to escape the great nightmare that took place in front of her - She had no idea where to go but she had to get as far away from this whole mess as she possibly could. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she heard Tess call out for her at the top, telling her to stay. It made her stop for a brief moment and look back up the stairs. She couldn't stay in the house any longer.
She made a run for it through the kitchen, hoping none of the guests would be out back. She felt a sting to her heart as she thought about all the people waiting for a perfect wedding, on what was supposed to be a magical day for her.
She squeezed her eyes tight, trying not to cry as she scanned the area for any people - No one in sight. With great pace she ran towards the ute at the stables, cursing to herself for wearing a stupid wedding dress, making it much harder to run than it had to.
She quickly searched the glove compartment for the keys and with fumbling hands she got the engine going. She took a deep breath and leaned back in the seat. Was this what she had become - A runaway bride?
She felt the hurt consume her slowly and she didn't know what to do to make it stop. It felt like it was pulling her under water and she was desperately padding to stay above. She felt like a fool for not seeing this. She never trusted anyone enough to put down her guard and let them inside, but with Peter - With Peter, it was different. She fell in love with him so quickly and everything seemed more real, more perfect at his side. A couple of tears started to roll down her cheeks - How could love hurt this much?
The hurt that started to consume her was slowly being replaced by a anger she had never felt before - It scared her a bit, to feel these sort of feelings, but it only confirmed how invested she was in her life with Peter. She wanted everything with him but the man she thought she knew, was gone and she kept questioning herself how he could do this to her - Didn't he love her? She shook her head - It ached too much.
"CLAAAIRE!" She suddenly heard Tess call out and she looked in the rearview mirror. They were all there. Tess, Alex, Nick - Even Meg had joined them but no Peter. She wasn't sure if she had expected him to follow her out. A part of her wished he had but the other part of her never wanted to see him again. Tess started to walk towards the ute but she couldn't deal with her right now. She couldn't deal with any of them. All she wanted was to be alone and clear her thoughts. She tightened her grip around the steering wheel and put the car in reverse, which only made Tess call out once again. She took a quick look around, making sure no one was in the way and then she speeded up, and disappeared down the driveway.