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“No. That’s not true. I know that now.”
She’d prove it to him. “I was worried about Hillary. She was in really bad shape. I thought I’d stop by her place and check on her. And there you two were together. At first, I didn’t want to believe what I thought I saw, because you wouldn’t do that. You wouldn’t hurt me like that.”
“Never,” he swore, making it all worse, not better.
“And then she said—”
“‘So that happened last night,’” he interrupted her, his memory as clear as hers.
“Yes. And everything inside me went haywire. It couldn’t be true, but the look on her face... The triumph.” The gut punch of pain hit her now just like it did then. “I thought she’d stolen you away from me.”
Max looked thoughtful. “I was in the kitchen behind her. I couldn’t see her face. I had no idea she made you think it was real, so that when I denied it, you didn’t believe me.”
“I...” She shook her head. “She denied it, too, but the way she said it, the look in her eyes... I didn’t believe her either. I thought she was just covering for you. And after I left you two, she called me later.”
“What?” Max’s anger turned to fury.
“Over and over again, leaving messages that she was sorry, you two were drunk, things got out of hand. Neither of you meant for it to happen.”
Max’s eyes went wide with shock. “What the fuck.”He obviously didn’t know, because Hillary had played her to get Max.
She shrugged and couldn’t help the frown. “But I knew you weren’t drunk. You’d never drive me home if you were intoxicated and put me in danger.”
“Never,” he confirmed.
“So I had to assume you wanted her and that’s why you slept with her.”
“The only woman I ever wanted was you.”
“I thought so.” Her frown deepened with memories of the last three years without him. “And then there were all the other women.”
Max winced.
“And there was Hillary right there to tell me I wasn’t special. You didn’t love me. And oh yeah, she’d never slept with you, but she did manage to break up the perfect couple.”
Max’s eyes narrowed. “When did she tell you that?”
“On the one-year anniversary of our breakup,” she choked out.
That shocked look came back to his face. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“She followed me from school to the grocery store and confronted me in the parking lot, telling me how stupid I was to believe her over you and that I didn’t deserve you because of it. I don’t know what hurt more, the fact that I’d lost you, or that she was right. Definitely losing you and knowing that I let it happen.”
“I never slept with her.”
“I know. I think that’s why she taunted me so muchand rubbed my nose in it that you had so many other women after me. I don’t know what I did to make her hate me so much, aside from having what she wanted. I saw the way she flirted with you and always tried to get your attention. I never really worried about it, because I knew you were mine. And then she took advantage of a situation and I fell right into her trap. But you didn’t. You never wanted her.”
“Why would I want anyone else when I had you?”
She tried really hard not to let those words spark hope for something more with him than simply clearing the air. “She wanted that for herself. She wanted you to feel that way about her.” Kenna shrugged. “I understand why.” She swallowed a sob. “It felt really good to be loved like that.”
He tried to reach for her again.
She stepped back. “Don’t. I don’t deserve your kindness after the way I hurt you. What I did... I’m so sorry. You were only ever kind and generous and loving to me. I had no reason to think you’d cheat. That’s not you. I knew that and I—”
“You got hurt when you thought something that could never happen felt like it did, because Hillary manipulated you. And me.”
“And now I’ve gotten to tell you I’m sorry. I’ve wanted to do that for so long, but you wouldn’t... Well, it’s done. Now we’ve cleared the air and it’s all in the past.”
