Page 73 of Secrets and Lies
“Fair point.” He sounds hesitant. “I heard she ended things because she realized you had different long-term plans and getting married would be a mistake. And I also heard that she ended it because things were…not great in the bedroom.”
I heave a heavy sigh. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
“So what actually happened?”
“Long story short? She cheated, I found out, we broke up.”
“She cheated?” he says, sounding completely gobsmacked. “When? With who?”
“Just before spring break. It was at the Baxter House party. And I don’t know his name, but that’s only because I don’t want to know.”
“When did you find out?”
“Just after we got back.”
“How?”
“Someone saw them and told me,” I say, hating how easily the lie slips out.
“Shit, man. I’m sorry.”
“Believe it or not, I’m mostly okay,” I tell him, not lying this time.
“Really?”
“Yeah.” I slump down in my chair. “I knew things weren’t great between us for a while, but I didn’t want to admit it. Andlooking back, I see that we both kind of got swept up in the moment and let our families pressure us into rushing things. We didn’t realize that it’s not what either of us wants until it was too late.”
“I’m glad you’re doing okay,” he says. “But it’s still fucked up that she cheated.”
“It is.” I let out a heavy sigh. “Go ahead.”
“Go ahead, what?”
“I know you kept a lot of stuff about me and McKenna to yourself when we were dating. Go ahead and get it off your chest if you want.”
“I’m not going to do that,” he says, his tone sympathetic. “It doesn’t matter what I thought then. All that matters is that you’re okay now.”
“Thanks.” I can feel my shoulder muscles relaxing as some of the tension bleeds out of me.
I might be dense sometimes, but I’m not an idiot. I know Damon had a ton of reservations about my relationship, and some choice things he wanted to say about my adventures in wedding planning, but like a good friend, he kept them to himself.
And he could easily go through his list and make me feel even stupider and more gullible than I already do like pretty much everyone else in my life would, but he won’t, and that means the world to me.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks.
“Mostly. I’m not leaving my room for as long as humanly possible, and I’m not answering any texts or calls that aren’t from you for at least the next week. But I’ll be fine.”
“Xave wants to know if you want him and his cousins to set the record straight about the breakup,” he says distractedly, like his mind is only half on our phone call.
“He does?”
Why would Xave care that people are talking shit about me?
“Yup. And he promises to behave and tell people whatever you decide and not be a chaos gremlin for once.”
“I mean, I won’t be mad if he and his cousins want to tell people I don’t suck in bed, but I don’t know how they can do that without things getting weird.”
Damon laughs. “I’m sure they’ll find a way. They certainly love a challenge.”
