Page 234 of The Heart You Kept

”It’s just me and you know it won’t go anywhere.”

“Hermione isn’t a sexual being, she isn’t like you or me.”

I stare at him as I listen.

“We were perfect on paper and I adored her, but sexually it wasn’t there for me.”

“But you were attracted to her friend.”

He swallows the lump in his throat as his eyes hold mine. “Hermione was the one who suggested it.”

“How did this come up?”

“We were partying one night on my yacht and after everyone went home, Hermione asked me if she could join us in bed. She thought that it would reignite a spark between us.”

I listen intently as I get a vison of how it went down.

“The problem was….” He stops himself again.

“You liked it.” I finish his sentence.

He nods.

“So it happened a lot?”

“Yes.”

“How did Hermione….”

“Watch me with her?”

“Yeah.”

“Looking back, it isn’t my proudest achievement. Isadora and I both loved to fuck.”

I get a vision of them going hard at it as Hermione sat to the side and waited her turn.

Poor Hermione.

“So Hermione thought she was saving her relationship and all she really did was put herself through the heartbreak of watching you fuck her friend?”

He twists his lips and I know that I’m right.

“You cold bastard,” I whisper. “How the hell could you do that to her?”

“She was all for it. Trust me, I wouldn’t have done it if I knew it upset her at the time. Hindsight is a wonderful but sometimes upsetting thing to have because things are a lot clearer than they are at the time.”

“I don’t even know her and I know she wasn’t all for it.”

“You said that this wouldn’t affect us?” He grabs my hand over the table. “It isn’t like that with us. We are different, I’m in love with you and I would never even dream of doing that to you.”

I stare at him; the rose-colored glasses are well and truly off.

“What then?” I ask.

He sits back, unwilling to share more.

“I shouldn’t have judged you. I was just shocked,” I apologize. “Go on. From then to now, what happened?”