AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’d raged at him, cried and begged, debasing myself, but he hadn’t bent. Our nearly two-year relationship ended as coldly and impersonally as a business transaction. The things I’d left at his place had been stacked neatly in a box, my contact information tidily deleted from his phone. That was that. He had dusted his hands of me.
“I explained that I found out about an entire life you’d hidden from me. I told you it was obvious you didn’t trust me, and when there’s no trust, there’s no relationship.”
And that brought us to number three on my list of reasons I did not like Alex Murray: he had taken it upon himself to tell Harris about my art and the show I hadn’t invited him to. Yes, I should have been the one to tell my own boyfriend, but that was my decision. Alex had been a peripheral figure in my life then, but he’d thought it was his place to bust in like a wrecking ball and turn it all to rubble.
“I trusted you,” I protested.
“Maybe.” His hand steepled beneath his chin in a very Harris move. He’d always acted older than he was. “But after that, I couldn’t trust you again, El. I knew I couldn’t.”
“And you had to disappear on me? I have to say, that was a dick move that broke me more than you dumping me.”
The control in his expression faltered, his mouth sagging. “You were broken?”
“For a time, of course I was.”
“I was too. Don’t think I wasn’t just because I did the leaving.”
“Okay, I accept that. But why did you do it that way?” This was what I needed to know. How he could go from being in love with me to utter silence? Was I that easy to leave? That disposable?
Harris took a long breath, fixing his gaze on me. “If I hadn’t done it that way, I would have never done it. And I had to, El. The bar exam was coming up and I needed my head to be in the game.”
“You ghosted me...because you had to study for the bar?” I swiftly blinked and pinched my arm, making sure this was indeed real life.
He tried to grin at me, but I was having none of it. “Come on, El-belle, you know what my dad’s like. If I would have screwed up the bar, he would have had my ass.”
“Right.” I nodded tightly, scooting forward in my chair. “Thank you for painting a picture of the situation. It’s all clear now.”
It’s clear you’re a weak asshole who never deserved me.
As I stood and smoothed my dress, Harris stood with me. “That’s it?” he asked.
“It is. I got the answer to the question that has plagued my mind all these years. The door on that chapter of my life is now firmly closed.”
We started toward the elevators together, and Harris placed his hand on the small of my back. Lower than I liked, but he should have known better considering I hadjustsaid the door to us was closed.
As we waited for the elevator, Harris stood directly in front of me. “Why didn’t you tell me about your art?”
Crossing my legs at the ankle, I ran my hands up and down my sides. “I’ve never been open with it. It’s hard for me to take criticism, and rejection sends me spiraling. If your reaction had been anything less than I’d needed, I would have never forgiven you.”
“All right. I guess I understand that. What I’ll never comprehend is why the guy who you thought of as a joke would know this deeply private part of you.”
Bitterness laced his words, and I couldn’t blame him. Almost two years was a long time to hide an important part of myself, but then, I’d had a lifetime of practice.
“I’m sorry, Har, but I never thought of Alex as a joke, and I don’t appreciate you saying that. He and I have known each other for so long, it’s impossible for me to hide things from him. I’m sorry I was able to hide from you.”
We stepped into the elevator—his room was a floor above mine—and leaned on opposite walls, eyeing each other.
“Me too.” He pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and took a long, slow look at me, from my ankles to my breasts. It made me squirm, but not in the way he’d been intending. When the door opened on my floor, his arm swung out to block it from closing.
“El.”
“Yes?”
He gripped my hip, then slid his palm up my ribs, stopping with his thumb just below my breast. “Come up to my room. We can have a drink, talk more.”
I smiled when I realized I wasn’t the least bit tempted. Harris was the epitome of my type, the amplified version of it, but I wasn’t attracted to him. I wanted nothing to do with his body touching mine.
“I’m good. Thanks.” I stepped off the elevator and tossed a wink over my shoulder. “I can’t wait to see Michelle tomorrow. Good night!”
