“She was going to leave,” I say flatly. “She had it planned.”
Maddox frowns. “Did she say that?”
I slam the glass down harder than I mean to. “She said she had a plan to move out, yes. Do you think I’m thick?”
Cole’s expression doesn’t change. “That isn’t the same thing.”
“It is when the timing lines up perfectly.” I lean forward, forearms on the bar, heat pushing up my throat. “Come on, Cole. Use your fucking head. She needed a place to stay. She needed a date to shove in her ex’s face. I gave herboth.”
“Gray—”
“She moved into my house because she was desperate,” I cut in. “She stayed because it worked for her. Then somewhere along the line she was invited to his wedding and I, like a fucking idiot, offered myself up on a platter to solve that problem for her too.”
Maddox shakes his head slowly. “That doesn’t sound like Carly.”
I turn on him. “You know what doesn’t sound like Carly? Her lying to my face for months. But here we are.”
“Or maybe here you are, pissed off and hurt and filling in blanks with the worst possible shit,” he retorts.
I stand so fast the stool legs screech against the floor.
A couple of people at the other end of the bar glance over. Cole jerks his chin toward the back. “Office. Now.”
I don’t want his office. I want another drink and a memory transplant and maybe a fucking lobotomy, but I stalk after them anyway.
The second the office door shuts behind us, I start pacing.
“I let her around Penelope.” The words come out rougher than I intend. “Do you get that? I let her into my house, invited her into my kid’s life, and all this time she had one foot out the damn door.”
Cole leans back against his desk. Maddox stays by the door, arms folded. They’ve boxed me in without even trying.
“She cared about Pen,” Cole says.“When I talked to her about Penny back at the resort, that was clear.”
I bark out a humorless laugh. “Then why plan to leave?”
“Maybe because when she took the job, you were insane and she needed an out,” Maddox says.
“Bullshit.”
“You didn't even hear her out,” Cole huffs. “Things change. You don’t know what her plan was. You know what youthinkher plan was.”
I stop pacing and stare at him. “That’s real easy to say when you weren’t the one reading the text.”
Cole’s jaw tightens. “And it’s real easy to decide you know the full story when you didn’t let her finish a sentence.”
Something sharp flashes through me. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Act like I’m the asshole here. You’re my friend, you're supposed to take my side.”
Cole’s expression goes flat. “You lost me five minutes ago when you made that fucking comment aboutnot being me. I am still your friend, Gray, even when I’m not on your side.”
I look away, forcing myself to take a deep breath.
He pushes off the desk. “I’m not saying you aren’t hurt. You are. I get it. But hurt doesn’t automatically make you right.”
“She admitted it?—”
