He stared at me like I’d just punched my stomach before shooting meth into my veins.
“Where is this coming from?”
“Was I the only one who saw her flirting with you right now?” I blinked. Grant being a gaslighter was not in this year’s bingo card.
Fortunately, he shook his head and clarified, “I know she is flirting, just as well as I know that you don’t give a dang.”
“Of course I give a dang. You’re dating her. Or at least, this is where it’s going.”
His expression smoothed over, turning from confusion to arrogance. A smug smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth. “And if I am?”
I uncrossed my arms, balling my fists by my side. “Then I don’t want to be in the next room when you bang her. Is that really too much to ask?”
“We live on separate sides of the hallway.”
“Your apartment is not that big.”
“But something else is, and I see it’s been on your mind quite a bit recently.”
“You got me there.” I rolled my eyes. “Can you blame me, though? Your ego is too much to overlook.”
“Just admit it.”
“Admit what?”
“You’re jealous.”
“You’redelusional.”
“Maybe. But that’s beside the point. You’re still jealous.”
I was, and I hated it. There was no point in denying it, though. I wanted to do the mature thing and tackle this thing head on. The baby deserved so much more than two parents who played games with each other.
“Yeah, I guess I am.” I searched the floor, avoiding his gaze. “I like you.”
“You like me?” he repeated, stunned.
“Why does that surprise you?” I scowled. “I’ve been sleeping with you for years.”
“And refusing to take it to the next level the exact same length of time,” he reminded me.
“That has nothing to do with you. You’re perfect,” I admitted exasperatedly. “It’s all me and my screwed-up relationship with men. Connor broke me. Trying to have a healthy relationship with a man is like trying to put a bouquet of flowers inside a shattered vase.”
“You’re not a shattered vase.” His eyes hardened. “You’re a human, and one of my favorite ones at that. Now tell me what happened. I need to know just how hard I need to punch this guy next time I see him.”
God. I was going to open up to him, wasn’t I? There was no other choice. I needed him to understand me.Unfortunately, baring my soul made me feel a million times more vulnerable than baring my body to him.
“Remember when you joked in your car that he must’ve killed a baby to make me hate him so much?”
A zing of something formidable passed through Grant’s pupils. “Yes?”
“Well, he kind of did.”
Grant’s expression morphed to deadly and entirely frightening. For a second, he didn’t look like himself at all. “I’m going to need you to elaborate.”
I couldn’t believe I was going to tell him what I had only previously told Maddie. Though I’d never admit it, I always felt what I’d been through with Connor was proof I was a weakling. A starry-eyed, naive girl who deserved how he’d treated her.
“I met Connor the first week of my freshman year in college. It was in Oregon, across the country, light-years away from my friends and family. We immediately got together. He was my first boyfriend. My first everything, really. I’d always been extroverted and popular, but I waited for the perfect boy. For a short while, that’s who he was for me.”
