“Sofia called off the wedding, and it’s allhisfucking fault!” Ellis snapped, pointing at Flynn. Kate sucked in a sharp breath and we both reached for Sofia. I wrapped an arm around her trembling shoulders and Kate’s wide eyes met mine in question.
“Later,”I mouthed.
Flynn scoffed. “Her decision to call off the wedding had everything to do with your dumb ass, not me,” he defended.
“It’salwaysyou. You’re always in the way!”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Flynn shouted, exasperation in every line of his face.
“You know damn well what I’m talking about. Hell, Chiara wouldn’t even give me a chance while you were living at home. I saw the way she looked at you, the way you watched her when you thought no one was looking. She wouldn’t give me the time of fucking day untilyouup and left,” he snarled.
My eyes went wide at this, and I looked at Kate in confusion.
“What the hell are you on about? Chiara and I were never together back then. I kissed her the night before I left, and that was it. If she didn’t give you the time of day before that, it’s not my goddamn fault.”
Ellis’s face twisted into an ugly scowl. “Yeah? Then how do you explain that we were doing fucking fine until you came back on break from the army, and two weeks later she’s suddenly done with me? Huh? Or now, you’re back in our lives for a few days and Sofia has decided we’re over. How the fuck do you explain that?”
“None of that had anything to do with me,” Flynn defended.
“Like fuck it didn’t! You come back and my life falls apart every time. You’re out to ruin me,” Ellis accused.
Flynn shook his head, and I took a small step forward.
“I never saw Flynn when he came home from break,” I said.
Ellis’s angry eyes swung to me, and he shook his head. “Sure you didn’t.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I have no reason to lie. I never saw or even spoke to Flynn when he came back. Our breakup had nothing to do with him.”
Ellis shook his head. “Then explain it to me, because your story about us just not having enough chemistry doesn’t fit. You never even gave us a real chance. You just left.”
I bit back my first remark and forced myself to take a breath. “So, you think because I never slept with you and prove we had chemistry, that’s why we didn’t last?”
“It’s either that, or your fuck toy over there manipulated you,”Ellis answered, his chest heaving.
I frowned. “Ellis, I broke up with you because I wasn’t in love with you. You knew that. I never once told you I loved you because I didn’t feel it. Everyone was always telling me we should be together, so I gave it a shot. But I was right, and we never should have gone down that route.”
He opened his mouth to interrupt, but I held up a hand, deciding to get this over with once and for all.
“Secondly, you were constantly pressuring me to have sex with you, and I was tired of saying no and tired of that disappointed look on your face. It was clear that you loved me in a way I didn’t love you, and I decided it wasn’t fair to hold you back.”
“I wasn’t pressuring you,” he argued.
I raised an eyebrow. “You did, constantly. To the point where I had to push you off me multiple times. I brushed those off as you being so eager, but you didn’t make me feel safe. It was like you had something to prove.”
Ellis’s eyes flew to Flynn then, accusation there clear as day. “Youtoldher?”
I raised an eyebrow and turned to look at Flynn. “Told me what?”
“I didn’t tell her shit, but I regret that decision now. She deserves to know,” Flynn said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Tell me what?” I demanded again.
“About the bet,” Flynn answered, dragging his eyes from Ellis to me. “He had a bet going with his friends that he could get you to sleep with him before you started college.”
“Bastard!” Ellis roared and tried to charge Flynn again, but Trev got there first.
“Enough, Ellis!”
