“So you’ve said.”
“There never was.”
“Does he know that?”
“He does. Almost from the very beginning.”
“The texts. On your phone.”
He let out a slow breath. “So that’s what it was. I should have known it—”
“I didn’t mean to snoop,” I admitted. “I was picking up your phone to move it and I saw his name come up on the screen and before I knew what I was doing, I was reading the messages.”
“So instead of asking me about them you… what. Assumed something and tried to push me away?” I could tell he was frustrated, and while I could admit that was mostly my doing, he wasn’t completely blameless, either.
“You’d never given me a reason to trust you,” I said stiffly. “In fact, you did quite the opposite.”
He laughed, but the edges were bitter, rough. “And that’s on me. I know that. I was stupid. I was young and cocky and so goddamned immature. I fucked up. I’m sorry. No one should ever be made to feel less than they are, and I’ve hated myself every day since that moment.”
“Why?”
“Did I do it?”
“Yeah.” I finally looked up at him in the mirror, only to see him looking sad, arms crossed protectively over his chest. He was staring down at the floor, shoulders slumped.
“Because I was an asshole,” he finally said. “Still am, if we’re being honest.”
“We are,” I said. “Because that’s all that will be acceptable from here on out.”
He nodded, but still didn’t look up. “I thought I was better than everyone else. I thought I was the motherfucking shit. I thought I could get away with doing whatever I wanted to whoever I wanted. I liked you, but the only way I knew how to show that was to be a dick. That, and the fact I was with the other homo jocks, it just snowballed from there. I thought I was being funny.”
“You weren’t.”
“I know that,” he said. “The moment the words left my mouth, I knew that.”
“You made me feel like I was worthless.”
His arms tightened around him.
“You made me feel like I was nothing.”
His shoulders tensed.
“I accept your apology.”
He looked up, eyes wide and shocked. “What?”
I shrugged. “I forgive you for being a dickbag.” I was surprised how easy it was.
“Why?”
“Would you prefer I didn’t?”
“No,” he said hastily. “No, that’s perfectly fine. That’s better than fine. That’s… that’s good.”
I snorted, trying to ignore my happily fluttering heart because as much as I wanted to believe, I was not a Disney Princess, for fuck’s sake. If anything, I was the evil queen, but even evil queens should get their happily-ever-after butt sex.
“The texts?”