Page 68 of Somebody To Love

“Oh really? So you’re telling me you didn’t deliberately manipulate me and mislead me?”

He faltered. “I’m not going to pretend that what I did was right—”

“Good.”

“But my intentions were not to hurt you.”

“And what exactly were your intentions, Ty? Because the only thing you succeeded in doing was hurting and humiliating me.”

“Again,” he said, growing agitated, “That was not my intention.”

“It doesn’t matter what your intentions were... all that matters is that you’ve shown me your true colors. You’re a liar. You manipulated me to get what you wanted. And I’m not going to let you manipulate me anymore. We’re done talking—”

“No. No we aren’t. I’m not going to give up on us.”

“There is no us.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“I have nothing to say to you. All you’ve done is lie to me.”

“That isn’t true. The way I feel about you, none of that was a lie.”

I ignored the lump that formed in my throat. I didn’t want to talk about emotions. I needed to hate him now because hating him would keep me from forgiving him. And I needed to keep my distance and protect myself. I couldn’t allow myself to forgive him and risk him hurting me all over again. “You pretended to be someone you weren’t.”

“I never pretended.”

“Fine, then you omitted the truth. Whatever you call it. It’s still dishonest. You played with me. Played games with my love life.”

I could tell he was growing frustrated. “What I feel for you is not a game. It’s very real and you know that. So please, stop with the victim mentality.” Suddenly he looked angry.

“Excuse me?” I placed my hands on my hips as if warning him to consider his next words carefully. How dare he?

“You heard me. You’re making me out to be the villain just because that’s the kind of guy you’re used to dating. For the record, Piper, you chose those guys. You chose the worst of the worst.”

“I did not choose be cheated on.”

“You sound like a broken record. What’s the saying? When you do something over and over, it’s not a mistake, it’s a hobby.”

I felt as if he had slapped me in the face, “How dare you judge me? You don’t get close to anyone. You just sit behind your desk and play with the love lives of others. Promising happily ever after. But tell me something, Ty, do you even know what it is to be happy? I mean, after all, it’s not like you had someone to teach you.” I knew I had hit below the belt, but I was furious. Furious with myself for falling for him and furious with him for having orchestrated it all.

His mouth tightened and he shook his head and muttered something to himself. Gone was the frustration and anger in his eyes, and in its place was hurt. He quickly looked away from me and took a visible breath. “I think we both just need to breathe and calm down. I’m sorry for what I just said. And I know you’re angry. But just hear me out, can you just do that?”

“No,” I’ve said holding back tears. “I heard enough.”

He didn’t try to stop me from closing the door. His face showed resignation and hurt. But I didn’t care, I was done caring. I shut the door and decided at that moment that I was also closing this chapter of my life…the chapter on love.

Chapter Eleven

“Did you lose weight? Your clothes are barely fitting,” Dana commented.

I looked down at my baggy shorts and t-shirt. I hadn’t lost weight. If anything, I had put on a few pounds since I was stuffing my face every other hour it seemed. I think I was depressed. Or maybe I was just really sad.

I was determined not to sit around thinking about Ty. In fact, whenever he came into my mind, I pushed him away. Since our encounter at my front door, he hadn’t reached out to me. I felt disappointed that he hadn’t tried harder. But maybe too much had been said between us.

In the end, I shrugged off Dana’s question with a mumbled, “Maybe.”

We were sitting around her kitchen table just me, her, and Meredith. We were making a get well card for Meredith’s teacher. Carter had taken the twins to the zoo, so we were on our own. I was having fun. At least I think I was. I tried to not think too much about my emotions lately.