Page 71 of Never Let Go

She cocked her head at me. “Didn’t you? I know I have to take responsibility for setting you up with her in the first place, but you were a ninety-seven-percent match. The system would’ve set you up anyway. I just saw Shelby Lowe’s application come through, and since I knew she was the girl you used to have a crush on, I helped things move along a little bit faster.”

“A ninety-seven-percent match,” I repeated after her. “That’s not bad.”

“Exactly.” She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “Look, I’m sorry that this happened, but you had to have messed up somehow for her to have reacted the way she did. What did she say when you told her it wasn’t you? When you admitted that you hadn’t known who she was either?”

I shut up, and Hope’s lips parted as she gawked at me. “Foster? What did she say when you explained to her that it must’ve been your meddling sister-in-law’s fault?”

I rolled my lips into my mouth and shrugged again. Porter let out a burst of incredulous laughter. “She didn’t say anything because he didn’t explain any of this to her. You just shut up and let her think whatever she wanted, didn’t you?”

“I was in shock,” I protested. “First at seeing her and then at her storming out on me. I didn’t see any of that coming. You can’t blame me for having been caught off guard.”

Hope’s eyes narrowed slightly. “No, we can’t blame you for that, but something else must’ve happened to have made her think you were messing with her.”

I started shaking my head, but then I blinked a few times when I realized she might just be onto something.

Porter’s eyes widened. “So you did do something. What was it?”

I groaned loudly, dragging my hands through my hair repeatedly. I wondered if I’d finally figured it out. “I, uh, there might’ve been an incident back at college.”

“An incident?” Hope made her eyes big at me. “You could’ve mentioned a damn incident when you told me about her.”

“Look, it wasn’t such a big deal. I haven’t even thought about it again until right now, when you mentioned that something else must’ve made her think that.”

“What was the incident, Foster?” Porter asked, getting serious for once in his damn life. “If you want us to help you find a way out of this, you have to tell us and you’d better do it sooner rather than later.”

34

SHELBY

At Ashley’s apartment the next day, I couldn’t stop crying. I’d managed to make it through work this morning, but then I’d taken the rest of the day off. The estates I was working on were too important and too delicate to screw up just because I couldn’t focus and Mr. Harrison had thought I was coming down with something, so he’d readily agreed to let me leave when he’d seen my swollen eyes and puffy face.

Ashley stroked her fingers through my hair, holding me to her as I sobbed. “It’s okay, Shel. It’s all going to be alright. Why don’t you tell me what happened, hmm? Do you think you’re ready to do that?”

The buzzer at the door went off, and she sighed but withdrew her arms around me and stood up. “That should be the food. Chinese. Guaranteed to make you feel better. Give me a minute. I’ll be back.”

While she went to get the door, I swiped my fingers under my eyes and wiped away the tears, dragging in a deep breath in the hopes that they would stay away this time. After I’d wiped my cheeks, chin, and even under my jaw as well, Ash came back into the room carrying containers of steaming chow mein, dumplings, a tray of condiments, and a bottle of wine.

She was balancing it all precariously and I reached out to help her, inhaling the comforting scent of the food. I felt a touch more settled as I dug in. With my first few bites, I finally managed to speak without becoming a blubbering mess instead.

I shared the whole sordid tale, telling her how I’d felt at first when I’d seen it was him and how quickly it’d all changed. Ashley listened patiently, but once I was done, the firm set of her jaw told me that I wasn’t going to like what she had to say.

“I’m sorry, Shelby, but I think you might’ve run out too fast.”

“What?”

Her gaze was gentle and sincere on mine. “I think you should’ve let him explain. For starters, you don’t even know that Sight Unseen is the dating agency he works for, and even if it is, why does that automatically mean that he was messing with you?”

“Hot, funny, smart guys who have just practically become billionaires don’t need to do blind dating to get dates, Ash. Him messing with me is the only thing that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t make sense, though. In fact, I totally get why he’d sign up if he’s just practically become a billionaire. Do you have any idea how many gold-diggers are out there? Dating someone without them knowing who you are is pretty much the only guarantee you could have that someone isn’t dating you only for your money.”

“We started dating before he got the money, though. I mean, I know when the deposit was made because I’m the one who gave the instructions for it to be transferred.”

“Fine. That’s fair, but he knew the money was coming when you started dating? And didn’t you say Tyler had been on so many horrible dates before he met you? If that was true, then Foster’s been doing this for a while. It’s highly unlikely that he joined up and went through the entire process with you as a prank.”

My insides churned, my voice softer than before when I spoke again. “Okay, I get where you’re coming from, but what would you say if I told you this wasn’t the first time he did something like this?”

Her eyes widened. “He’s done it before?”