Closing my eyes, I pushed out a long breath. This was so much. So, so damn much. I didn’t want to believe it, but… I mean, what if he was telling the truth?
Then again, what if he was lying?
I met his gaze again. “Texts can be fabricated.”
His expression didn’t even twitch. With a soft sigh, he focused on his phone again. A few taps, and he showed me the screen.
And God, I wished I’d just taken him at his word.
The selfie he’d taken with her was just so…her. Those eyes, that smile—that was Selena, through and through. And there he was, kissing her on the cheek.
He thumbed away from that photo, and what appeared this time was a video. I didn’t want to watch, but I couldn’tnotwatch.
They were in the crowd at a concert. She was filming, focusing on herself, then him, then the stage, before coming back to them. He grinned at the camera, wrapped an arm around her waist, and?—
This time I did look away, because while it had been hot as fuck to watch them make out in our bed while he was railing her,I couldn’t stomach watching them kiss on that screen. Not while they were in the crowd at that concert she’d told me she was going to with“some girls from work.”Not while she had on that sexy black blouse she’d been wearing when she’d left.
“So when you get home,”I’d murmured to her between kisses,“I get to take this thing off, right?”
She’d grinned against my lips.“If you’re still awake, I’m all yours.”
“Gonna hold you to that.”
We’d shared a long kiss. Then I’d told her to have fun, and she’d left, and I’d woken up with her beside me.
In the present, in this mediocre coffee shop that I’d never be able to walk into again, Jesse stopped the video, put his phone down, and whispered, “I’m sorry. If I’d known…”
There was a part of me that wanted to tell him to go fuck himself. To save all his apologies and quit pretending to feel guilty.
But… I didn’t believe he was pretending. And why would he? What did he have to gain? Because I didn’t imagine he saw any outcome where he ended up with Selena. Either she’d dump him once she found out about this, or she’d be disgusted with him for lying about it and trying to split us up. There was no flowchart for this situation that ended with him “winning” Selena.
I sipped my cooling coffee. It tasted terrible, but that probably had more to do with the bile in my throat than anything. After I’d swallowed it, I folded my hands in my lap and sat back in my chair. I studied Jesse. Nothing about his expression or his body language telegraphed that this was an act or that he was enjoying this. His brow was pinched, his eyes full of too many emotions to count—none of them pleasant. He looked as miserable as I felt right then.
Which made me wonder…
I moistened my dry lips. “Were you two serious?”
Jesse leaned back, jaw working, and he watched himself turning the phone between his hands again. “I, uh… Ithoughtwe were.” He huffed a humorless laugh, and his voice sounded close to cracking as he added, “I was looking at rings.”
FuckingChrist. Couldn’t he just punch me in the face? Because that sounded like it would hurt a lot less than this.
He sat up again and pressed his elbows into the table. Rubbing the back of his neck, he said, “I honestly had no idea about you two. I thought—I mean…” He let his hand fall to the table and met my gaze with exhausted eyes. “I still don’t even know how to process it. I… Literally the only thing I’ve been able to make sense of is that you deserved to know.”
A lump rose in my throat, and I fought it back. “Yeah. I, uh… I appreciate that.” The words sounded like a lie—I hated this. I hated everything about it. But I did mean what I’d said. I appreciated what he was telling me in the same way I’d appreciate my doctor giving me a cancer diagnosis; it fucking sucked, and I wished he’d take it all back, but at least now I knew. Now I could do something about it.
Do what, I had no idea. But… something.
“Have you said anything to her?” I croaked.
Staring at the table between us, Jesse shook his head. “No. Like I said… still processing.” He chewed his lip, then met my gaze through his lashes. “I’m going to end it with her. Just so we’re clear. This isn’t—I’m not doing this so I can have her.” He gave a caustic laugh and shook his head. “I’m not wasting my time with a cheater.”
“Same,” I growled. As I reached for my coffee again, I rolled my eyes. “It’s funny—the two exes I had before her always bitched that they thought I’d end up cheating on them. And now this.”
Jesse’s lips quirked. “Let me guess—can’t be trusted because you’re bi?”
With a dry laugh, I nodded. “Every time.”
He chuckled almost soundlessly. “Yeah. Same.” His humor, such as it was, faded, and he added more to himself than me, “Should’ve known someone who wasthatinto bi men was too good to be true.”
