Dear Ex-wife Marry Me novel (Maja) novel Chapter 2186

Of course he was drunk. If he weren’t, he’d never have said Bert should apologize.

Bert popped open another bottle for Tyler, grinning. “You’re not nearly drunk enough. Come on, have another.”

Tyler opened his bleary eyes, then suddenly tilted his head back to stare at the ceiling.

“Bert, I visited her old high school, you know. Found out about her first love. Good-looking guy. But do you know what really matters?”

“What?”

“My nose. Right here.”

He pointed at the bridge of his nose, his eyes still glazed over with confusion.

“He has a birthmark here—just like Kerwin. Maybe that’s why Athena was drawn to me, why she was ever kind to me. Isn’t that pathetic?”

He kept saying it was laughable, but the pain in his eyes was so raw, it nearly spilled over.

Bert didn’t know what to say. He’d never been in love like Tyler. At best, he’d see a pretty woman and want to have some fun, but once he actually got her, the appeal vanished.

You always want what you can’t have. Once you do, you stop caring.

“Bert, it just hurts so damn much right here.”

Honestly, Bert didn’t have the patience for this. If Tyler weren’t truly his friend, he’d have tossed him into the pool outside to sober up. All this suffering for a woman—what was the point?

“Tyler, have another drink.”

“I don’t want to. The more I drink, the worse I feel.”

With that, Tyler slumped over, as if he’d fallen asleep.

Bert grabbed a blanket from the couch to cover him, but noticed Tyler’s eyelashes were damp. Had he really been crying again? Lately he was acting like a heartbroken girl—tears at the slightest provocation.

Tyler never got along with his family. After that surgery years ago, the doctors couldn’t guarantee how long he’d live, so he’d always drifted through life, refusing to take anything seriously. Even the scripts he wrote were over-the-top melodramas—he loved that kind of drama. He just never imagined one day it’d boomerang back and pierce his own heart.

“What, you thinking of dropping by?”

“Which set, Bert?”

Bert had no choice but to spill. It was a low-budget TV series, unlikely to ever make it to primetime—probably just a streaming release. Athena was playing a maid with only a handful of scenes.

She’d been acting for years, but she was still a C-list actress, not exactly famous.

When Tyler drove over, he arrived just in time to see Athena suspended in the air for a torture scene, a whip striking her back. Even though the actor wielding it was careful, it still had to hurt.

Watching from his car, Tyler just thought she was impossible. If she’d only talked to him for a moment, he could have arranged so many great opportunities for her.

But she refused.

Worse than refusing—she walked away from him entirely.