Reckless Hearts (Oak Harbor #2)(52)

He has a freaking fiancée I knew nothing about.

Ex, I correct myself, but still, that one little word is no comfort to me now. I close the door on Will, trying to forget the wounded, desperate look in his eyes. Everything is still spinning, just out of reach, like the facts are dancing in my mind but nothing’s landing. Nothing makes sense.

Helena.

She’s pretty. Beautiful, even. It shouldn’t matter, but it does. And everything she was saying, about his friends, their apartment . . .

They had a life together.

A life he never mentioned. Not once.

Oh god.

I hear his truck pull away, and suddenly, I’m sick to my stomach. I race down the hallway to the bathroom and fall to my knees, wretching over the toilet. Nothing comes, the spinning doesn’t subside, and I collapse back, slumping to the floor with one question whirling in my mind.

Who is he?

William Wyatt Montgomery.

I thought I knew him, better than anyone. I thought he was as straight-forward and honest as they come. He told me I could trust him, that he wasn’t playing games. I looked into his eyes and saw a future with him, our future, but it turns out it was all a lie. That man doesn’t exist, not really. Not for me.

The truth of it takes hold of me, so raw and bitter I could cry. I was right all along. Make me no promises and you’ll tell me no lies. I believed him, and look at me now: a crumpled mess on the floor because I let myself hope, just for a moment, that love could be more than disappointment and pain.

I stare, numb at the floor. There’s dust gathering in the corners, and the towels are hanging out of the hamper in the corner. I’ve been so wrapped up in Will that I’ve let the place get messy. After all, why waste time vacuuming when I could have been wrapped up in his arms, laughing so hard it hurt as the summer evenings drifted into sundown, and beyond?

Now, I suddenly can’t stand it a moment longer. I scramble up, determined. I refuse to be the girl weeping on the bathroom floor over some guy who didn’t keep his word.

I’ve got work to do.



I clean in a determined burst of energy, polishing every damn square inch of my apartment by the time the doorbell goes. I open it with rags in one hand and a bottle of oven cleanser in the other to find Lottie on my doorstep.

“I just heard!” Lottie looks stricken.

“What? That he’s a no-good lying piece of dirt?” I ask, hollow, before turning back down the hallway.

“Who is she?” Lottie asks, trailing me back to the kitchen. “How could he? What did he say? Are you OK? God, I’m so sorry!”

“I’m not.” I get back to the grease lurking back behind the range, scrubbing determinedly. “Better I find out now than any later. No harm, no foul.”

“No harm?” Lottie echoes. “Delilah, put down the scrubbing bubbles!”

I keep working.

“Dee!” Lottie grabs the sponge away and takes my hands. “Talk to me.”

Emotions rise, jagged in my chest, but I shake my head, trying my best to keep them back. If I break now, I don’t know if I’ll ever put the pieces back together again. “I can’t.”

“I know you’re hurting,” she says earnestly. “It’s OK.”

“No it’s not!” I cry, my voice echoing. “I should have known from the start. What have I always said? The minute you make a commitment . . . start thinking about a future . . .”

Pain splinters, cutting through the numbness. I remember waking up this morning, spooned in his arms, feeling the steady rise and fall of his chest against my back. I felt like this was it, finally.

I had someone all my own.

It’s too much. I can’t keep the pain back any longer. Suddenly, I burst into loud, messy sobs. Lottie pulls me into a chair and hugs me close as I bawl for dear life. All my hurt, all my betrayal, it all comes rushing out in one wretched, agonizing flood.

“It’s OK,” Lottie murmurs helplessly. “Everything’s going to be alright.”

“No it’s not!” I wail, lifting my head. “Just look at me! This is exactly who I never wanted to be!”

“Human?” she offers with a wry smile, but nothing can take this pain away.

“I trusted him,” I whisper, feeling broken. “I let him in. Nobody’s ever made me feel the way he did.” Another sob rolls through me, and I angrily wipe the tears from my cheeks. “Like, I could be my best, and he wouldn’t resent me for it, or feel threatened. Like I wasn’t too smart or too loud or too confident. He wanted it all.” I break down again, the loss too much to bear. Not just Will, god, Will, but everything I could be with him.

Completely myself.

“I’m so sorry, babe,” Lottie says again, her eyes full of sympathy. “I can’t believe it, he seemed like the one. Did he say anything at all?”

I sniffle. “Just that it was over before we met.”

She brightens. “So he wasn’t cheating on anyone!”

I shake my head. “No, it doesn’t matter. He lied to me. He had this whole life I knew nothing about.” My heart aches to think of it, all the things he never told me.

“But, you both have history,” she tries to reason. “You didn’t tell him about every single guy you’ve ever dated, did you?”