Page 100 of I Choose You

“Well, something had to stop you from coming to spin this morning.” She never did the early classes, but since she was leaving for her trip tomorrow, she wanted to squeeze in one more workout before eating too much on vacation. “I had to suffer through this weird dude talking to me the whole time.” She rolled her eyes.

“With glasses and the blue headband?” I guessed as I got things out of the bags. Kaden was so sweet to make me egg whites this morning, but I was famished. Stress eating. It wouldn’t be the first time I’d done it.

“Yeah.” Rena narrowed her eyes and stood. “Wait a minute.” She leaned over my desk and looked at my lap. She jabbed her finger at me. “Aha! You did wear that yesterday.”

I bit my lip. Shit. I forgot that we’d FaceTimed when she’d called me to say she’d be at spin this morning. I’d dropped my phone, too, so she saw the whole outfit.

She widened her eyes as she slanted over the desk to whisper. “Kaden?”

I nodded.

She slapped the desk. “What? I thought it was only fake!”

I shook my head. “And for the record. It is big and beautiful.”

She opened her wrapper and rolled her eyes. “Shut up. Dicks aren’t beautiful. They’re just there for fun.”

“Well, his was pretty enough to sample.” I poked my tongue against my cheek.

She cackled and grinned. “Oooh.” She glanced at the open door. “It was the wax, huh? They love a smooth landing strip.”

As my cheeks heated up, I shook my head again and ate. She asked for details, and I didn’t leave any out. Raunchy jokes aside, I told her what happened and concluded with my problem.

“I’m overwhelmed.” Done with lunch, I set my elbows on the table and tucked my face in my hands. Talking it out with her renewed all the messy feelings of this morning. “I’m confused what I should do now.”

Rena sipped her drink then shook her head. “I don’t know what to say.”

But you always do.

“He said that word? Boyfriend?”

I nodded, miserable.

She blinked and furrowed her brow. “I mean, you didn’t correct him.”

“I ran away. I froze like a deer in the headlights and ran from his SUV. I’m confident that action spoke for me.”

Pursing her lips, she nodded. “Probably.”

“This is just my luck, you know? I go all those years without seeing him—without thinking about him—and wham! He’s back and messing with my head again.”

That wasn’t entirely true. When the tenth reunion invites came in the mail and were posted on social media, I went through a phase of going out and drinking with Rena. Kaden was always back there in my mind. He’d hurt me so much, it was impossible to banish him. I had a scar from my experience with him, and it had festered in the recesses of my thoughts.

Out of sight, out of mind only worked so well.

I sighed and dropped one hand to the desk to drum my fingers. I needed to move somehow. This nervous energy bottling up inside me would eat away at my sanity—if I had any left.

“When all this started, when I saw Kaden coming here for that first meeting, I had it in my head that I’d even the score. That I’d sabotage him somehow.”

Rena nodded. “Right.”

“I planned to somehow get back at him for how he treated me in high school. I entertained ideas of getting up at the wedding and venting out some badass scathing speech, you know? When all their family members and friends were there, I’d tell them all about the brothers and how they weren’t the perfect charming guys everyone thought they were. How their souls are black pits.”

Rena opened her eyes wide in shock, noticing something behind me.

Behind me, Kody stepped in through the open door. “Black pits, huh?”

My jaw dropped. I held my breath, the air trapped in my lungs as I stared at him. I was stunned, and as he stepped in another foot, I snapped my mouth shut.