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He yanked open his truck door only for it to be pushed shut. Caleb whirled around and glowered at Emily—or was it Emma? He didn’t know anymore. “Don’t,” he warned.
“Let me explain.”
“No,” he shot back. “You don’t get to explain. You had all the time in the world to tell me who you were, and you chose to deceive me.”
“I didn’t have a choice,” she said quietly.
He let out a bark of laughter. “That’s rich.”
“I’m telling the truth.”
Caleb leaned closer to her, his voice lowering to a hiss. “In my experience, people who lie about one thing, lie about a great deal more.”
She flinched, and for a moment he forgot himself. His instincts were to pull her into his arms and shield her from what threatened her. But then it all came slashing back at him, and those claws of truth were razor-sharp.
“Manipulation. That’s all this was. You manipulated me from the start.”
“That’s not what this was,” she said with desperation. “You were never supposed to get hurt.”
“Oh, is that the lie you’re telling yourself then? You weren’t supposed to hurt me? Tell me, Emily—Emma—whatever your name is?—”
“Legally, it’s Emily. But Emma is what everyone calls me.”
“I couldn’t care less what your name is. You could be the Queen of England at this point.” His head pounded like it was being hammered by a mallet. Any second it could shatter into a million pieces—and that was if his heart didn’t take that route first. His breath was sharp and uneven, making him dizzy. Washe actually having a panic attack? Caleb leaned against his truck and shut his eyes as he focused on his breathing.
“Caleb,” she whispered.
“Don’t!” he said. “Don’t you dare try to make excuses. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t belong here, and you never will.”
She didn’t argue. At least they could agree on that front. When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find her still standing there. Tears streaked her blotchy, pink cheeks. Her green eyes seemed more vibrant as if the tears had turned them from a typical green to something resembling a sparkly seafoam. Her lower lip quivered, but she didn’t speak.
“You want to know the worst part?” he whispered. “You actually had me believing I was wrong about people. You had finally made me wonder if I’d been too harsh in my judgments of those around me. I was beginning to think that there were some decent people in this world and I had found one of them.” He released a raucous laugh. “Oh, I wassowrong about that. And I only have myself to blame.”
“Don’t you even want to know why?—”
“I don’t want to know a single thing more. The fact is, I was right about you—about everyone. I knew that strangers couldn’t be trusted. Heck, most of the people I grew up with in this town shouldn’t be trusted. Everyone is out for themselves around here. No one is genuine anymore. You can’t even trust your own family not to turn on you. I’ve learned that not once, but twice. So, it really doesn’t make a lick of sense why I’m surprised that you weren’t any different.” The bitterness in his voice only made her shrink away from him.
Good. She needed to understand what she’d done. Hadn’t he spoken about consequences?
Fury built up inside him again. He’s shared so much with her. He’d poured out his heart and soul to her. And she’d gone andstomped on it just for kicks. “I need you to leave,” he whispered. “I need you to get in that rental car of yours right now and leave.”
“Caleb—” desperation oozed from every word she breathed.
He held up a hand, his own voice breaking. “Why can’t you listen?”
She reached for his forearm, momentarily stunning him much like a tranquilizer might do for a large animal. “I needed an escape,” she said through her tears. “Everything was pressing down on me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
He tore his arm away from her. “That doesn’t mean you lie about who you are.”
“It was the only way I could think of to get out from under all that pressure. I only planned on staying long enough to catch my breath.”
“Then why drag it out?” he demanded, venom in his voice. “Why string me along and lie about who you were? Why make me believe we were something more?”
“It wasn’t a lie,” she choked out. “Everything I told you was the truth.”
“No, it wasn’t,” he said. “Don’t try to gaslight me. From the moment we met, you lied. You lied about your name. Who you were. Where you were from. What you were hiding from. Heck, that’s just brushing the surface of everything we talked about. Were you even telling the truth about not writing your own lyrics? Because I have a hard time believing that, too.”
“I was telling you the truth. Words don’t… come easy for me.”
