My stomach plummeted to my knees. “Go on.”
Hands shaking, he set his mug down.Shit.What the hell was going on?
“I love you. Please, no matter what, that’s the truth. This time with you has been the best of my life. I…I’ve never known anyone could make me so happy.”
Feeling a little better, I gave him a wary smile. “So far, so good.”
Blinking rapidly, Presley held on to the armrest of the chair, his fingers digging into the fabric. “I, um, I told you about that man, the one who was my first lover.”
My brow furrowed. “Yeah. The guy from over six years ago. The one who died.”
A flicker of pain crossed Presley’s face. “Yes. Jared. His name was Jared. I met him at a pretty low point in my life. My parents were dead, and I had to take over running the store myself. Frisco was in Italy at the time, and I was all alone.”
“Poor baby. It sounds terrible. I’m sorry you had that happen to you.”
As if he hadn’t heard me, Presley kept speaking in a tight, monotone voice. “When I met Jared, he was so full of life and sophisticated, I fell for him right away. At first he wasn’t that interested, but I figured it was because he was older.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mind a hot young guy throwing himself at him. Who would?” I smiled to let him know it wasn’t as big a deal as he made out of it.
Ignoring my attempt to make him laugh, Presley continued. “Finally, I invited him to dinner, and he agreed. We had sex that night, and I fell in love with him. I realize now, though, it wasn’t love but lust.”
“Sounds like it. But you were young and alone, as well as being a little naïve. Especially since it was your first relationship. I can understand.” I reached out a hand to him for comfort, but he either ignored me or didn’t see it.
“We were together about a year and I thought we were happy, until one night in a restaurant a woman came up to us and…” Here his voice faltered, and dread pooled in my stomach.
“Was it his wife? He was cheating on his wife with you? I’m sorry, baby. What a bastard.” Angry for Presley, my hands balled into fists.
“N-no, he was gay. The woman was Jared’s sister. He was married, though, and was cheating on his husband. I freaked and ran out of the restaurant, and the affair ended.”
I hurt for Presley and Jared’s husband both. “Baby, you were innocent. You had no idea he was married.”
“Frisco had an idea he was. He said a guy who’d never stay the night or go away for a weekend had to be married. I told him he was wrong, but he wasn’t. And I was the fool.”
I gave him a reassuring smile. “Okay, like I said. A little naïve. And you did the right thing and ended it when you found out.”
Presley gnawed on his lower lip, and though I took his hand in mine, he didn’t return my comforting squeeze. “Until,” he began in a low, shaky voice, “four years later when he came to me and said how much he missed me. That his husband didn’t understand him anymore. He was so lonely.…His husband was a writer and would go away on tours and leave for weeks. Jared would ask him not to, but he went anyway.”
Unease prickled through me, and my stomach churned. “Press…was he still married?”
Looking miserable, Presley nodded. “Yeah,” he whispered. “And I didn’t care. I still loved him. I’d dated, but no one had made me feel like Jared. He told me how special I was and how good I made him feel. He said there was no one like me.”
“Of course he said that to you. He wanted in your pants,” I yelled, snatching my hand away from his as if burned, and left the table. “So you fucked him. You kept me dancing on a string, but you dropped to your knees right away for him.”
A bright-red flush broke over his cheeks, and he paled. “I deserve that. Yes. For a couple of months we got back together. Then he broke up with me. He-he had a child, and he was going to try and make it work. A few days after he left me, he and his son were killed in a car crash.” He rose from his seat. “I’m sorry, Nate. I wanted to tell you, but—”
“A child?” Horrified, I retreated from Presley. “You slept with a married man who had a child?”
“I didn’t know until he told me.”
“But you knew he was married. And you didn’t care to even find out if maybe he did have a child. All you cared about was yourself.” Disgust dripped from my lips, and I felt nauseated. “I don’t fucking believe this. How could you? How could you do that?”
I remembered my mother getting the call that my father was in the hospital, and we called Ethan, then rushed over to Lenox Hill. But it was too late. We saw Jillian crying in the waiting room, and my mother asked her why she was there. When Jillian hesitantly told her, my mother slapped her across the face and told her to get out. It was family only, and she was nothing but a stranger to us.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Presley cried. The distress was genuine, but I could barely look at him. “I was in love with him, obsessed. I didn’t think about anything else.”
“Cheaters are always the most selfish people. They don’t care about anyone or anything except getting their itch scratched. And that’s all you ever were to him. Just an easy fuck.”
Presley flinched as if I’d struck him. “I didn’t know he had a child. I didn’t know.”
