Page 13 of Resolving Rumors

“We take things one day at a time. Make time for one another. Be honest. Mostly, we plan for the future and work on getting past all the hurts we’ve caused one another.”

“We’ll still be a secret.”

“Only for a little while longer. I’m working on untangling the mess I made with Justice.” I kissed the top of Vic’s head and she squeezed me tighter. “As soon as we have a good handle on when that will resolve, we’re going to tell our families the truth about everything.”

“Well, maybe we can leave some of it out,” Vic mumbled into my chest.”

“I think it’s for the best if they know the full extent, so there are no surprises.” I explained.

“Then I hope you’re ready for my brothers and what they’re going to do to you since you cheated on their big sister.”

I sighed. “Believe me, baby, I’ve already come to terms with the fact that my nose will probably never look the same again.” Vic’s body shook against mine as she laughed.

“Promise me something?” She asked before her beautiful eyes opened up and her head tilted back, so she could look me in the eye.

“Anything.”

“No more guesswork.”

“What does that mean?” I asked, not understanding.

“It means neither one of us is going to assume things and let our jealousy cloud our judgement. We talk it out or we walkaway. I can’t go through this again, Dev. It nearly killed me to lose you once. I can’t do it again.”

I nodded and kissed her before she could say another word. We were on the same page with the communication issues. If we had talked more, about the important stuff, we might not have ever been put in the position to lose one another. There certainly wouldn’t have been room for another person to come between us. Knowing that Vic was just as affected by our short split was a double edged sword. On one hand, it was good to know she cared so much. On the other hand, I hated that my actions were the catalyst to her pain. Our pain.

All that was left was to deal with Justice and fix the cracks in the foundation of our relationship that Vic and I had allowed to grow. Once everything was smoothed over, I believed we would finally end up happy together. The only worry I had was how my best friend would take the news, especially since I hadn’t been faithful to Vic the first time around. I scrunched my face as I thought the last bit because it rang false in my own mind. Lacking the memory didn’t mean I was completely innocent, but it made it impossible for me to agree that I cheated on my girl.

Chapter

Nine

VICTORIA

“I don’t likethat we still have to keep things secret for now,” I admitted as Devin snuggled me into his body on my couch.

“I know, baby. It won’t be for long this time. We’re both on the same page about things now and all I need to do is find a way to compel a DNA test from Justice to set this right.”

“I heard they could be done during pregnancy, but how accurate is it?”

Devin shrugged and then tightened his hold on me. “Not sure, but the DNA test might not even be necessary if her due date doesn’t line up with when she claims we were together.”

A shiver ran up my spine. “I hate that you don’t know what happened while you were alone with her. My imagination goes to all the places I hope you didn’t, but it seems like we’ll never know the truth.” I always felt sick when I thought about them together, but knowing how he had been so adamant that he didn’t remember it happening made it a little worse.

“If you don’t remember, and it turns out that you did in fact have sex with her, then it’s possible that it was rape. You realize that, right? If you were so inebriated that you can’t remember, there’s no way you could have consented.”

“Not talking about that right now.”

“Devin, we have to…”

“No! I’m not going to think about that being possible. It’s bad enough knowing you weren’t the last woman I was naked in a bed with. I don’t want to imagine that she also took advantage of me like that because it would mean you also weren’t the last woman I had sex with and that is not acceptable to me.”

“You married her because you believed she was the last woman you had sex with.”

“I can’t explain it to you and make it make sense. Something happened between Justice and me. I am sure about that, but I don’t want to… I can’t think about it.” I felt the hitch of his harsh intake of breath and it rattled me on the inside. There was something he wasn’t telling me about that situation, and I didn’t think it was because he wanted to keep me in the dark. It was more like he needed to.

“There was evidence that we’d been together, Vic. I don’t want to tell you more than that because I don’t want to hurt you with the details.” He didn’t have to, since I’d already imagined the worst. “And it is true that I don’t remember, but I was so angry about the secrecy, about having to give my time and attention to another woman, about you being with another man. Yes, I was drinking. No, I don’t remember, but that doesn’t absolve me of cheating on you. It happened. I was angry and jealous enough that it is possible I allowed it to happen. Maybe I hoped that it would cure me of wanting you so much.” He shrugged and I moved back so that I could see him fully.

What he was saying broke my heart all over again in a way that finding out about the situation hadn’t done before. It broke me because my need for secrecy caused this. It broke me because he got to a point in our relationship where he was willing to throw it away. Mostly, it turned me inside out because he believed what happened was cheating and not that vapid bitch taking advantage of a completely fucked up situation.