Unbreakable (City Lights, #2)(95)

I wished he would. I wished he would rage and yell and accuse. At least then I would know he felt passion for me, that the idea of my being with another man drove him into a jealous rage. But he only waited calmly for me to reply.

“I’m not really dressed for it…”

“It’s okay,” Drew said. “I don’t have too much time. I just thought we’d grab a bite at Bay Cities around the corner.”

“Uh, sure.”

Drew turned to Cory. “Nice to meet you.”

Cory stared, incredulous. “Uh, yeah. Sure. You too, man.”

Oh god. I hurriedly slipped on the sandals I’d left by the door. Before going out, I glanced at Cory but he shuffled some pages on the table and wouldn’t look at me.

In the driveway, we climbed into Drew’s Porsche, and I studied my fiancé. It felt as if I hadn’t seen him in years. He was dressed in casual finery—golf slacks, an expensive polo shirt the same color of his blue eyes, and his black hair was gelled. He looked the same as he always did: neatly elegant and put together. I felt disheveled and unshowered by comparison, my messy hair a screaming testament to how I’d spent the night.

“Drew…”

“You should have told me,” he began, his eyes on the road. “I thought you’d have at least told me the situation.”

“It only happened last night. I—”

“Not that. Let’s not get into particulars about that,” Drew said. “I meant how he ended up living there. The hearing, his custody issues…I mean, he said you’re renting the house to him? For how long? Since when?”

“A week,” I said quietly. “And he won’t stay. I offered it to him as thanks for saving my life but he only plans to stay there until he gets back on his feet. And I should have told you that. I should have told you everything. I’m so sorry to have hurt you—”

“I have friends who are in Superior Court frequently,” Drew went on. “I shudder to think how I would have reacted had one of them told me first.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but…” I huffed a sigh, watching him navigate the short drive. “You’re so calm. Aren’t you mad at me? Hurt? Sad?”

“Yes, all three. But I’m not surprised, either.”

My eyes widened. “You’re not surprised to find another man in my house?’

“Not exactly.” Drew pulled into the Bay Cities Italian Deli parking lot. “We’re here. Come on. I only have an hour.”

I took a booth as far in the back as possible while Drew ordered our food, though the very last thing I felt like doing was eat.

“I’m not blameless,” Drew said, watching me not eat the salad he’d bought for me. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what you said the day before you moved out. And even before that. I suspected that we’d have…issues. I know it’s not easy for you…how I am.”

“What does that mean? How are you, Drew?”

He made a sour face. “Are you really expecting me to talk about it out loud? Right now? In public? This morning isn’t humiliating enough already?”

I opened my mouth to retort, and then snapped it shut. The last thing I wanted was to make things worse for him, but his words only left me confused. I held my head in my hands. “So that’s it? You’re going to let me off the hook. Just like that?”

“What’s the alternative?” Drew asked after swallowing a bite of his pastrami sandwich, his appetite apparently undiminished. “Should I throw a fit and tear out my hair? Should I roll up my sleeves and pick a fight with Cory?”

“God, no.” Cory would knock you flat in one punch, I thought and then nearly choked on the guilt that rose up in my throat.

“Should we call off the wedding?” Drew said. “Should we throw away six years together? All of our goals and dreams…should we just abandon them over one little flaw in our relationship?” He put his sandwich down. His face paled. “Unless you want to call it off? Do you care for…him?”

“No,” I blurted. “I mean...I…I don’t…know.”

Drew took up his food again. “I didn’t think so. You’re too practical for that. He seems like a good man, don’t get me wrong, but he’s got a lot of problems, right? Paul Phillips was telling me.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. “How on earth does Paul Phillips know anything?”

“From Antoinette, who I would have presumed heard it from you during one of your Monday lunches.”

I pushed my salad bowl away. “Of course.”

Our Monday lunches. Gossip-fests, more like it. I wondered how many people we must have snickered and scoffed over, how many secrets we carelessly spilled, how many reputations we cast in dubious light over our twelve-dollar appetizers and six-dollar iced teas. And anger burned my cheeks to remember the Posse had discussed Cory the same way, laughing over him, reducing him to a working-class nobody with a great body and a ‘menial’ job, without ever knowing what an incredibly thoughtful and kind and brave man he was. What they knew of him was the smallest fraction of what he was…

Drew shrugged. “In any event, Cory’s got money problems, yes? And a kid from another relationship? An ex? God, that’s a minefield you don’t want to walk into.”