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Shelia brought us our plates of food and I waited until she left before I asked, “Are you still mad about it? What she did?”
Smoke grabbed the salt and doused his biscuits and gravy without even tasting it first. “Nah. It was a long time ago. She was young, I was young. Shit happens.”
I sighed. “I hope I get to that place one day. Where I can just say shit happens and I don’t want to punch Knox in his square jaw.”
“His betrayal is fresh. Maybe this’ll turn out to be a good thing for you.”
“How?” I frowned. “How could finding out my fiancé cheated on me ever be a good thing?”
“Be glad you found out before you tied the knot. Before you had kids. Divorces are usually pretty messy. You dodged a bullet.”
“Valid,” I admitted.
“And now you’re moving to Waco.”
“How’s that a plus?”
“Tavy’s gonna be there,” he pointed out.
The steel in my spine collapsed. “Yeah, she’s gonna be there.”
“Having your best friend nearby while you sort through wanting to kill all men everywhere will be therapeutic.”
“I don’t want to kill all men,” I assured him.
“No?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s good. I’m safe for another day.”
Chapter 6
I couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t the lumpy mattress’s fault, though that certainly didn’t help. My conversation with Smoke played over and over in my head. I’d asked him for honesty and he’d given it. It wasn’t what I wanted to hear, but at the same time, I felt absolved of Knox’s behavior.
I’d hated that I felt at all responsible for Knox’s infidelity. But when Smoke had put it so bluntly, that men who cheat are just going to cheat because they can, the tightness loosened in my chest. It didn’t matter how available I’d been to Knox, nor how supportive I’d been of his amateur MMA career. It didn’t matter how I’d tried to mold myself into the perfect picture he wanted for his fiancée.
His behavior didn’t reflect on me.
I flung off the covers and pulled on my overalls. Knox hated when I wore them—he preferred me in heels, a full face of makeup, my hair done. I never realized how exhausting it had been trying to live up to his expectations.
Why had I let him control me?
I slid into my slip-on shoes and grabbed my motel keycard. The desert night was warm, but the heat of the day had diminished. I walked around the motel to the back and came to the fenced in pool area. I opened the gate and stopped.
Someone was sitting on the edge of the pool, feet in the water, enjoying solitude.
I quickly turned to leave.
“Logan?”
Frowning, I turned back around and approached the figure. “Smoke?”
He raised a bottle of beer to his lips and took a sip. “What are you doing out here?”
“Me? What about you?”
“I thought it was obvious.” He gestured to the six pack next to him. “That energy drink fucked me up. I’m wired.”
