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“Okay.” I nodded slowly, soaking in every word he was telling me. “Good to know.”
“Can I give you my phone number?”
I stared blankly at him. “Lad, I’m flattered, but I like pussy.”
Darren smirked. “Just take my number,” he said, retrieving a business card from his coat pocket. “Call that number when you’re ready.”
“Wait!” I called after him, but he was already walking away. “When I’m ready for what?”
He didn’t respond.
57
How Could You?
CLAIRE
“Stop it, Cherub.” Crying hard into my pillow, I tried to ignore the paw that was prodding and swiping at my hair. “Please, I’m trying to wallow in peace here.” Nope. She was relentless in her pursuit of my curls. “Your squeaky mouse is on the floor.” I hiccupped out a sob. “Go play with that instead of my hair.”
Cherub didn’t go play with her squeaky mouse, but she did jump off my bed when my bedroom door flew inward. “I need to tell you something,” Gerard declared in a nervous tone as he strode into my room with an envelope in his hand. “Actually, I need to show you something…”
“Don’t bother,” I choked out, planting my face back in my pillow. “I already heard and saw.”
“What?”
I couldn’t take it.
I honestly couldn’t.
A sob tore from my throat.
“Claire?”
Followed by another and then another.
“Jesus, are you crying?”
My heart shattered into a million pieces all over again when he sat down on my bed and brushed my hair off my face.
“Baby, what’s wrong?”
“How could you, Gerard!” I strangled out, crying so hard that my chest heaved violently. “How c-could y-you?”
“I would answer you if I knew what the question was,” he replied, tone laced with panic. “What happened?”
“You happened, Gerard.” Giving him my back, I rolled onto my side and clutched my pillow to my chest. “You ha-happened.”
“Okay, you need to talk to me,” he half demanded, half coaxed as he rubbed my arm affectionately. “Because I have no idea what’s happening here, sweetheart.”
Feeling bereft and lifeless, I somehow found the strength to reach under my pillows and retrieve my phone. “Check my message from Helen.”
Taking my phone, he quickly unlocked it and set to work on the task I had given him. I knew the moment he saw the picture because I felt his body tense up beside me.
“Please d-don’t say it’s n-not what it l-looks like,” I strangled out, through heaving sobs. “Because she’s sitting on your l-lap and has her h-hand on your w-willy. You had the n-nerve to crawl into m-my bed afterwards.”
“Claire, it’s not what it looks like.” His voice was laced with a pained kind of urgency. “I swear it’s not.”
“I told you n-not to s-ay it.”
