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I chuckled. She'd missed the entire spot of chocolate, so I brought my thumb up to her lip and gently wiped away the smudge of chocolate that sat on the corner of her lip. "There," I said, smiling. "Let's continue, shall we." I placed my hand on the small of her back and guided her out into the mall.
The last couple of weeks, we had been spending an inordinate amount of time together. More than I think we’d ever had, and it was getting more difficult every day that passed not to let Derrick know we had been hanging out and that I was going to be going on the trip with her. I wasn't even sure why I wanted to tell him. Perhaps it was to make him angry. It certainly wasn't because I cared about what he thought. Tess whispered something to me, pointing at the shop across the way.
"Oh, and I want to go into the luggage shop. It's just around the corner here." She shoved her list into her purse. I followed her and, just as we'd stepped around the corner, Tess stopped outside the lingerie store and looked inside.
"Did you need to go in there for something?" I questioned. “If you do, I’ll just grab a seat on the bench over there,” I said, but then upon closer inspection, I noticed she was concentrating awfully hard on something inside the store.
“No,” she whispered and shook her head, her bottom lip trembling.
I frowned and looked in the same direction she was. I couldn’t believe my eyes. There inside was Derrick with Lucy. She had just gone into the changing room, and Derrick stood outside with a handful of lingerie. I looked back at Tess, who stood there, her eyes welling with tears as she watched the sickening display of affection going on in front of us.
"As if it wasn't bad enough..." she whispered. “All this does is pour salt into the wound.” Then she bolted, running in the opposite direction and darting out the closest exit door.
I didn't know what to do. First, I watched as she ran outside, then I turned to watch as Lucy opened the changing room door and Derrick made some comment that made Lucy laugh. An anger filled me, one that I wasn't even familiar with, and I debated going in there and giving him a piece of my mind, but I didn’t. Instead, I took off after Tess.
I ran out the exit door and looked toward my truck, but she was nowhere to be seen. I looked to my right and then my left, and that was where I spotted her, leaning up against the wall in the shadows, her back facing me. I could see her shoulders shake as she cried.
I approached her slowly and placed my hands on her shoulders, but she pulled away. "Don't, Maddox, please. Just leave me alone." She sniffled.
"Tess, please talk to me."
"Maddox, there is nothing to talk about. He cheated on me with her...with..."
"Lucy," I said, her name rolling off my tongue before I could stop myself.
Tess turned and looked up at me with tear-filled eyes. "You knew?" she exclaimed glaring at me, hurt filling her eyes. "How long has it been going on, Maddox?"
"It's not like that, Tess."
"How long, Maddox? How long have you known that he was screwing around on me?"
"I caught him eight months ago. I did what I could. I tried to talk to him, tried to talk sense into him, but he apparently didn't listen. He did what he wanted. In all honesty, I thought he’d stopped."
Tess paced back and forth, her body rigid. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?" she asked, pushing her hand into my chest. "If you knew, why didn't you say anything to me and save me all this…this embarrassment…this hurt?" Her tear-stained face broke my heart as she confronted me with the only question I didn’t want to answer.
"I don't know, Tess. I put my trust in him when he begged me not to tell you, promising that he would stop. I know that isn't a good enough answer."
Just then the door to the mall opened and out stepped Derrick and Lucy, laughing, walking hand-in-hand across the parking lot as a lingerie bag hung from her hand. I watched as Tess turned back to me.
"He begged you not to. That is the most pathetic answer I have ever heard."
My heart sank. It wasn't my actual reason, but it was the one that was best fitting for now. Truth was I hadn’t wanted to be the one to break her heart, and one day I would tell her the truth. I just couldn't bring myself to do it right now.
I went to place my hands on her shoulders, to comfort her, but instead she swung at me. I grabbed her arm, blocking the hit, as she fell into me. I wrapped my arms around her as she continued to try and fight, but the harder I held her, the quicker she exhausted herself, her body finally relaxing as she broke down into tears. She buried her head in my chest and cried. I stood there, my arms wrapped securely around her, and held her right there in the parking lot as tears poured from her eyes, followed by the sound of guttural sobs. I held her until her crying slowed, and finally, she just stood there resting against me.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled to me.
"No, I'm sorry. Sorry that I never told you. I know you’re in pain and trust me when I tell you I know pain, Tess. I didn't want to be the one to do that to you. I didn’t want to be the one that broke your heart,” I admitted. I couldn’t hold back the truth any longer. “I am so sorry that he did this to you."
"He didn't do this to me, Maddox. I did. And don't be sorry. This situation wasn't yours to tell. I'm sorry I got mad at you. This entire situation has just gutted me. I am sorry I took it out on you."
"It's okay, Tess. You can take it out on me. I have strong shoulders," I whispered, pulling her against me and holding her tight. “You can take it out on me all you want, especially if it makes it easier for you.”
"Could you take me home?"
I nodded and pressed a kiss to her forehead. I kept my arm wrapped around her shoulders and slipped the bags from her hand, then led her over to my truck. I opened the door for her, and she climbed into the passenger's seat and pulled the seatbelt across herself. Then she rested her head against the headrest and waited while I placed the bags in the backseat and walked around to the driver’s side. We drove back to her place in silence, quiet music playing in the background.
By the time we pulled into her driveway she sat quietly with her eyes closed. I put the truck in park. “We’re here.”
