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The bottom dropped out of her stomach. She knew what was coming next. She pressed her lips together and blinked back the tears welling in her eyes. Her past had caught up with her. If he’d seen the photographs, he must have heard the story. She felt sick.
“Faith?”
Could she hang up now? Did she have to sit here and listen to him break her heart apart all over again?
“I’m here.”
“The photos were from when you were a teenager. You were naked. She said half your graduating class had seen them.”
Faith squeezed her eyes shut. This couldn’t be happening. “That’s a fairly accurate guess.”
“She also said that you sent them to a boy who had a girlfriend because you wanted his attention.”
She tried to swallow, but her throat was dry. “That’s how the story goes.”
He sighed, and she could hear his frustration, but deflecting questions like this had become second nature to her. She didn’t know how to be open about it, if that’s even what he wanted. Why didn’t he just dump her already?
“What happened? I want the truth. I don’t care what Diana heard. The person I’ve come to know so well wouldn’t do that.”
“You don’t believe it?” Dare she hope?
“No.” His tone gentled. “But I wanted to warn you in case she spreads it around.”
She shook her head, forgetting he couldn’t see. “I don’t care about anyone else. All I care about is what you think and whether this changes anything between us.”
“It doesn’t change a thing,” he promised. “I care about you. I don’t give a shit about your past unless it’s hurting you in the present.”
The pressure around her chest eased, and she exhaled slowly. “I’d understand if it did change things. I was an idiot back then, but it didn’t go down the way those girls say.”
“Of course not. Tell me. I want to be able to support you.”
Well, when he put it like that, how could she resist?
“Mason and I used to date. That’s part of the story no one ever heard. We were a couple long before he and Gigi Wagner were. We kept it secret because he told me his parents would throw a hissy fit if they found out. It turned out that wasn’t true. He just didn’t want his friends to know he was dating the chubby girl. He was the school’s star athlete, and he was ashamed to be into curves because it made him different from his friends. You know how teenagers can be. While we were together, I let him take those photos for the nights when I couldn’t be with him.”
He hummed in thought. “That makes far more sense.”
“Yeah.” She continued before she lost her nerve. “Anyway, when Gigi moved to the area, he broke up with me, saying she was perfect for him. The prom queen to his king of the rugby field. I asked him to delete the photos, and I trusted he would, but apparently, he liked them too much. Gigi found them and demanded an explanation, so he threw me under the bus and told her that I’d been harassing him.” Tears clogged her throat, even though she’d supposedly gotten over the awfulness of what had happened. “He made me out to be the desperate fat girl, and Gigi showed all her friends and taunted me mercilessly for the rest of the year.”
“Mason let this happen?”
“Yeah.” A bitter taste entered her mouth. “I tried to talk to him about it once, but he just laughed it off. I texted and called, but he never replied, and he never gave me the chance to be alone with him again. So no one ever knew the truth because it didn’t matter what I said, it just made me look more pathetic and gave my classmates even more reason to laugh at me.”
“Fuck. That bastard. I knew there had to be more to the story, but I’m so sorry you went through that. Teenagers are brutal. As far as I’m concerned, it all falls back on your ex’s shoulders.” She heard him haul in a breath, like he was trying to get a hold of himself. “God, I wish I’d known this when I met him.”
“Why?” she asked, curiosity getting the better of her. “What would you have done?”
“Anything you wanted me to.” She sensed he was barely keeping his temper in check. “You deserve someone willing to fight for your honor. You trusted him with intimate pictures, and he abused that trust. The asshole deserves to eat a fist.”
Her heart filled to the brim, and she closed her eyes, tears squeezing out the corners. “Shane Walker, you are the sweetest man ever.”
“I am?” He sounded baffled.
“Yes.” Although she was glad he hadn’t tried to punch Mason, who’d no doubt have flattened him in an instant, the fact that he wanted to was the nicest thing she’d heard in a long time. “You don’t….” She hesitated, nibbling on her lip. “You don’t judge me for what happened? I mean, I did let him take the photos.”
“I don’t judge you for it, Faith.”
The tension in her shoulders eased. She hadn’t even realized she’d been so wound up. Lifting her feet onto the sofa, she stretched out and rested her head on the cushion. “Thank you.”
