Page 90 of Crossing the Line
“Seriously?” He rubs his hands over his face in frustration. “I’m trying to move past this. Why would you bring that up? And I never even said I slept with her.”
I gape at him. “Why would I bring up you sleeping with someone else? I don’t know, Garret. It kind of feels like a big deal.” I don’t bother hiding the shock on my face when I say, “Wait, did you come here thinking we would get back together? Because there’s nothing for us to move past.”
He leans back to look at me. “You knew that’s why we were meeting here.”
Forcing a laugh, I sputter, “N-no I didn’t.”
“Seriously? What about everything I said to you in my texts?” Crossing his arms, he leans back, staring at me with expectations that I have no intention of meeting.
“What texts?”
He gapes at me. “I drunk texted you after we talked, and you were on board with everything!”
Reaching for my bag, I get my phone and open the thread with Garret’s name. I’ve been avoiding looking at my phone lately. The last thing I need is to compulsively check if Aiden has called every twenty minutes. I didn’t even realize that I had still left the texts from Garret unopened. Everything that happened in Florida apparently occupied every ounce of my brain power—even if it was the last thing I wanted to think about.
Opening the messages, the heat of embarrassment raises my body temperature as I read.
Garret: Baby, I want you to feel how genuine I am. I won’t mess this up this time.
Garret: You won’t regret this
Garret: I can’t wait to see you on Wednesday
Garret: I’m hard just thinking about being inside you again. Wednesday night I’m going to rock your world.
Oh, this is not good.
Long after I’m done reading, I still stare down at the screen, unable to bring myself to look at the guy sitting across from me who wants to rock my world. Finally, when I can’t fake slow reading anymore, I dare to lift my gaze. “I never read these,” I say quietly.
His eyebrows furrow. “What do you mean? Yesterday you said my texts didn’t scare you away.”
“I had no idea...” My voice trails off as I look down at my phone again. I had no interest in reading these because I figured they weren’t important. I’ve been so consumed with all things Aiden, that I didn’t even remember that I had unopened messages on my phone, and any time I did remember, checking them felt like too much of a burden. “Garret,” I say softly. “We’re not getting back together.”
He moves forward, his voice dropping into the familiar harsh whisper he likes to use when he’d rather be yelling. “Why the hell did I just come out here then?”
I just shake my head, bewildered. “You practically begged me to meet with you, so that’s what I’m doing.”
“Yeah, so we could talk about getting back together!” He does a worse job of keeping his voice low this time, and when I don’t answer, he mutters, “What a waste of my time,” as he gets up from his seat.
Something ignites inside me. “What a waste of your time?” I stand up from the table so we’re on the same level. “Was it fair for me to be the only one making the two-hour trip for the past year? Was it fair for me to make the two-hour trip just to find you with another girl? Don’t talk to me about what’s been a waste of fucking time, Garret.”
“I told you, she’s just a friend!” He’s yelling now.
Crossing my arms, I make sure to keep my voice even as I say, “I know you’re lying. Did you honestly think I’d believe you? That I’d come crawling back to you? Look at yourself, Garret! I’d have to be out of my mind to ever date you again.”
He seems to go through a series of thoughts, his face reddening with each one, before he blurts out, “Fine! I slept with her, is that what you want to hear?”
Even though I knew this, his confession still shocks me, and it takes me a moment to recover.
When I don’t say anything right away, Garret reads my expression with a smirk. “What do you look so surprised for? I thought you knew, right? You’re always the one who knows everything?”
“I did know,” I try to say, but my voice is small, and he continues to talk over me.
“You probably already know that she was the one who came onto me.” His voice rises, and if we weren’t in New York City of all places, people would probably notice. “And I’m sure you know that she couldn’t keep her hands off me the night we met.” He shrugs. “I tried to resist at first. I tried to think about you, but...” he looks me up and down, shaking his head.
“But what? I slipped your mind?” I ask knowingly, but as soon as the words leave my lips I picture Aiden talking to Sam at the patch, and a fresh wave of pain knocks me in the chest.
Garret scoffs. “But you’re no Shelly Velasco.”