AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She chuckles. “More because he thinks this is his chance to get his parents back together.”
“Well…is it?” I ask.
She shrugs. “Hard to tell with the way he bolted, but he’s engaged to someone else. That means he has feelings for someone else, and I don’t want to stand in the way of that. I can’t. And I made sure Cade knew that, too.”
“Does he like Maddy?” I ask.
“About as much as he likes Lincoln,” she admits, and his brows furrow.
“Which is…how much?” he presses.
I laugh. “I’m so sorry, babe, but this isn’t the Lincoln hour.”
“Ooh, we should rename our podcast to that,” he suggests, and I roll my eyes.
“You were saying?” I ask Sam.
She giggles. “At least we can all make light of this heavy stuff. I don’t know where I stand with Devin. Am I hopeful? Of course. Is it likely we’ll find our way back to one another?” She shrugs. “Probably not. But there’s a better chance now that I’ve admitted how I feel then there was before.”
She heads to bed shortly thereafter, and Lincoln and I sit on the couch a little while longer.
“I should go,” he says a little absently.
“Yeah, you probably should. Given the boys and the gossip at school, seeing you exiting Sam’s house tomorrow morning would likely be a bad look.” I sigh. I don’t want him to leave. We’re finally not living the lie anymore, and I feel like we can finally take advantage of that.
And speaking of eliminating all the lies…the urge to tell him I overheard Asher pinches at my guilt.
“Since the truth is out, I think we should set all of the truths on the table,” I say.
He looks at me with pinched brows, and not for the first time, I wonder if he has anything he’s holding back. Maybe his mind immediately darts to Asher and that whole situation, but maybe it goes somewhere else. I’ll never know if we don’t get it all out there.
“Okay…” he says, drawing out the word. “Are there truths you’ve kept from me?”
I clear my throat. “When I told Marcus about you and me, I made a vow to him that I’d report fairly and honestly. I, uh…overheard some confidential information, and I’ve been carrying this guilt that I overheard it, and I just…I guess I’ve been waiting for you to handle it, but you haven’t come clean about it, and I don’t know why I’m bringing it up right now of all times, but I guess I just don’t want there to be anything standing between us and if I don’t say something, then I’m worried there will be.”
“What are you talking about?” he finally asks, and that tells me that perhaps there is more than one thing if he has to get the clarification.
I blow out a breath. “Asher. I heard everything, Lincoln, and I know you’re covering it up. You can’t. You have to come clean.”
His eyes flash with a little bit of anger mixed with maybe some small amount of guilt, but it’s hard to tell if he feels guilty because I know or if he feels guilty because I’m urging him to come clean.
“I’m handling it my way,” he says, his tone clipped, and now I’ve angered him.
“You know these things always have a way of coming out. I know, you know, Asher knows, the bookies know…who else? I made a promise, Lincoln. If I wasn’t dating you and I came across that information, you know damn well I’d need to report on it."
“You made promises to me, too,” he hisses. He stands, and I think he does it so he’s in a power position.
Did we make promises? We said we love each other, and I do. But I don’t remember promising to protect anyone in his family or on his team, and I tell him that. “Maybe we made promises to each other, but I can’t just let this go.”
“Are you threatening me right now?” he demands, folding his arms across his chest.
“I’m not doing anything,” I say, holding both hands up as I look at him. “I’m just saying that I have a duty to present the truth.”
He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Fuck. Fuck!” And then he storms out without so much as a goodbye, and I’m worried I just royally fucked everything up.
My parents are mad at me, surely his are mad at him, we’ve created this divide, we’re the subject of media scrutiny…and now this. We’re fighting. He’s mad at me.
I should’ve just kept my damn mouth shut.
