Her mouth dropped open and her posture went stiff. Horror filled her voice. “Now?”
Yes.
“No,” I announced, frustrated with myself. Why did I say things without thinking whenever I was around her? “I meant during our next scene. What’s the big deal, anyway? You kissed Abbie.”
She balked. “I kissed Abbie because she’s not . . . you.” Her hands at her sides curled into fists. “She’s not cruel.”
What on Earth? I’d been accused of a lot of things, but this was a new one. “You think I’m cruel?”
“I know you are,” she spat. “I mean, God. After the race, I’d already been humiliated when no one would believe me about Riley, but then you had to go and bring up how Jack cheated on me.” Her anger flared like a match held to paper. “You threw it in my face, right in front of everybody.”
“What are you talking about? You’re the one who cheated on—”
I stopped speaking so fast, my whole body jolted.
Oh, no.
Obviously, she wasn’t the one who had her facts wrong. That person would be me.
“It was him?” I asked. “He . . . he told us it was you.”
“Us,” she repeated bitterly. The pain in her eyes was a knife in the center of my chest. She couldn’t look at me any longer, and her gaze turned away. “No. It was him.”
Thoughts battled for my attention. There was no doubt in my mind she was telling the truth. I was angry that Jack had lied to everyone, but I was even more pissed at what he’d done to her. How was this sexy, beautiful girl—who was way out of his league—not more than enough for him?
How dare he cheat on her?
The sweat on my body suddenly went icy cold. That day on the field, after I’d brought up the cheating and tried to shame her, Jack had just stood there. Hadn’t said a goddamn word. No, that asshole was perfectly fine letting everyone think he was the victim and not her.
Fuck. No wonder Mads had lost her shit.
If I’d been a better guy and not goaded her on, would we have avoided the whole mess, and still be at our separate houses?
“I’m sorry,” I said automatically, then frowned. I meant it genuinely and needed to clarify what I was apologizing for. “Especially about what I said. I didn’t know, and I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
An incredulous laugh burst from her lips, and she was right because what I’d just told her was ridiculous. Even without knowing the truth, my goal that day had been to embarrass her.
My mouth was sticky with regret, making me mumble. “I didn’t mean to be cruel.”
The room went impossibly still, and the heavy air between us glued me in place. But something in her seemed to snap, and it was clear Mads wanted to be anywhere but here.
“Whatever,” she uttered.
She racked the dumbbells before stalking over to her water bottle and snatching it out of the cupholder. And she didn’t glance back at me as she fled the gym, pulling the door closed behind her with a thud loud enough it made me flinch.
Well, fuck.
I was so early for our Monday scheduling meeting; I was the first one there. I slid into the same seat I’d taken last time and scrolled mindlessly on my phone, waiting for everyone to show up. Really, I was waiting for Mads to appear. I hadn’t seen her the rest of the weekend, which wasn’t surprising. Finals were coming up, so we were both busy, plus I was sure she was avoiding me.
Part of me had wanted to seek her out and attempt a better apology, but another part of me was afraid. Some dumb, thoughtless thing would fall out of my mouth the next time we were together, and I’d said enough already.
She thought I was cruel.
I’d had people call me an asshole or tell me I was being a dick, but it had never gotten under my skin before. I mean . . . sometimes they weren’t wrong. But it bothered me that she thought I was heartless.
I wasn’t mean. Hell, I wasn’t a bad guy.
She’ll come around. She can’t avoid you forever.
Especially not since we lived in the same house and there was this weekly meeting we had to attend.
Naturally, she was the last one to show up. She ducked into her seat and did a great job of pretending I didn’t exist. Everyone got to see her friendly smile except for me.
“Before we get to pitching,” Nina said, “I wanted to let everyone know I’ve spoken with Madison and Colin about their test results. They’ve both been cleared and said they’re willing to work without condoms.”
“Yay,” Abbie said with a giggle.
My gaze flicked to Mads, but she kept her focus glued to Nina. I sensed she knew I was looking at her, though. Her expression was fixed, like she was trying too hard to look natural.