Page 82 of Toy Boy
Greta’s focus drifts back to Tania and Xander. “When you and Scott were married.” She lifts her wine glass up and extends her arm in the direction of Tania. “Shewas one of a few you had no idea about.”
My stomach can’t sink any lower, it’s hit the floor now, and I feel my jaw clench as I watch Tania reacting to something Xander’s just told her, her hand on his arm, her body leaning right into him, she’s obviously a very tactile person.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask, my voice almost a whisper, and to be honest, I’m more angry with Greta for telling me this in what feels like such a spiteful manner, than I am with Scott for fucking around behind my back.
“Because I didn’t know for sure. I still don’t…”
“Hang on…” Okay. Now I’mreallypissed off! “So why say anything? If you have no proof?”
I don’t even know why I’m arguing, it doesn’t matter. I don’t give a shit about Scott Warren anymore.
Except, you do.
I don’t.
Yeah. You do…
And suddenly, all that talk of being friends and putting the past behind us, well, I’m rethinking that.
Because you don’t want to be his friend…
“Greta, I’m sorry,” I sigh, watching Xander as he ends his conversation with Tania and leaves her at the bar. “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“I’m just trying to protect you, Megan. Because he won’t change. No matter what he’s told you, he won’t change. Mind you,she’sjust as bad. You know her marriage broke up because she cheated? And I know that isn’t the story she’s peddling, but all this growing apart nonsense she’s telling everyone, that isn’t true.”
I throw her the side-eye. “Do you knowthatfor sure?”
“I do, actually. She confided in me.”
“So, should you be tellingme?”
Greta shrugs. “I’m just making a point. That Tania and Scott, they deserve each other.”
Glancing back over at Tania, Xander isn’t there anymore, I can’t see him anywhere, and then I feel my stomach dip again as Scott joins Tania at the bar, tall and heartbreakingly handsome in dark pants and a pale blue shirt, his hair swept back off his face. He lays a hand gently on Tania’s hip as he leans into her, and when he speaks into her ear she laughs, and I feel my teeth grind together, and I immediately unclench my jaw.
Greta follows my gaze and sniffs, she can barely keep the derision down. “At least Tania’s closer to his age.”
True.
“You’re well rid, Megan.”
Am I?
Scott told me he’d changed, and I’d believed him. I still do, believe him, despite everything Greta’s telling me. I still believe that, somewhere, deep down, Scotthaschanged. Every time I see him, I feel it, and then I remember how manipulative he could be. Is he really still that man…? And now I’m doubting myself all over again.
“Yes,” I mumble under my breath, just to placate Greta, really. “Maybe I am.”
I keep my eyes on Scott and Tania as they make their way through the crowded conservatory, and that’s when he looks over at me, and his eyes meet mine, for just the briefest of seconds, a barely-there-blink-and-you’d-have-missed-it moment, but enough for me to know what he’s doing. Now. I get it.
Greta’s wrong, about everything.
Scotthaschanged.
I’m just not sure it’s for the better.
Xander
“Are you not even tempted to stay on in Beachcastle Bay, once Ray returns from Canada?”