Say You Still Love Me(62)

Kyle’s eyes drift behind me, to the window and beyond.

I still have so many questions. But I start with the most important. “Why did you just disappear like that? Why didn’t you ever call me?”

His jaw tenses. “I figured it was better. I mean . . .” Another hard swallow. “We were never supposed to last beyond the summer. It was just supposed to be fun. You knew that.”

“No. I didn’t know that, Kyle.” Sure, we’d talked about it, in the beginning. But things morphed. Feelings intensified. All those stolen smiles, those whispered words, those shared laughs, those heated kisses.

Those nights.

Was I really that clueless?

“Are you saying . . .” I grapple with my thoughts, my rising emotions. “So everything you said to me was a lie?”

“No.” He shakes his head.

“But you never wanted it to last?”

“Of course I did.”

“Well then you’re not making any sense!” I feel a knot forming in my throat, which only makes me angrier, because I shouldn’t still have knots forming in my throat over things that happened thirteen years ago!

“Wawa was over for us. We lived hours apart. It just . . . it was never gonna work.” His jaw is hard as he spews basically the same line over again.

“Then why are you here?” I temper my volume. These walls are too thin to be speaking that loud. “Why did you come back now?”

“I told you. I was moving back east anyway.”

“And what did you think was going to happen when you showed up? What were you expecting? That I would have forgotten how you hurt me?”

He dips his head. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure. It’s been thirteen years. I figured you would have moved on.”

“I did move on!” I snap, because I’m feeling like a fool right now. A sixteen-year-old pining fool.

A fool still in love. But I have to accept that all I’m in love with is a memory.

“You are right. This was a mistake.” I stand. “Thank you for coming. You can go back to work now. And maybe you should consider applying for a transfer to another building. Gus can help you with that.”

“Piper, I didn’t mean—”

“You broke my heart!” My voice cracks, my chest tight with emotion that I’m still grappling to understand. Maybe time doesn’t heal all wounds.

I march toward the door, acutely aware of the sound of Kyle’s chair banging against the table’s leg, the hair-raising ping of metal-against-metal hanging in the air. A moment later, his hand is around my wrist, gripping it tightly, holding me back from escape.

“I’m sorry, Piper. But you don’t understand.”

“You’re right. I don’t. Because if all we had was a summer fling thirteen years ago, why the hell would you even give me a second’s thought now?” I dare to meet his eyes. “Did you come here for money? Is that what you want?”

He releases my wrist like I’ve burned him. His nostrils flare. “I don’t want any of your family’s money,” he pushes through gritted teeth.

I shrug, but inside, every bit of me twists at the idea. “How do I know that? I don’t know you anymore. Maybe I never did.” I turn to leave.

“He paid me to leave you alone!” Kyle says in a rush.

My feet stall. “What?” I turn to find Kyle’s head bowed, his eyes squeezed shut.

“What did you just say?”

“I never could lie to you to save my life,” he mutters.

A sinking feeling takes over. “Who paid you to leave me alone?”

Kyle meets my gaze, this time with a flat look. “Who do you think, Piper?”

I shake my head. There’s only one person who would do such a thing. The one man who could afford it, and who would be motivated to do so.

“Fifty grand, to pack up and leave, and never contact you again.”

“And you actually took it?”

Kyle flinches. “Your father can be persuasive.”

My pulse begins to race. I can’t believe my father would do this, and yet I don’t doubt for a second that he did.

“When I saw you in the lobby the first time, I couldn’t figure out if you ever found out—”

“When did this happen?” I demand.

“That night. When you were leaving,” Kyle admits with a hint of reluctance. “While you were talking to Darian. He told me that someone would be by my apartment within the next day or two to give me money, and that if I was smart, I’d take it and get the hell out of your life for good, before I did something to ruin it.” He sighs. “And that if I didn’t take the money, he’d find a way to put me behind bars with the rest of my family, where I belonged.”

“You’re lying,” I accuse, even though a voice inside my head demands that I listen. I fish out my phone, intent on dialing my father right then and there.

“He’s not going to admit to it.”

“Oh, yes, he will.” If Kieran is anything, it’s self-righteous. Everything I do—everything I’ve ever done over the years—I’ve done only with your best interest at heart. You know that, right? His words echo in my mind. Is that what Kieran Calloway thought paying the boy I loved to disappear was? In my best interest?