Page 90 of Bring me Back
“She got with you to attack me…”
I rolled my eyes. “Stop. She didn’t even know I dated you until you barged in. I dated you for a few months ages ago, Katie. Why are you doing this?”
“Because I was waiting for you!” She yelled.
I frowned. “What do you mean, you waited for me?”
“I had a crush on you when you started at Bluehaven High. I wasn’t a student anymore, I got a job as the assistant coach until I got things sorted for college.”
“So, it wasn’t only to torture Hallie?”
That was another detail I couldn't swallow. From what Hallie told me, it made it seem like they were the same age. That wouldn’t make bullying better, but the fact was that Katie was over eighteen and one of the staff made it illegal.
“I’m not this horrible person she told you about,” Katie defended herself.
“I already said she told me nothing about you,” I gritted. “Keep going.”
She nodded, looking all innocent. It made me angrier.
“I met you and you don’t even remember. You were still married at the time, but I…”
“But you came on to me?” I asked.
“No…”
The way she said it sounded like a yes.
“And then I left… I thought it was it, but you came to the hospital. Single. Hitting on me. It was my chance.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “And what does that have to do with Hallie?”
She reeled back, like I slapped right across her face.
“Nothing! This is between us.”
“There’s no us, Katie. There barely had been anything before. We were casual. I was just getting over my divorce, and it ran its course.”
“Not to me!”
“I never gave you hope it was more serious than that. Never.”
“I thought you could grow to…”
I sighed. “What does that have to do with Hallie?”
“You keep talking like it’s all about her.”
“It is!” My roar echoed. Katie took a step back. “You came to my house months after I gave you no hopes to be back together. You accused her of revenge when—”
“I was angry.” She cut me off. “Ryan called and told me you were together. Other people around town too and I...” She stopped herself with a sigh.
“You had no right to come over here and speak to Hallie like that. You have no right to interfere with my life. I don’t want to ever see you again now that I really know you.”
“Dan, I don’t know what she told you…”
“Katie.” My tone was so sharp it could cut glass. “What you have done…” I held myself, sucking in a deep breath so the anger didn’t consume me. “Each time I look at your face, my blood boils. Every time you say the name Ryan, I remember what you have done to her. There’s no excuse, there’s no reason.” And I stopped her right before she uttered another word. “You did it because you’re rotten and you wanted Hallie to be rotten with you. You wanted to poison her and make her as ugly as you and guess what? It never happened. Not even at your worse, she kept being herself.”
Katie shook right there in my kitchen, her expression turning monstrous.