Page 159 of Shade
He stares at me intently for a few seconds. I can’t tell if he’s angry or defeated, but I know I can’t let him go thinking I did this on purpose.
Our gazes are locked, and I allow myself to get lost in his intensity. “Shade. . . I didn’t mean to hurt you. I wasn’t sure what to tell you. Yes, I followed your career, and yes, we had sex, but you didn’t remember, and I didn’t think I should tell you otherwise. I realize now how awful that sounds and I’m sorry. It doesn’t change how I feel about you though.”
“And it changeseverythingabout how I feel about you.” And then he walks away from me, the door slamming behind him.
Well, there you have it. Life ruined.
Did you see that one coming?
Thanks for warning me. In all honesty, I think in some ways I did too. But I didn’t know how to tell him after the first day because at that point, after my interview, everything else was essentially a lie, wasn’t it?
Wrong. For me, it wasn’t a lie. For me, it was everything we both needed, whether he sees that now or not.
Tears shake me as I plop down on a chair, the warm summer air blowing over my burning cheeks. The door opens and I hold out hope it’s Shade.
Nope. Tom.
“I’m sorry,” Tom says, sitting beside me and handing me a tissue.
I stare at him. “I hate you.” And then, I refuse to look at him. Looking at him makes me want to punch him in the face and I’m afraid I’ll break my hand if I do.
“You do not.”
I wipe away my tears with my hand and toss the tissue at his face. “Yeah, Tom, I kind of do. What the fuck was that about?”
“Why are you mad at me? Because he knows the truth?”
“Yes. . . no. It wasn’t your place to say anything.”
Tom snorts and shakes his head. “Never start a relationship with lies. It’s doomed from the start.”
Has he lost his mind? I actually give him that look. “When I first met you, you told me you were a lawyer.”
He waves me off. “That’s because I thought you’d want to fuck a lawyer, not a ‘barely making it to next week’s payday’ singer.”
The tears don’t stop. “And you don’t see the irony in your statement about not lying?”
He shrugs. “No. What were we talking about?”
Remember when I said Tom was dumb? Do you believe me now?
My heart leaps in my chest when I think about Shade again. I should have told him from the beginning why I got the job. Tom might be dumb, but he had it right when he said never start a relationship with lies.
