Page 103 of I Choose You

“I need to get out of here.”

She’d invaded my home. I was too restless in this funky mood. I didn’t make dinner often, and two nights in a row was a shocker. I was in that bad of a mood, though, that I hadn’t wanted to suffer through ordering out and having to speak with someone who delivered it.

I waited a half hour before I put my running shoes on, and the act of doing that reminded me of what else had escaped my mind.

“Shit.”

I scrolled back on my phone for the text I’d received over the weekend.

Tristan: Gym on Tues?

Kaden: Sure.

I sighed, typing out a follow-up reply.

Kaden: Something came up. Sorry. I’m going to go for a run instead.

As I went to leave, I pushed my earbuds in. With the left in but the right in my hand, I heard a knock.

I frowned, opening the door to find Brooke standing there.

“Hey.”

It was such a short word but she’d rushed it on a breathy exhale. Her brow remained creased as she gnawed on her lip. She looked off. Concerned and uneasy.

I was surprised she’d shown up after the way she ran from me this morning. Finding her here and looking so anxious couldn’t be a good sign.

“Hey,” I replied. “Come in.”

“Am I interrupting?” she asked as she entered, looking around.

“No. I was just going to go for a run.” I shut the door and led her toward the kitchen. “Want a drink?”

She swallowed and shook her head. “No. That’s not necessary.”

I arched a brow.

“When you hear what I have to say, you won’t want me to stay long.”

Shit. It wasn’t going to be bad. It was going to be terrible.

“Uh. Okay. What’s up?”

“When I saw you at that first meeting, I was surprised. And I guess I haven’t done a great job of letting go of the past because once I got over the shock, one of my first reactions was to plan to get revenge.”

I stiffened but forced myself not to show it.

“After everything that happened in high school, I felt like it would be a way to finally get closure, to even the score with you for all you did to me back then. Petty, but it is what it is. I wanted to have a chance to tell you off, to show the world how crappy of a person you had been to me. And when we agreed to the fake-date stuff, I thought it would be my chance. To stick around and go to a huge public place with your family and friends and epically tell them all. I was bitter.”

She glanced up then, but quickly cringed and looked away, taking a deep breath to go on.

“I don’t know what exactly I was planning. I didn’t think it through. I was going to stand up at the toasts at the wedding or something and tell everyone what you did to me in high school. But I couldn’t. Not anymore.” She rubbed the back of her neck and found the courage to face me. “Rena came to lunch and we were talking about last night. Sorry, not sorry. I guess I’m a kiss-and-tell girl. And she knew about the revenge stuff. She was asking me if I intended to go through with it. I told her I wouldn’t but your brother showed up. He’d come over to apologize for being a jerk at the cake place. And he happened to come right when I was talking with Rena. It doesn’t seem like he heard me saying I couldn’t go through with it, but he heard me mentioning how I had planned to seek my revenge. Or as he put it, ‘stab you in the back.’ He threatened to tell you about my plans unless I broke things off with you. So I’m here to tell you the truth, the whole truth, myself instead of him having to explain it all.”

I blinked, stunned.

She stared at me, and I couldn’t make myself react. I was locked inside, thinking through all that she’d said. Now I could understand why Kody had been looking at me so weird at the office. It was surprising he’d gotten his head out of his ass to apologize, and that was a huge step for him.

“I’m sorry.”