“Yeah. He hit me with that before I could get Park’s name out and I was in total shock.” He reaches out and grabs my fingers, holding them loosely. His touch feels so good. So right. “She’s been sleeping with my brother and my uncle. My dad just…lets her do this to him, time and again. But he’s no saint either, so they just keep cheating on each other, again and again. It’s—awful.”
“It’s so awful.” I squeeze his fingers, wishing I could reassure him better. “I don’t understand her.”
“I don’t understand either of them,” he agrees, then hesitates. “Dad told me some other stuff too.”
“Like what?” The way he’s looking at me makes me nervous.
“He mentioned things about…you. How he had a private investigator look into your background.”
My hands, my entire body immediately goes ice cold. “Really?” My voice is shaky and I brace myself for the bad news.
“He found out that Diane is—your mom. Your actual mom.” He grips my hands tight, his gaze locked on mine. “Is it true, Jensen? Did you know she was your mother all along? Is that why you tried to get close to me? So you could get back at her somehow? Were you concocting some sort of evil plan to take down the Wicked Witch of the West and in the meantime ended up falling for me?”
My heart is racing so hard, I can hear the insistent pounding is roaring in my ears. I stare at him, my head spinning, relief flooding me that the truth is finally out there, lying between us like a living, breathing thing. I’m still intact, and so is he, and neither of us seem angry, which is a good thing.
A very good thing.
Wait a minute. He asked if I ended up falling for him. Does this mean he’s fallen for me? I always thought my truth would be the end of our relationship.
But maybe it’s the beginning.
Rhett
I wait for her answers, my fingers still curled around hers, our gazes still holding like we can’t look away. There are tears in her eyes, making them extra blue, and when one of those tears falls down her cheek, I reach out, stopping it with my thumb.
“Why are you crying?” I ask.
She sniffs, closing her eyes like she can stop the flow of tears, but it’s no use. They’re really coming now. “I don’t know. I think I’m just so relieved you know my secret, I can’t help but cry.”
“So it’s true. You knew all along Diane was your mother.”
She nods, her dark blonde hair sliding across her shoulders. Her face is pale and her hair isn’t brushed, and she doesn’t have a lick of makeup on. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, and that’s because she’s mine. Despite everything that’s happened, all the secrets and the lies and the bullshit, none of it matters.
All I care about is her. All I want is to hear her say she’s in love with me, and she wants to be with me, damn the consequences.
“And when you first met me at the bar?”
“It wasn’t an accident.” She gives me a watery smile. “I planned to run into you there. I planned that night in the library too. And at the diner.”
“Placing yourself everywhere I went.”
“I semi-stalked you for months. I was so scared that night in the bar, and when you approached me, I was also mad. Mad that it worked. Mad that you were so charming. Really mad that you were so good looking.” She rolls her eyes and I reach out again to wipe away her tears. “You frustrated me on an almost daily basis when we first started spending time together.”
“You still frustrate me on a daily basis,” I admit, making her smile. “What were you trying to do?”
“I don’t know…it was so stupid. I wanted to lure you in, make you believe I was your girlfriend and then get back at Diane somehow, yet never knowing exactly how. I was more curious than anything else, I guess. Curious about her, about you, your entire family. And I did all of this, studied you, researched the family, put all this time and energy into my plan, into my anger.” She hesitates, swallowing hard. “Once I got to know you, my plan just…disappeared. I couldn’t go through with any of it. I can’t even explain to you exactly what I wanted to do.”
She releases her hold on me and runs her hands over her face. “It was all so stupid, so fake. I can understand how you’d never want to talk to me again.”
“That’s the last thing I want to do,” I admit, making her drop her hands from her face so she can stare at me. “It never felt fake to me.”
“It never felt fake to me either,” she confesses in a hushed whisper. “From the start, I wanted—more. I kept resisting it, knowing the deeper I got with you, the worse it would be. I felt so much guilt for keeping my secret, and I didn’t know how to explain it to you. How could I get involved, fall for you, and never tell you the truth? I knew you’d never forgive me.”
Damn, this girl. Her words are making me sad. I can sense her fear, her regret, her frustration. I understand it, because I’ve felt so many of those same emotions too. “Come here,” I whisper, beckoning her, patting my knees. “Sit on my lap.”
r /> She frowns but still gets out of her chair, settling her perfect butt on my thighs. “What?” Her face is so close, I wish I could kiss her. But not yet.
“This entire situation started out…fucked up. We can be real with each other right now, okay? You lied. And I fell for it.”