Page 136 of Broken Like Me
My world tilts sharply, making my vision wobble. “What woman?”
“Don’t—“
“Lila, I swear I don’t know who the hell you’re talking about. There was no other woman after you. Not for at least six months. Maybe more.”
It was more, but my pride doesn’t want her to know how badly I was burned.
“But I saw the picture of you and her cozied up?—”
“I don’t know what picture you saw, but it wasn’t me. You’re projecting.”
Her eyes triple in size. “Projecting?”
“Yeah, because you had a boyfriend you didn’t tell me about. He cheated on you, so you used me to get back at him. Took advantage of me when I was vulnerable. I was so damn honest with you. I meant everything I said. You let me give you my heart, only to smash it. Andnowyou’re turning it around on me.”
Tears rain down her face, and her chin trembles. There’s a disbelieving shake to her head.
With an earnestness that has me questioning the last five years of my life, she ardently states, “Reed, there was nobody else.Ever. Not before you. I never had a boyfriend. Not a single one. In fact, you were the first man I was intimate with. Only my third kiss.I swear.”
“What? That’s impossible.”
She wipes her cascading tears with both hands. “Reed, who told you I had a boyfriend?”
Suddenly, everything makes sense.
How could I have been so fucking stupid?
I bet Lila knowsexactlywho told me. I can tell by the tremor in her voice and the shattered look in her eyes. And I hate to be the one who confirms her suspicion. I know it’ll hurt her, but the years of lies have hurt us both far more.
“Who told you I slept with another woman the night after we were together?”
“No. She wouldn’t do that.” More tears fall from her red-rimmed eyes, each one washing away a layer of what I once thought was her betrayal. “You’re lying. She’s my best friend, and there’s no way she’d lie about that. She knew how much I liked you.”
“She also knew how much I liked you. She didn’t want us to be together. Trust me, Lila. I know her MO. This has Kenzie written all over it.”
Lila shoves my chest. Not violently or forcefully. It’s just a tiny push, as if she’s hoping she can drive away the heartache before accepting the inevitable. I stand firm, unwilling to let her crumble on her own.
“Stop lying, Reed. I can’t. I don’t. No.Nooo. Kenzie wouldnotdo that to me. She’s my best friend.” Her voice cracks, the sound causing a fissure down my chest. “She’s all I have left.”
Lila stomps away, facing the parking lot and putting her back to me. Her hands flutter in front of her like she’s attempting to shake away the pain and betrayal.
Dying to hold her, I follow. When she hears my approach, she flings her hand behind her to halt my steps.
Standing frozen, I try to give her space. She balls her fists and silently screams into the wind.
I can’t watch her fall apart without comforting her, so I turn in the other direction and march toward the tree line. My anguish and fury are familiar companions, only this time they’re directed at the rightful cause. The one I should’ve seen coming from a mile away.
Fucking Kenzie.
Some things never change. She’salwayswanted me to suffer. Because when I’m down, she’s even higher.
And she has a lifetime of practicing. Mom enabled her actions, molding her into the perfect mini-narcissist. Whenever I’d find the slightest whiff of happiness, Kenzie’d strip it away from me, just like Mom loved to do.
And Lila was . . .?so much more than happiness.
She could have been my future.
She should’ve been.
