“It’s been getting better, though,” I said. “You two are a lot closer now. Remember what it was like the first time I came over?”
Preston had only been living with his father a few weeks, and the tension between the two was palpable. Preston hadn’t introduced me. I’d come in and barely gotten a look at Dr. Lowe before Preston was hurrying me down the stairs to the basement. It would be a month before I had my first conversation with his father.
Time wore away at them, softening the sharp edge of Preston’s anger, but it hadn’t dissolved completely. They’d done a good job at playing family long enough it was almost real.
“It’s not going to change what I do,” Greg said, running a hand down his long face. “I’m never going to give up trying to make it right with him. But, tell me honestly. Is it too late?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think so. You just need more time with him.”
God, the way he looked at me was heartbreaking, and my gut twisted. Yes, Greg had been an absent father at first, but he loved his son and was trying so hard now. That had to count for something. I mean, my father hadn’t given a shit about me, ever. No child support payments or birthday presents in the mail. The only thing he’d given me was half my DNA, and sometimes I wanted to point out to Preston he hadn’t gotten the shittiest deal in the dad department.
“But we can’t tell him,” I announced. “It’ll destroy everything you worked so hard for. Burn every bridge you built.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know him,” I clarified. “I know how he’ll react.” I could guarantee it wouldn’t go well. Preston’s ‘fuck you, Cassidy’ would be amended to include a ‘fuck you, Dad’ and maybe even a ‘fuck you forever.’
Greg frowned. “I’m not saying he’ll be okay with it, but—”
“No,” I said. “We can’t tell him. And, yeah, I know it sounds like I’m trying to take the easy way out, but I’m not. He was my best friend, Greg. I know him better than anyone else, and believe me when I tell you, we can’t do this. You’ll lose him forever, and I’ll be the reason.”
His dark eyes clouded over with something I didn’t understand. “You don’t know everything about him.”
Well, that was cryptic. “What?”
Greg’s eyebrows pulled together, creating a crease of worry for a pregnant moment. “I just mean you can never know someone completely.” He reached out and captured my face, cradling it in his hands. “He needs to know. He almost walked in on us this afternoon. What if he had?”
I sighed, and my heart gained five heavy pounds, sinking in my chest. “We don’t even know what this is. How do we explain it to him?”
His expression shifted, and it was clear he knew I’d made a valid point. What if tonight was the last time we were together? I didn’t see the upside in risking Greg’s relationship with his son on something that might fade as quickly as I could stuff my prom dress back in the bag I’d brought over.
“So,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest, “we lie to him.”
A stone turned in my stomach and my voice was meek. “Until we can figure it out, I think we have to.”
“Great.” His tone was flat. “This is a great idea. If he finds out instead of hearing it from us, it’ll be ten times worse.”
“He’s not going to find out.” I heard the way the words sounded as they came from my mouth and cringed. Was I really pushing for this? Willing to sneak around behind the back of the guy who’d once meant so much to me? And I’d be doing it so I could continue having crazy-hot sex.
Jesus. I hadn’t lied to Preston when I’d told him we weren’t the same people we were before. I barely recognized myself anymore.
“We’ll be careful,” I said. “And we’ll tell him, once the summer’s over and he’s done going through whatever phase he’s going through right now.”
I was sure we both had the same feeling of dread crawling through us, thinking about how terribly this could go wrong. I swallowed a lump and mustered up the courage to be vulnerable.
“We have three options. Tell him, keep it a secret, or stop. Just so you know, it doesn’t matter how or what we tell him—he’s going to think I left him for you.”
And that betrayal would be too much. Preston wouldn’t recover.
I gazed at the man sitting beside me. Greg’s dark hair was ruffled, and his full lips turned down in a frown, but he was easily the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. His thick biceps were exaggerated, crossed over his powerful chest, and his smart eyes focused in on me.