Chapter 21
Matteo
As soon as she headed away from me, I had the sudden urge to stop her. To scream after her, don’t go! She needed space right now. Her face during the scene looked disappointed. I could tell she thought everything I was saying was the truth. It wasn’t. All of it was a lie. The truth was I wanted her to stay. I enjoyed getting to know her, and over the past couple days, I saw a different side of her. A side that I was growing fond of.
I could see the pity on everyone’s faces around me after she left. The only people that would talk to me was my sister and Shawn. Although, he didn’t quite know what to say.
“Listen, bro, sometimes relationships start out as a lie but end in truth. You need to decide which one you want,” Shawn said to me.
His words seeped into my brain as I realized he was completely correct. Our relationship had indeed started with a lie, but that didn’t mean it had to end as one. Going into this agreement, I wasn’t looking for anyone to get close to, just someone to please my family until we headed back after the wedding. But with her, it became so much more. I found myself smiling when she was around, enjoying her company, and my family loved her. Could I let this just be a simple lie? Did I want it to end?
Fuck it! I ran as fast as I could up to the hotel room. I hoped I would make it before she left, but when I opened the door, all her stuff was already gone. She left. My face dropped as I realized she was really gone. For an instant, I thought go run after her, follow her to the airport and confess to her. That was what you should do. Then my brain said, “No, that’s too cliché. I’m not doing that.”
When I turned around to head back to the party, I noticed a letter sitting on the nightstand with my name on it. Fuck! Right now, I was contemplating reading it now or later. I shook my head and flipped the letter open and began reading.
Matteo,
When I first met you, regret came over me knowing that I accepted this job. Over these past 7 days, I went from despising you to being determined to bring out the good in you. The other night, I saw that side. You showed me a side of you that I wish I could have gotten to know better. Our kiss, the sex, meant something to me. I’m hurt to know it meant nothing to you. I don’t like that you used me in that way. That night, I believed you, and you made me out to be a whore. For that, I will never forgive you. However, maybe you don’t want to open that side for me, but you should consider opening it up for someone. Each person has so much love to give another. Open yourself up to that. I know deep down, you can be an outstanding man, but right now, I can’t even stand to think about you. Honestly, this letter should be filled with curse words and anger, but I can’t bring myself to do that. I knew if I took this job, I would have to leave today, but a part of me wanted you to ask me to stay. After your outburst, I knew that was not going to happen. All of it was a ruse. This whole thing a big lie. This letter will be the last time I will give you this advice. Please don’t make matters worse and contact me. Thank you for the last 7 days.
Sincerely,
Lacey
I stared at the letter, rereading parts of it, realizing how bad I just fucked up. I closed my eyes and shook my head after realizing how awful I just made her feel. Here I was, telling her to never let a man make her cry, and I did. So badly, at that moment, I wanted to bring her against my chest, kiss her forehead, and whisper into her ear, everything is going to be okay. Instead, I did the exact opposite. I talked down to her, making matters worse, hurting her feelings to a point where I don’t know if she would ever want to talk to me again. If the parts had been flipped, and someone talked to me that way, no way would I contact them. In fact, I’d block their number. I let out a big sigh. I fucked up bad. How was I going to fix this?
Right now, I needed to head back downstairs; the last thing I needed was my family being worried about me. To them, I was madly in love with this girl. Breakups had never been good for me. I didn’t want them to think they needed to come to pry me off the bed. This breakup was nothing like it was with Kelsey. I wasn’t the one that got hurt; instead, I was the one who inflicted the pain. After all these years, I just treated someone the one way I begged not to be treated. How fucking foolish was I?
I stood up from the bed, took a deep breath, and headed downstairs. I knew the rest of the night wasn’t going to go well for me. All I could think about was Lacey’s face. Her disappointment. Her anger. Her sadness.