AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m sorry. It’s—”
“Whatever. Keep your secrets and your lies.”
I grabbed my wallet from the night table, giving him way more time than it should take him to explain. I loved him so much I was willing to accept any explanation that sounded like the truth. Even if he was lying.
“Griff,” he said when I was at the door. “I did not cheat on you. Please believe me. Do you?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat and glanced back at him. He’d put on the shirt, covering the marks on his body. “I don’t know what to believe, Scott. Why did you decide to stay with Jay all of a sudden? And your attitude today is nothing like the Scottie I know. But damn you, I believe you.”
Did that make me a sucker? The irrational part of my brain wanted to know who he’d been with, but the part of me that knew Scottie, that slept beside him every night, found it difficult to believe he would betray me like that.
Not my Scottie. Something else was going on.
Jarrod was waiting for me outside, back to typing on his phone. He’d sprung for tickets to a basketball game, and even though I’d been pumped to go to the event earlier, I couldn’t summon any excitement. Not when my fight with Scottie lingered in my mind.
We walked to Jarrod’s car, the evening’s chill wrapping around us.
“Want to drive?” He tossed me the keys to his Jag without giving me a chance to respond. I shook my head. I would never understand him and how comfortable he was trusting me. Normally, people avoided me when they learned about my past, but he hadn’t blinked about giving me his expensive toy to drive.
“You trust me with your car?” I asked as I got in.
“Need my hands for texting. Don’t think much of it.”
I wanted to call bullshit, but he pulled out his phone again, so I pulled out of the parking spot and onto the quiet road.
“Scottie got home okay?” he asked.
“Yeah.” Though okay was not the right word. He was moody, secretive, and skittish. Had he even spent the night with Jay? He knew Jay and I weren’t on speaking terms, so I could hardly verify.
Scottie didn’t cheat. He’s not like that.
“Something happened?” Jarrod asked.
“Why’d you ask?”
“Yesterday, you were thrown for a loop when he messaged you he would spend the night with your son. But you don’t seem enthusiastic at all about his return. Don’t tell me one night of freedom reminded you that you prefer a single life.”
“Hardly.” It was the opposite. Scottie’s return and our argument had made me realize I didn’t want to live without him. “Maybe I’m overthinking.”
“Overthinking what? So something happened?”
“Does Scottie strike you as the kind of guy who would cheat?”
“Not at all. Besides, if he did, you would know. He’s as transparent as a book.”
“Exactly.”
“But then again…”
I shot him a sideways glance, then returned my attention to the road. “There’s a but?”
“Nah, it’s nothing. Forget about it.”
“Fuck no. You can’t make a statement like that and not follow up.”
“Don’t want to get involved in your relationship, man. You and Scottie make a great couple.”
“But…”
