Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60933 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 305(@200wpm)___ 244(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
“Why?” she asked, her voice soft, almost a whisper.
Turning back to her, I felt a lump form in my throat. “Because seeing him again may crush me.”
Riley leaned toward me with a serious expression. “I don’t know exactly what happened. No one does except possibly Ryder. But Brady says Nash doesn’t talk. What little we all know is what Ryder told us, and that’s not a lot. I won’t lie: at first I was so mad at you. I was sure I hated you for hurting Nash that way.” She paused. “For hurting all of us. But as time went on, the more I thought about it, the harder it was for me to believe that you had cheated on Nash. It just didn’t sound like you. I’ve wanted to call you and talk to you, and I swear I have picked up the phone to text you a million times and stopped myself because I didn’t know what to say. But when Maggie said you were in town I knew I had to come talk to you. I had to see you. Not because of Nash but because you were my friend. One I miss terribly.”
I reached up and wiped a tear that had escaped and rolled down my face. I already knew what they all thought of me here. She may not have texted me, but I had received an angry text from Ryder. I never responded to it, but I had kept it.
“I didn’t cheat,” I said. “I would never have cheated on Nash. I loved him.” I stopped before I broke down and started really crying.
“Can you tell me what happened?” she asked me. I knew it wasn’t because she was being nosy. She had been hurt by all this too. She wanted to understand.
“Charles was my supervisor when I first got the job. He was helpful and nice. I appreciated how easy he made things for me just beginning. The models that the firm hired for marketing always seemed to end up in his bed. It was a joke around the office. He was a friend, and that was all. I realize now I was naive. I didn’t notice things changing for him. I didn’t see him as more than a friend and colleague. The first clue was when he brought me flowers he had picked up on the way to work. Then I finally noticed it had been a while since he’d come to work bragging about his latest model conquest. He had even stopped going to the photo shoots. I began to grow concerned by the attention I was getting from him. He was giving me bigger and more important jobs. Ones that I didn’t deserve. There were others there that should be getting those jobs. They’d been there for years waiting for chances like I was being handed.” I stopped and took a deep breath. Remembering this was hard to do. My mistakes had cost me Nash.
“After overhearing two of the women in my office whispering about me and saying I had to be sleeping with Charles, I knew I had to talk to him about it. Stop it. I asked him if he could come to my office before he left that afternoon, and he did. I told him what I heard and how I thought they were right to be upset and angry. I didn’t want him to give me any more jobs that others should be getting a chance at. Then… then he told me he had fallen in love with me. He went on and on telling me how I was all he could think about. He thought we were perfect for each other. I immediately told him I was in love with Nash and that was not going to happen. He grabbed me then and kissed me. I was shocked. I didn’t expect that. But more than that, I didn’t expect Nash to come walking in on it. When I shoved Charles away from me, it was then I saw Nash standing there in the doorway. He had flowers.” My voice cracked, and I dropped my head into my hands. “He had flowers,” I repeated on a sob. “And then he left. He just turned and walked away. I ran after him, and… and when he finally stopped and looked at me, he told me to shut up. He didn’t want to hear my lies. He didn’t want to see my face again. Then he threw my flowers on the floor at my feet and called me a bitch. I… I couldn’t speak. Words wouldn’t come. It felt as if my soul had been ripped from my body. I just stood there.”
Riley blew out a breath. “Wow,” she said.
I just nodded and wiped at the tears staining my face.