What He Never Knew (What He Doesn't Know, #3)(83)

“It really is too bad, you know,” she said.

As much as I wanted to just keep walking, to deny her request for me to play whatever game she had in mind, I turned anyway, still balancing the bin against my hip as I waited for her to continue. “What’s that?”

“Well… it’s just that… as his student, I’m sure you know how well he works with his hands.” Her eyes slipped over my shoulder, and I knew she was staring right at Reese. “Let’s just say that talent isn’t only reserved for the piano.”

All the blood drained from my face, trickling down my spine like icy cold water. My feet were frozen, rooting me to the spot as I tried to blink, tried to breathe, tried to shake off what she’d just said.

She’s just trying to get to you, I assured myself. She doesn’t know anything.

But I could still see the lipstick on his mouth from Saturday night. I could still close my eyes and imagine his lips on hers, her hands on him, the two of them rolling in what I imagined to be red silk sheets on her bed.

He said she kissed him, and he didn’t kiss her back.

He said he only wanted me.

He wouldn’t lie to me… would he?

I internally shook my head, because I already knew the answer. He wouldn’t. Reese cared about me. He wouldn’t lie about something like that.

“Aw,” Jennifer said, and I popped my eyes open, not realizing I’d squeezed them shut. She clucked her tongue, shaking her head at me as she sipped on her wine. “You really think what you two have is special, don’t you? Let me guess, he fed you all his sad, woe is Reese stories about Charlie, right? He told you he felt different around you, that you’re what he wants, that she broke him, but you make him feel whole?”

I tried to swallow, but it came up dry.

Jennifer chuckled. “Oh, sweetie. Reese is very good at saying what he needs to in order to get what he wants. But trust me when I say that Charlie is the only woman he’s ever loved, the only woman he ever will love. And you’re just a distraction.”

A chill ran down my spine, and I shook my head against it, glancing at Reese over my shoulder as Jennifer spoke again.

“I know the truth hurts, but once he’s had you, once he’s gotten his fill?” She clucked her tongue again when I turned to face her. “He’ll find a way to get you out of his hair. It’s what he did with Blake, and with me, and I assure you, you’re no different.” She tilted her glass toward me, taking another sip off the top. “No matter how many times he tells you otherwise.”

I still couldn’t swallow as I watched her turn in her barstool. She was focused on Reese once again with a satisfied smirk on her face, like the dagger she’d just shoved in my heart brought her absolute joy.

I forced a breath, dragging my lead feet back into the kitchen and dumping the dishes into one of the giant sinks. My vision blurred as I ran the water as hot as I could, letting it burn my skin as I scrubbed the dishes that weren’t even my job to wash. I needed to move, to keep my hands busy, to work and think about anything other than what Jennifer had just said to me.

In my heart, I wanted to believe there was no way she could be right.

Reese cared about me. He wouldn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t lie to me.

But even as I repeated those words, I felt the doubt in them.

Reese said Jennifer kissed him, that he’d pulled away, told her to get out of his car. But then how did she know about him and Charlie? If I was the only person he’d ever told? Did he lie about that, about me being the only one?

Did he lie about what happened with Jennifer, too?

He wouldn’t lie to you, I tried again, but every muscle in my body was wound tight at the prospect.

Because as much as I hated it, what Jennifer said made sense.

Reese had told me about Blake, about how she loved him, gave him all of her and still he couldn’t see past Charlie to give her what she wanted from him. And I’d been there when Charlie had shown up to his place — not once, but twice. He assured me nothing had happened, but how was I to know that for sure? Maybe that day she came to see him, she only left quickly because I was there. And during the storm? Charlie could have been there for hours before I showed up.

Maybe that’s why he’d been in such a mood.

Maybe it was why he’d kissed me.

He wanted relief from the pain, from the loss of her, and he found it easily in me. I’d all but thrown myself on him that night.

I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut to try to stop the thoughts. But they roared on, a blistering fire searing every other attempt at rationalizing the situation.

He wouldn’t lie to you. He wouldn’t use you. He doesn’t want to get rid of you. What you have is real. Trust him, not her.

It was all I could do to keep breathing through the rest of my shift, repeating those words over and over until they quieted everything else. After work, we’d be together. Reese would take me home, and we’d be alone, and I could ask him for myself. He’d hold me and kiss me and silence my anxiety for good.

He’d make it all better. I knew he would.

I just had to make it through the next three hours.





Reese



I made it.

It might have been the slowest night ever at The Kinky Starfish, which was sort of an oxymoron, since it was busy the entire time. But knowing I’d have Sarah in my home after, knowing the exciting news I had to tell her? It made every single second drag by like a year. By the time we finally made it into my car, all I could do was sigh with relief.