The Lover’s Secret (No Exceptions #1)(33)
Author: J.C. Reed

“I miss the times when we were young,” Tiffany said quietly. “We were in love, and we had that amazing chemistry. I know we haven’t talked about this in a long time, but…” She paused as she regarded him. Her fingers brushed her eyes gingerly, as though to wipe away unshed tears “But sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had kept the baby; if things might have taken a different turn.”

Oh, my God.

A baby? His baby?

She had been pregnant by Jett.

The realization hit me like a train: whatever they had in their past must have been special—like what I had thought I had with Jett. Or maybe even more special, considering that she had been dating him for longer, and that was probably the reason why she hated me. She likely felt I’d taken him away from her, that I was the other woman, an intruder in their relationship.

A rebound.

Staring at her, I tried to swallow the thick knot in my throat. It tasted as bitter as her words and equally piercing.

Jett had never told me about the baby or his relationship with Tiffany, nor had he revealed that he was seeing her behind my back. He had betrayed my trust once before, and now he was doing it again. I buried my fingernails in the soft skin of my forearm, eager to inflict physical pain in the hopes that it might drown out the shock of his betrayal, and block the images of them together—a nightmarish vision I never saw coming.

Judging from Jett’s hard features, he seemed completely taken aback by her words. I never knew what jealousy meant until I experienced the heart-shattering, soul-wrenching pain of seeing Jett with another woman and not being able to do anything about it. And not only was she another woman, she was also his ex, someone he’d almost had a baby with.

“Our room is ready for us. It’s the same we used last time,” she whispered and rested her hand at the nape of his neck. And then she smiled…not at me, but at him…as if he was the only person in the room. It was a special kind of smile: soft, tender, almost fearful.

“There’s always a new beginning, Jett,” she whispered. “You wanted to see me, and that’s all that matters. Deep down, I knew we were never over. That you’d come back to me someday.”

As I watched her lean into him again, my throat constricted from the urge to scream, but no sound came out. The ice-cold feeling in the pit of my stomach turned into a raging storm as her hands pulled him nearer: so close, too close.

Finally, their lips locked in a kiss.

I was so shocked I couldn’t breathe. A jolt of pain pierced my heart—thick and sharp as a blade, right in the middle of my chest, as though I had just been stabbed, and the knife was being pulled out slowly, ripping through tissue, creating a wound so big that nothing could ever stop the bleeding.

I pressed my hands over my mouth, unable to stop the tears from running down my face like little rivulets, and eventually, my disbelief turned into bitter grief.

I had to get away—now, as quickly as possible, before my fragile soul shattered. My legs began to move of their own accord as I ran out the door, past the drinkers and diners who looked up in surprise. I ran right out of the hotel, trying to get far away from the one person I’d fallen in love with, the one person who had destroyed every inch of my faith in love and relationships.

My head spun with the images of Jett kissing another woman, a woman who hated me because she wanted him.

I had to get away, because I couldn’t bear to see him anymore, without feeling the stabbing pain whenever I thought of his lips on hers, gentle, just the way he kissed me so often; without wishing to get shot that instant, if only to stop the pain, my love for him, and the images I knew would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Jett had been the best thing that had happened to me, but after today’s discoveries, he had broken me more than anything or anyone ever could. He had shattered my heart beyond repair by seeing her behind my back. He had betrayed me with her, and for that I hated him. I hated him for that even more than for visiting a killer behind my back. Hated him like I had never done before.

How dare he kiss her when he was still with me?

After everything that happened, after everything we’d gone through, his actions hurt even more than when he had tried to trick me to get the Lucazzone estate. The realization hit me that nothing would ever be the same again between us. There was no doubt I would never be able to look at him again without the images of betrayal flashing before my eyes. I would never be able to face him again, to look at him and not see her.

The dark thoughts I had tried to suppress crept back, ridiculing me. They were more welcoming now in the comfortable mist of my dark mood. This time I shuddered, not from the cold, but from the possible connections I hadn’t grasped before: like the possible fact that Jett had sided with his brother, withholding the evidence that so clearly would have kept the psycho locked away forever. Or the fact that Jett had always been too good to be true. If he had kept a few secrets from me, what’s to say there weren’t many more? Why not include the ploy to earn my trust in order to benefit his hidden agenda?

Love had made me blind. All he had to do was tell me a few lies, pretend to be in love with me, and make an utter fool of me in the process.

When a lie was involved, there were usually two sides to the story. My mind could have adjusted to the idea that a fact was either true or false. However, in Jett’s case, where he had clearly pretended our love was true, and that he cared about me—which had turned out to be a lie—then went behind my back, spinning a story about his brother, and about how much he loved me, there were still multiple facets I didn’t know about him. Jett was a preteniar, a pretender and a liar all rolled into one, and I liked the idea of calling him what he was.

Angrily, I wiped the tears from my face, but more followed in mascara rivers. He didn’t deserve a single tear. He didn’t deserve my love or my self-pity. The bastard deserved nothing.

As perfect as he had seemed at first glance—sweet in words, gentle in actions, and sexy as hell—I shouldn’t and wouldn’t forget the fact that I had always sensed something dark lurking inside him. It was a side I had always been afraid to confront or face.

It wasn’t only my inability to trust that had prevented me from giving him the promise he so desperately sought. More than that, deep down, I had always sensed that he was never really serious about me, and I couldn’t make promises of any kind to a man like him; a man who had always been too good to be true.

Now I had to get away from him. There was not a single doubt about that. This time, I swore to myself that I would stay away from him—no matter what. It would hurt like hell, but I knew I possessed the strength to move on with my life. I had to…and if I couldn’t do it for myself, then at least I would do it for my child.