Page 80 of Reckless With You

I pulled back so I could look at him, and he gave me a wooden smile. “Yeah, he always seems to know everything. He knew about us.”

I froze.

“What?”

“He knew it was a lie the whole time. They all did. Apparently, they wanted to see what we would do. I knew I shouldn’t have lied to him. I guess this is my karma. Lies just build up on each other and then you end up in a world where you have no idea what the fuck’s going on.”

“So he knew.”

They all did. But I couldn’t deal with that right then. I would deal with it later, apologize, and do what I needed to do. But Tucker needed me now. Right?

I might not know what we were to each other, but I could try and figure out what we needed to be together in this moment. He couldn’t do this alone. We were his family, right? I would be there for him. I would try to help him.

“Okay, let me help. We’ll figure out what it means that they all knew or whatever. But right now, let’s go talk to Devin.”

“I will.” He looked at me then, his voice devoid of emotion, so calm that it chilled. “Guess it means this is over, right?” he asked, his words not his own.

Something twisted inside my heart, and I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”

“Everyone knows. There’s no need to continue the fake relationship thing. You have better things to do. Work and all that. And I, apparently, have things I need to work through. So, it’s over. You get your space, and I’ll figure out what I need to do.”

Ice slid through me as my fingers tingled. My heart beat quickly. “Oh. Yeah.”

What we had was fake. Just fun shit that had become something more. Because that’s what we both needed. But there were rules. Nothing real.

If it had been real, I would have been okay staying here to try and make things better for him. I would have been able to help.

But that’s not how things worked. That’s not how things ever worked.

Tucker needed space. Needed to do this on his own and figure out exactly what to do about the possibility of having a son and everything that came with it. He didn’t need me and my problems on top of that.

“Call Devin. I’m going to go. Leave you alone.”

Why wasn’t I crying? I felt like I should be crying, my eyes stung, and my heart hurt, but I didn’t let even one tear fall. I simply looked at him. I wanted things to be better, but I really wasn’t good at this.

I’d never been good at this.

“Yeah, you should go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“I’m sure.”

And then I walked away, leaving him behind.

Just as we’d been when we started this arrangement, we’d end up friends. No matter what.

But it wasn’t the same. And I didn’t think we would end up where we should.

But I couldn’t worry about my heart, about the fact that it was breaking again. Or that I felt as if I were drowning.

Because I wasn’t the center of the story here.

That little boy and whatever Tucker was dealing with was.

Tucker didn’t need me. He had Devin, and he had himself.

I would only be in the way.

“Tucker doesn’t need me,” I said aloud to myself. He didn’t want me.