Chapter Seven
Lola’s screamscaused me to react. I turned quickly to the teenagers, huddled on the other side of the coffee table. Rosa had Cara in her arms. She was the calmest of the trio. She was gently rocking the baby, trying to keep her from reacting to the loud noises.
“Take the baby to my room. All of you, go. Now!” I demanded. They didn’t argue. All of them turned quickly and headed to my bedroom. I turned back to Ronny and Tate. Tate had fallen to the ground but was scrambling up quickly. He held his hand to his jaw.
“What the hell, man?”
“That stupid little stunt you pulled. I never got the chance to tell you what I thought about it. I forgot all about it after my accident.”
“What stunt?” Tate was looking at me, green eyes wide with confusion. I grimaced and looked around for the book in question. I found it on the couch. I grabbed it and waved it at the men. Tate’s face filled with recognition. His mouth made an ‘O’ shape. He turned back to Ronny and smirked. “What do you want to say about it?”
“It’s bullshit. All of it!”
“What makes you think that?”
Ronny smiled. However, I knew Ronny better than anyone here. The smile wasn’t real. It didn’t reach his eyes. His eyes were blazing with fury that was about to explode about the room.Again.
“Page after page was you talking about how sad you were, how much you missed her,” he made a face as if he swallowed a lemon. “You hardly know her. We’ve known each other for years, but a few weeks of you two kind of dating and you think you are a better match for her than me?” he scoffed.
“You knew her body. I know her mind,” Tate said, unflinching. “All you could give her was your dick. How does it feel knowing that she never really gave a shit about you past that? She found someone who could do both. And better, if we’re being honest here.”
I felt heat rise in my face. Ronny turned his attention to me.
“Does everyone know that you’re a slut? Sleeping with him behind my back? All the while pretending to fucking care about me,” he shouted, tilting his head towards my bedroom. I swallowed hard, knowing that I’d have to try to keep my cool as long as possible. I was sure the three young adults were all listening behind my door.
“I do care about you,” I protested. He looked at me with such disgust it made my stomach roll. I was going to be sick.
“You’re disgusting,” he said and spit on the floor. I flinched. “You don’t care, you just feel guilty. You dumped me for this stupid fuck and then I almost died. You don’t love me, you just didn’t want to look like the worst human being on earth. Well, that’s too late, baby. Congratulations.”
“I didn’t dump you. You broke up with me. Or have you still no memory of that? It’d be mighty convenient to forget that forever,” I said, crossing my arms. I knew it was a lame response. I was dealing with semantics. It didn’t matter who ended the relationship.
“Oh, thanks for the clarification,” he laughed. “You didn’t really give me a choice after finding that stupid journal in your room. And what did you do right afterwards?” He looked over at Tate. “You ran right back to him.”
He laughed again and put his hands on the back of his head, spinning around.
“Why are we rehashing this again? We’ve been separated for weeks now. I thought we were moving on from this,” I sighed. He shook his head.
“We were, but then I remembered everything again. This was bullshit for you to hide this from me.”
“Because it didn’t matter!” I cried. I looked over at Tate. His arms were crossed, and was leaning against the wall, watching Ronny carefully. I turned back to Ronny. “What was the point of hurting you further? I didn’t want to be with you anymore. That’s all that mattered. Details were just extra digs.”
“I knew it. I fucking knew it. He’s been trying to get you back since day one and I knew if he stayed here, eventually you’d give in. That book detailed every thing I suspected for months. But you know what? I can’t be mad. You couldn’t help it. You’ve always been a whore, so why would me dating you change anything?” His sharp words stung my ears. My chin trembled as the word rang through my head.Whore.
Tate stepped forward but I put my hand up to stop him. I needed to just let Ronny get it all out. He continued his verbal attack.
“You know that’s the only reason I wanted to be with you in the first place, right? You were so secretive about your sex life I knew that once I got you alone, your legs would spread like butter. And I was right. It didn’t take more than a few compliments to get you to fuck over your best friend. Was it worth it? What about now? Is that stupid fuck worth it?”
I took everything he shouted at me without responding back. What was I supposed to say? Everything he said was right. I betrayed Tierney to be with him, and then I betrayed him to be with Tate.I was a whore.
Tears started to silently slide down my face. I didn’t wipe them away. I was afraid if I moved then I’d break down completely.
Yes, he was. Tate was so worth it.
“I don’t even know who to be mad at. Why even bother? There’s no real point. There never was. He made you swoon for him over what? Some fucking books? I wrote music for you, I left my relationship for you. I lost so much just to be the one for you and you left me for some guy who likes to read. I’m glad to see where your priorities are.”
“Ronny, it’s not like that. You’ve got it all wrong,” I finally spoke up. He put his hands over his face and pulled at his unshaven cheeks. He shook his head at me.
“You can’t stop lying, can you? You tell whoever you’re talking to what they want to hear, not really meaning any of it. You said you loved me but all the while you were with him.”
