One Last Time(76)

“You’re damn right I’m angry, Kris. I can’t believe you actually wrote that! How the fuck could you?”

Kristin shifts back and hurt flashes in her eyes. “What the hell was so bad? It’s the truth!”

I get to my feet and grip my head. She can’t be this stupid. I know she isn’t. She knows how much it tore me apart. We sat in her bed as I fucking broke down and cried to her. There was nothing in that night where I said she should write about it.

Unable to hold it in, I turn to her and throw my hands in the air. “I didn’t know I should’ve specified I needed to be off the record when I told you about Tanya!”

“Tanya?” She jerks her head back. “What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb, Kris. You admitted not two seconds ago to writing the fucking article.”

She gets to her feet, wrapping the sheet around her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t write anything about Tanya.”

I’m not sure if it’s worse that she admitted to it or that she’s suddenly playing stupid. If she were going to sell me out, she could at least stand by it. However, I’m too pissed to say a word to her.

I take the laptop off the floor, open it, and place it on the bed. “Let’s not pretend. Don’t insult me more than you already have.”

Kristin moves to the laptop, and she shakes her head. When her eyes meet mine, they’re filled with fear. “I didn’t write that.”

“No, you already said you did.”

Her lip starts to tremble. “I swear. That’s not what I sent!”

“Is it not what you sent or did you think you had more time before I read it? I can’t fucking believe this. I can’t believe you!”

“Noah—” She steps toward me, but I move back. “Noah, please. I didn’t write that. It’s not my article! I swear! I wrote about your job, the new role you took playing a man who fights for the woman he loves, I talked about how kind you are, and the charities you’re involved in, nothing about Tanya! I would never!”

I grip the side of my head as I feel as if it’ll explode. My God, I’m being ripped apart. I want to believe her, but it’s all there. “How the hell did everything I told you get in there? It has your name on it, Kristin! I haven’t told a soul in twenty years about what happened, and then it’s suddenly on the goddamn internet two weeks later? Tell me,” I step to her. “Tell me how then.”

I’m a rational guy, she says she didn’t do it, then I need to see what she did submit. Because right now, there’s nothing showing me otherwise.

“I’ll show you my email! You can see that I didn’t send it.” Kristin grabs the laptop, but I pull it away.

Right now, I don’t trust anything. I don’t even trust myself. All I want is for what she says to be true. But I can’t let my guard down, I’m weak to her. I have no idea if she’ll delete it or try to cover her tracks. I need to be one hundred percent sure.

“Tell me your password. I’ll look.”

Her breath catches, and she sits beside me. “You seriously think I would do this?”

“I don’t know what to think,” I admit.

She drops her head and sniffs. “I thought we were better than this.”

“Just show me how the article on your blog, with your name and the details from Tanya’s death I told you about, wasn’t you, and I’ll believe you. The last thing I wanted is this, Kristin. All I fucking want is you, and I’m trying to come up with something that makes sense.”

Kristin’s blue eyes meet mine, and I hate seeing the anguish swirling around, but she has to give me something, no matter how small, to hold on to. “Fine, open the email and you’ll see. I didn’t do this to you. I would never do this to you. I love you, Noah.” Her voice breaks at the end, which equally breaks me. “Erica is the editor-in-chief, she could override anything. So, I don’t know, maybe someone told her, and she edited my article.”

I want to be wrong. If this email isn’t there, I’ll grovel at her feet and then destroy the person who did this. She tells me the password, and I load her email. I go to the sent folder, praying to God the email isn’t there.

I scan down and see two emails to Erica. The subject of the most recent one reads: URGENT-Use this for the article.

The email opens, and there’s no hope left.

I look to Kristin, who is standing against the wall. “I guess my story was worth more than what we had. Don’t worry, Kristin, I won’t push you off the ledge like you just did to me. Guess it was my turn to fall.”





Chapter Thirty-One





Kristin





“Just listen to me!” I clutch his wrist as he walks out of the room. “I didn’t do this!”

Noah rips his arm away and pins me with a stare filled with disgust. “Stop fucking lying! I can’t look at you right now. Just let go!”

Pain slices through my heart as he rejects me. He hates me. I see it in his eyes, and my lips tremble. I need him.

“I’m not leaving!” I stand my ground as I rack my brain for anything to explain this. I didn’t send that email. I would never tell anyone about his past. “We have to talk. You can’t push me away because I love you!”