Page 110 of Dirty Player
I believed her. Her sincerity was too genuine, the pain in her voice was too obvious. “I believe you,” I finally said. “If that’s all…”
“So you’ll forgive him?” The pain switched to hopefulness so quickly I almost got whiplash.
Bethany was younger—around Beaux’s age, I figured, but she’d hit the music scene even before she was twenty-one and flown to the top of the charts where she’d been foryears.I knew all this because I’d been a fan of her music and seen her perform on television during the music award shows. My hands still shook from overwhelmed excitement.
Sighing, I forced down my sudden, overwhelming need to fangirl. “The thing is, is that you’re here explaining it to me and he’s not. And he hasn’t.” Tears burned the backs of my eyes. The way he’d stared at me. “Thank you, I suppose, for explaining it to me. It helps, honest. But Oliver and I—”
“He loves you,” she cut in, stepping forward.
I held my ground even though I wanted to run from her.
“He told me. He talked about you for hours, felt so shitty about everything he said to you. I swear to you, if you give him a chance, he’ll explain it.”
“I’d have to see him for that to happen.” And it hadn’t.
“I know. He’s being an asswipe, but if you want to know the truth, all he talked about the other night was you.”
Tears filled my eyes, making her go blurry as I blinked them back. “I don’t know what to do with that.”
She looked lost for a bit, her gaze roaming my store as if she’d run out of her own things to say before she looked back at me and shrugged. “I don’t know either. Boys suck.”
I laughed then, unable to help myself.
Before I could respond in the affirmative, she clapped her hands together. “Now, this is totally off topic, but he also told me about these fabulous bracelet cuffs you made that he saw one day and had wanted to buy. Do you still have them?”
“Um.” What? “Yes,” I said, once again getting whiplash by this girl. She was too sweet to resist, and suddenly Melissa was at my side.
“Hi, I’m Melissa. How about I help you out with those?”
Bethany grinned. “I’d like that. And it was really great meeting you, Shannon. I hope I see you again.”
I doubted it. “Thank you,” I said, for lack of anything better.
“Go to the back and fix your mascara,” Melissa whispered before she guided Bethany over to the displays of cuff bracelets. “Take a few minutes. I’ll help her out, but you’re shaking so hard you might fall over.”
I hadn’t realized it until she said something, but my entire body shivered.
I nodded and went to the back. Then I dropped my ass to my chair in the office, put my head in the palms of my hands, and cried out all the residual pain I’d been feeling.
This changed nothing. So Oliver didn’t cheat. He still didn’t love me. There was no way he could, not after hurting me so deeply twice and ignoring me.
Another slice of pain hit my chest and more tears fell. He would tell another woman what he thought of me, how bad he felt for hurting me, but he didn’t have the time to make it right.
What good was it knowing any of it?
***
Later, after Melissa had helped Bethany and then brought me a bottle of iced tea and a salad from down the street, and after I’d finished up two more bracelets, I was finally able to try to focus on my work again.
I had just sat down to work after taking a small break upstairs in the apartment, and Melissa was out front, dealing with the deliveries that had just arrived.
Another bell chimed, and I assumed it was the UPS man leaving, when Melissa’s voice went shrill and she snapped, “What in the hell are you doing here?”
I jumped in my seat as a male voice murmured in response, and was on my feet and moving toward the front of the building when I heard Melissa’s angry demand.
“I don’t care. Get out.”
“What is going on?” I asked, turning the corner only to once again stumble on my feet.
