Alex exhales. “You disappear, we assume you’re thinking. You lock yourself in?” He shakes his head. “That’s new.”
I don’t defend it.
I don’t explain.
They’re right.
I don’t lock doors.
Not unless I don’t trust myself not to spiral.
Finally, I ask, “So what’s going on.”
Alex lets out a humorless laugh. “You don’t get to say that like you’re confused.”
“I mean with you two,” I say. “You didn’t come here to watch football.”
“No,” Mark says evenly. “We came because you’re acting like this happened to you.”
That lands.
I lean back and scrub a hand over my face. “I know I fucked up.”
Alex shakes his head. “You didn’t fuck up. You made a decision. Then you made another one to avoid dealing with the first.”
“And you hurt someone we like,” Mark adds.
That sharpens everything.
“You all like her,” Alex continues. “Jamie especially. Which should’ve been your first clue.”
I stare at the floor.
“I didn’t mean to hurt her.”
Mark doesn’t let that breathe. “Intent isn’t the issue.”
Alex leans forward. “You slept with someone Sunday night.”
My jaw tightens.
“And then,” Alex continues, “you took Audra to dinner Tuesday like Sunday didn’t exist.”
“I didn’t lie to her.”
Mark exhales slowly. “You didn’t disclose.”
The word cuts cleaner than accusation.
“You let her believe she was stepping into something uncontaminated,” Mark says. “You let her decide without all the information.”
Alex doesn’t soften it. “That’s chicken shit.”
I close my eyes.
“I was going to tell her.”
“When,” Alex fires back immediately.
