Page 73 of Until He Confesses

“I'm assuming so. I mean, it just seemed too coincidental to be true to me. Plus, he wasn't close to any of his classmates, so who would have made such a request?”

My mouth fell open, and then without further thought, I ended the call and marched back to the bedroom.

Lucas

I wascontent to remain seated and thoroughly entertained by all the stages of reactions she was sure to go through before eventually making up her mind to engage in this with me. In the meantime, I contacted the office and Dahlia to order that a contract, including our terms, be drafted.

She marched back into the room, her breasts fair and swelling above her towel, and straps of her dark curly hair escaping from the loose towel around her head.

“You deceived me?” she asked. “That girl who wanted to take you as her prom date didn't really exist?”

I was absolutely confused about what she was talking about.

“In high school,” she said. “You said your classmate asked you to take his sister to prom!”

I was able to recall what she was talking about then, but I still couldn't understand what this had to do with anything.

She didn't explain, but I was intrigued enough, so I sent final instructions to Dahlia, set my phone down, and gave her all my attention.

“How does this concern our present in any way?” I asked.

She paused, a bit stumped for a response, but she soon came up with one.

“I'm not sure of your motives behind these terms."

I was amused at her suspicion but contained my smile so she would take this as seriously as I needed her to.

“What do you mean?”

“You didn't have any ulterior motives? Like back then?”

I crossed one ankle over my knee and settled in even more comfortably into the chair to watch her.

“What were my motives back then?”

“Getting me to the prom.”

“Am I wrong?”

I didn’t refute this.

“I didn't lie to you,” I told her. “I've never lied to you. Her brother was Stanley Callaghan, and he did ask.”

She stared at me, but I could tell that my words had immediately soured her mood, and I didn't need to think too far to know what it was. She turned around then and returned to the bathroom.

The fact that she so adamantly believed that I cheated on her would remain a cloud over us, and so yes, I did have an ulterior motive. Having her far away from me wasn't going to resolve the misunderstanding. I wasn't going to go out of my way to resolve it either, but I was willing to accept whatever changes came with our relationship.

I was tempted to go after her, but I changed my mind and remained seated. I wasn't going to be unnecessarily courteous, otherwise, things were sure to get out of hand. I was uncomfortable though and had to ask myself if I was really willing to go through with this. I stared at the bathroom door and asked myself if it was not just easier to walk away. I got to my feet and headed toward the window.

Over the years, I had convinced myself that she had no hold whatsoever on me and that I had successfully put her out of my mind. Yet it took only one encounter, and I could no longer put her out of my mind. Her personality, though stubborn, had the type of strength that I admired. She returned the million dollars I had sent to her but needed it to even engage with me as casually as she did and she could put her pride down to ask me for help on behalf of her mother. Ultimately, she wasn't going to ignore her hurt at her belief, though incorrect, that I had hurt her, and thus I didn't deserve her.

It was hard for me to look away from who she was as a person, and so I was willing once again to go down this path to see where it would lead the two of us. I could hear the dryer in the bathroom as it was turned on, and then a few minutes later, she came out. I didn't look at her until I heard her take a seat on the bed. I turned around to see her hair semi-dried, but she was still in the towels.

"I'll have to go home to pick up some new clothes," she said. "Should have thought of that before I took a shower here."

I stared at her.

"Did you plan to leave after you took a shower?" I asked, and she stared at me. She didn't respond, and there was no reason to because the response was clear. I picked up my phone and sent her the file of the contract that had been drafted.