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I locked this dirty secret away for myself.
But Mandy being here is making the secret so big, I can’t contain it. I’m afraid she’ll see the truth in everything I don’t tell her.
“She really was,” I say honestly.
Eyes watering, I drop my gaze to my glass. When I look back at her, she’s staring at me, mouth turned down.
“Oh, Claire,” she breathes.
I knew it.
I knew I wouldn’t have to say a thing.
Taking a seat on the stool next to mine, she wraps her arm around my shoulders. Our heads press together, sighing.
“We agreed to one night,” I confess, voice cracking.
“It wasn’t one night, was it?”
“No,” I blow out.
It’s every night.
Except for last night because Jay-Jay was here, and I was exhausted anyway after I spent hours teaching him new songs on the piano. Even then, I couldn’t sleep because my body has become accustomed to Jake’s heat at my back.
Run, Claire. Fucking run.
I shake my head, trying to rid my bones of the shiver. “It’s silly. It’s only because we’re in this house together, and with everything that’s going on. I’m sure it will go back to normal when I leave.” I don’t sound convinced.
I run my tongue over my teeth, desperate for the lump in my throat to ease.
“He still loves his wife.”
With a soft smile, she’s quick to reply, “I still love Nick. It doesn’t mean I love Alex any less.”
“I know,” I choke, batting the treacherous tears away.
This is different.
Mandy’s love story wasn’t complete.
I have the sinking feeling Jake’s is.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Claire,” Jake bellows for the third time.
I swing open the bedroom door. “Jesus, keep your knickers on. I’m coming.”
“We’re going to be late.”
Unless there’s the world’s worst traffic jam, we’re not going to be late.
Trying not to sweat my makeup off, I grab my phone and red lipstick, and hurry downstairs.
I hate being put under pressure, but Jake is an expert at it.
And there he is. Standing at the end of the stairs, looking every bit like the wet dream, he is. Jake in a tuxedo is next level, and it’s going straight to the box of memories labeled,dirty and corrupted.
