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My heart dropped to my stomach, and I didn’t want to hear any more. I didn’t want to hear how Oden was just like the men from my past: unfaithful and dishonest. But I had to. I had to know what the fuck was going on here.
There was an edge to my voice as I cut in and asked, “Tell me what?”
“Isobel came by here earlier today. She said she wanted to talk about work, so I let her in…”
I snorted in disbelief.
Yeah, I didn’t need to hear any more. If she came by for work purposes, Oden would have just mentioned it to me.
He parted his lips to continue speaking, but I was done listening.
“I went out with you tonight, fully intending to tell you I wanted to take the leap and get serious. But—”
“But what?” Oden asked loudly. He looked tense and on edge now.
“I told you from day one, no fucking secrets,” I reminded him. “I don’t care how big or small they are.”
He held his hands up in mock surrender.
“I’m sorry. I should have told you right away. But are you really going to throw what we have away over one small hiccup?”
My heart pounded in anger. He didn’t get it. A secret was a fucking secret. And I’d warned him.
“This is over. I’ll keep it professional at work, but beyond that, I don’t have anything to say to you.”
Moving quickly so he wouldn’t stop me again, I tugged open the door and left the room. I got halfway down the hall before Oden caught up to me.
He gently caught me by the elbow and spun me around to face him. His black eyes glittered with determination.
“I’m not letting you leave me,” he declared.
“Well, I am.”
His voice took on a pleading note. “You can’t.”
The tenderness in his tone tugged at my heartstrings. Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe I just needed to take a moment and hear him all the way out.
No, fuck that, a hardened voice inside me whispered.
What if I believed him now and later it came out that he was a liar? I wouldn’t—no—couldn’t go through that again.
But what was the alternative? Walking away from the man I had this indescribable attachment to?
“You don’t want me to walk away, but you haven’t once said you didn’t fuck her, Oden!”
“I did not sleep with Isobel,” Oden stated. “Beyond shaking her hand that first day at ULC, my skin has never been in contact with Isobel’s. Never.”
Our gazes connected, and I stared deeply into his eyes. I’d looked into the eyes of a liar enough times to know that their eyes were no different than someone who didn’t lie and cheat.
I quirked an eyebrow and crossed my arms.
“So you’re saying there’s nothing you’re keeping from me? Absolutely nothing?”
It was brief, so brief I barely caught it, but nonetheless, I saw the guilty expression flit across his face. And that was all I needed to walk away.
Maybe Oden and Isobel weren’t fucking behind my back, but Oden was definitely keeping a secret from me. I could feel it in my gut.
I tossed the feather earring, and together, we watched it drift to the carpeted hallway floor.
“We’re done,” I said before turning and walking away. And like the guilty person he was, Oden didn’t bother trying to stop me.
