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Tilting my head back so he could look into my eyes, he whispered softly, “Don’t ever doubt my love for you. Don’t ever doubt our relationship. We’re going to get through this, and when we do, everyone will know that we’re together. No more hiding, no more Aidens or Savannahs. Just us. Got it?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t say anything else. I just pressed a kiss to his chest and let him hold me a little longer before pulling back and making sure I was okay to go back outside.
“Go out first. That way, if anyone is waiting, I’ll handle it. If I don’t get another chance to tell you tonight, you look so beautiful. And I love you.”
“I love you too, Brody.” I hate this. I hate this so much it physically hurts.
Forcing myself not to say anything else, I made my way out of the bathroom and back outside to watch the rest of the fireworks. Brody and I didn’t get a chance to talk for the rest of the night, and I wondered as I drove home how much more of this I could take.
My phone had died at Kinlee’s house, and I was racing to get home so I could call Brody, knowing I probably wouldn’t be able to talk to him for another few days. But as I turned onto my street I saw Aiden’s truck parked outside my condo and Aiden sitting on the steps leading up to the porch. I didn’t pull into the garage before turning off my car and getting out. I figured it’d be awkward to have to come back around to him, and if I went through the house, I’d have to invite him in.
What is he doing here?
He stood as I made my way toward him, and I instantly knew this wasn’t a visit where he hoped for a relationship to start. Aiden looked hurt, confused, and beyond pissed.
“Brody?”
Oh, God. I froze a dozen feet away from him. “W-what?”
“That’s who it is, right? The other guy. The guy you aren’t seeing but you belong to.” He laughed harshly and ran a hand over his buzzed hair. “Because, you know, you can’t really say you’re in a relationship with a married guy.”
“Aiden,” I whispered, silently begging for him to understand.
“I was inside grabbing a drink when you came running in crying. I started to go to you when he raced in after you. At first, I thought he’d said something to upset you, so I waited . . . kinda hard to mistake the sounds you started making, Kace.”
“Please, just—”
He threw an arm out to the side. “He’s fucking married!”
“I know that, Aiden! I know! Do you think I enjoy this? That I like being the other woman? It kills me, Aiden. God you have no idea how much this kills me every damn day. I wanted to stay away from him, and I tried to start a relationship with you. But after meeting Brody, it was over for me. There is no one in t
he world who will ever be able to make me feel what he does just by saying my name. Not a day goes by that I don’t hate myself for what we’re doing. Not a day goes by that I don’t hate myself for breaking up someone’s marriage even though everyone already knows it was over. And yet, at the same time, not a day goes by that I don’t wonder why, if he is so miserable with his marriage, won’t he leave his wife for me.” Tears were streaming down my face and a loud sob burst from my chest. “Judge me all you want, but you have no fucking idea how insane this is making me and how much this is killing me. I would never want to be a part of this, but he is married to someone else and I can’t breathe without him, Aiden.”
“Shit, Kace, don’t cry.” He took a few steps toward me, and even when I held up my hand to stop him, he pulled me into his chest. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have attacked you like that. I told myself I was going to be calm—I just, I don’t know. When you told me there was someone else, I had no clue it was Brody. Why didn’t you just tell me?”
I pushed out of his arms and wiped at my cheeks. “And what was I supposed to tell you? That I was sleeping with a married man? I know what this makes me, but I couldn’t stand anyone else knowing that. I couldn’t have Brody’s family seeing me that way. I’m not normally this person.”
Aiden ran his hands over his hair and down his face as he shook his head. “Couldn’t you have at least waited until he divorced her? KC, it’s not a secret that Brody and Olivia are done, but this just looks so bad.”
“There’s no way for me to explain it so you’ll understand. You can’t understand without being one of us, but there was no waiting for us. It just wasn’t possible. And he swore he was going to file for divorce, he swore to me,” I cried and covered my face. “But it’s been almost two months, and he hasn’t even told her he’s leaving her. The longer this goes on, the more I start to doubt if he will, and I just—I don’t understand. He loves me and he can’t stand being in that marriage, so why am I not enough for him?” I was rambling about things that no one else should have known. But I couldn’t stop. Once my fears had been given a voice, they all wanted out.
“Fuck. I’m sorry. Come on, let’s go inside and we can talk about this more.”
I didn’t want to talk to Aiden, but at the same time I did. Keeping this from Barb and Kinlee had been making everything that much harder to deal with—and deep down I knew I’d been craving to have someone know the truth so I would have someone to talk to. Despite how unconventional it was, it seemed like Aiden was going to be that person.
Brody
July 4, 2015
I SENT THE text to Kamryn, wishing I’d said something when we’d been together earlier. I was telling Olivia we were over tomorrow. I was done waiting for Liv to be ready to get help. I could only drop so many hints and could only deal with so many nights of her breaking down and then screaming at me before I had to just step back. And I couldn’t keep hiding my relationship with Kamryn when she was the best thing that had ever happened to me. I couldn’t keep doing this to her, and I couldn’t keep living day to day without her by my side.
But all of that would change after tomorrow. My life with Kamryn was about to start.
I checked my phone to see if she’d responded before walking into the house and had to bite back a groan when I shut the door. A barely dressed Olivia was standing there with a look I knew too well.
“Where’ve you been?”
“Jace’s. Where I said I’d be when you told me you were going to the club with your parents.”
