“Tell me what I’m supposed to do!” she shouted.
I spun and did my best not to get in her face. I was pretty damn sure that would earn me a black eye, courtesy of Liam.
“You’re supposed to stand up for her. You’re supposed to support her when the rest of the town is going after her. It was your ass on the line, and she was trying to help you!”
“And that’s all I freaking see when I look at her!” she shouted. Tears pricked her eyes as she looked away from me. “I thought she was my friend. I went to her for clothes for my first date with Liam. I shared things with her that I would never share with anyone other than a friend. Do you know what it’s like when I look at her now?”
She swiped at a stray tear that spilled down her face. “Right here,” she said, thumping her fist over her heart. “I still feel this sharp pain in my chest when I see her and remember how she sat on my husband’s lap and kissed him in front of me. How she draped herself over his body and ran her fingers through his hair.”
She ducked her head, trying to compose herself, but it was clear that this was not something she was going to help me with. She was too wrapped up in her own feelings to care about anyone else.
“Do you know what it was like to show up at Liam’s house and see her in his shirt?”
“It wasn’t real,” I argued.
“I know that,” she cried. “I do, but all I see is her in his shirt! And I can’t?—”
She shook her head, backing away from me.
“How can you forgive him, but you can’t forgive her?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “Because I love him. Because I know that deep down inside, he never wanted to be with her. But she’s always been in love with him, and I can’t help but wonder if some part of her hoped to steal him from me.”
Her words splintered as they struck me, digging into me like a sharp stick. She loved him? That was one part of the story she never mentioned, though it made sense.
But none of that really mattered. Ellie was suffering, and I had to fix it. The rest, I could deal with later. Besides, it didn’t matter if she was in love with Liam. We were only fucking.
“She put herself on the line to try to help save you. The least you could do is stop the town from treating her like shit.”
I turned and stomped off to my car, and was out of there before I really lost my shit. It wasn’t right to blame Bailey, but it wasn’t Ellie’s fault either. She was a good person, and she’d gotten caught up in something that was now destroying her.
I didn’t know what else to do, how to make this right for her. I didn’t want to see that look in her eyes, and there was no way I ever wanted to see her vehicle spray-painted with those shitty words ever again.
You know what you can do.
My fists tightened on the steering wheel as I drove back to my place. I was making things worse with the deal I struck with her. Sleeping with her without taking her out only worsened her reputation. Yeah, I spent time with her, and to anyone really paying attention, it would appear we were together. But that wasn’t good enough in this situation.
As long as I stayed over at her house, the neighbors would gossip. The town would never forget what they saw with her and Liam, or the subsequent whispers that followed her around after they found out she was at his house that night.
I was only making this worse.
Jerking the wheel, I took the dirt road to the house I was renting, pulling up only minutes later. I was about to do something that I swore I wouldn’t do when I came home. But it was going to make things better.
At least, that’s what I told myself as I shot off a text to Ellie, then headed inside to get ready for date night.
21
ELLIE
Wear something sexy. I’m taking you out tonight.
I studied the text,trying to figure out what it meant. The intent was obvious. We were going out. But why? This wasn’t part of the deal. We didn’t go out on dates. The deal was strictly that we spent time together, but that meant at his house or mine.
Not in public.
I really don’t think that’s a good idea. Just come over here.
I’ll pick you up in one hour. Be ready, or I’ll take you out in your pajamas.
