If I leaned back only a little, I would feel the hardness of his chest. Instead, I spun and looked up. “I can’t trust you. I don’t.”
“Fuck, Vee. You were the one who lied to me. I thought we had something, something I’d never expected. And through it all…” He took a step back and ran his left hand through his hair. “You couldn’t be honest with me.”
My eyebrows knitted together as I tried to make sense of what he was saying. “I never lied to you.”
“You didn’t tell me the truth.”
My voice was raised more than I wanted, yet there was no stopping now. “Shit, Fin. I told you things I haven’t told anyone else. I talked to you about mymother.” Even saying the words caused my chest to ache. “I told you about my dreams. I gave you…you were my first. You fucking knew that.”
There was no stopping these emotions, the crack was growing in a dam I’d had in place for too long. Tears continued as the blockade broke to smithereens, the hurt and betrayal now a raging rapid no raft could survive.
I reached for my suddenly aching temples. “I trusted you with my secrets, my thoughts, my body…I gave you everything I had, and you ghosted me. You said you’d call. You said it was separation in distance only.”
“Vee.” He reached for my shoulders.
“No.” I screamed louder than I should. “I texted. I called.” I wiped my nose on my arm. “I saw the pictures, Fin.”
His forehead furrowed. “What pictures?”
“You at Tennessee. You and some spunky, big-boobed blond cheerleader. She was hanging all over you. You were smiling. Don’t you dare lie to me and tell me you weren’t happy. I saw them. They crushed me.”
Fin took a step back and lifted his hand to his head. His bicep bulged beneath his sleeve. “Fuck, Vee.”
My napkin was in shreds, yet I used what was left to wipe the tears and snot from my face. “Thank you,” I said, standing taller. “Thank you for not denying it. I’dhate you more than I did that day if you tried to gaslight me.”
“Shit, I’m not denying it. I don’t remember who the fuck she was, but I’m not denying.”
A scoff came from my throat. “I figured she was the ex-Mrs. Graham.”
“No.” He went back to the table and sat. “Her name was Abigail.”
Blinking, I did a quick shake of my head. “Are you serious?”
“You didn’t look?”
“No. You’d already hurt me enough. I lied when I said I didn’t follow your career. Your personal life, I avoided.”
“I met Abigail when I was at Green Bay.”
“Cheerleader?” I asked with a raised eyebrow as I took the other chair.
“Public relations.” Fin shook his head. “At Tennessee, there were a lot of girls. I honestly don’t remember them. I wouldn’t know them if they walked in here today. I know I sound like an ass, and I probably was. I used them, every one of them, for one purpose.”
“What?”
“To get you out of my system.”
CHAPTER 27
Fin
Vee was more than what others in the Coopers’ organization saw. In this rare moment, she was broken; she was real and raw with her swollen eyes and red nose. While crimson splotches dotted her neck and decolletage, she was still beautiful. I longed to reach out, to hold her, and to beg her forgiveness.
I couldn’t.
There was still more truth yet to reveal.
She stood, her arms stiffening as her palms slapped her thighs. “Bullshit.” She spoke louder. “I call bullshit, Fin. Poor you. Quarterback, revered byall, suffering through hundreds of brainless Barbies. My heart breaks for you. All that sacrifice just to getmeout of your system.” Her volume rose. “I called you. I texted you. If you wanted me out of your system, you should have returned the damn calls. Told me goodbye. No, you didn’t do that. You moved on as if I never existed.”
