Page 64 of Somebody To Love

I shrugged, feeling crushed. “There could be another explanation, but not one I’m willing to hear.”

She caught my arm as I turned to get in my car. “At least talk to him first, Piper. Like I said, there’s probably a reasonable explanation.”

“What excuse could he possibly give me that will make me feel better about his lies?” I said, more to myself than to Dana.

“You’re right,” was all she said. She let go of me and I slid into the driver’s seat.

“I’ll call you.”

I drove away and kept the tears at bay for about a block. And then I couldn’t see from the blur of tears so I pulled over in front of a house and just sobbed into my hands.

How could he? How could he do this to me? How could he lie to me? He knew about my past. Apparently, he knew everything there was to know about me. If he was the director or president, or whatever then he had access to my file and clearly he had read it. He knew everything about me and I knew next to nothing about him.

I didn’t stop to think. I didn’t bother to call. I just drove straight to his home. I wanted answers and I wanted them now.

I rode up the elevator to his condo. I let myself in. Happy that he wasn’t there yet. I didn’t know where he was, but I figured he would be home soon.

I couldn’t help myself then. I sat down and started going through his stuff. I knew it was wrong. But I was hurting and he wasn’t there yet to give me answers. And I doubted when he did arrive that his answers would be truthful.

I didn’t think I could trust him. No. I knew I couldn’t trust him. Unfortunately, he didn’t really have any personal information just laying around in his home. I opened his laptop and searched the internet for his company. Besides the website, there wasn’t much about the company online and the “About Us” section didn’t include the company’s founder’s name or anything else relating to its workers. But then I googled him and there were pictures of him and Sylvia at a charity function for Alzheimer’s. So much for having just met, I thought wryly to myself. Isn’t that what he had told me? That he didn’t know Sylvia well. I couldn’t remember, since I couldn’t separate the truth from his lies.

And as I continued looking, I found a whole profile of him on a career networking page and several other websites. In each case, he was listed as the CEO of Infinity Connections. So he hadn’t bothered to really hide anything, I guess because he never thought I would look.

And he was right. I had been naïve again. I had trusted a man while knowing next to nothing about his past. I had made the exact same mistake again. No, I was wrong. This wasn’t the exact same mistake. I hadn’t loved my ex who cheated on me. I could barely remember his name. But I had fallen in love with Ty. Or at least, I had fallen in love with the man who I had thought he was. And boy, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

What had he thought? What had his plan been? String me along and dump me? It was almost creepy that he’d orchestrated this whole ruse. And for what? What had he wanted from me? Besides to deceive me and humiliate me?

In frustration, I wiped at the tears that were falling down my cheeks. I didn’t have the luxury of being sad, I needed to stay focus, I needed to stay mad.

I heard the door opening and tried to regain my composure. He came in and smiled upon seeing me. “I see you used your key,”

I nodded, unable to speak.

He didn’t notice as he undid his tie. He was still wearing his work clothes.

“So how was the conference?” I forced myself to ask.

“Your voice sounds funny. Are you ok?”

“I don’t know. Am I? After all, you know everything about me. You should be able to figure it out.”

He looked at me strangely and said again, “Are you ok?”

“Wonderful. Now that the blinders are off and I know what type of man you really are.”

He shook his head. “I’m not following. What’s wrong?” He reached for my arm and I snatched it away and stood up.

“Why didn’t you just tell me the truth? Why did you lie to me? Was all this just a game to you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Are you saying that you’ve been perfectly honest with me? This whole time?”

He stared at me, as if trying to figure out what I was talking about. “I honestly don’t know why you’re angry with me. I’m no good at guessing games,” he said, sounding frustrated. “I just know that you’re angry with me but I honestly have no idea why. Please tell me what’s going on.”

“Two words,” I growled, “Infinity Connections.”

“What about it?” he said, not missing a beat.