Chapter 47
Forty-Seven
Conor
I’m going to lose her if I don’t start talking, but I don’t know where to start.
“Oh my god, Conor… just tell me.” When I still don’t say anything, she cocks her hip out. “Should I call you Pinkie? Would that help to get your lips moving?”
“Why were you baking a cake?” I ask.
She crosses her arms again. “It was for you, but now I think it’s going to be for me to wallow in after the big fight we’re about to get into.”
My chin hits my chest. “I don’t deserve the cake.”
“No, I don’t think you do. And if you don’t start talking soon, I’m going to leave.”
“I slept with her,” I finally confess.
She gasps. “When?”
My eyes fly up because I am a fucking idiot. That was a shit way to start this conversation. “Over a year ago. Back in Florida.”
Her shoulders fall, and she rounds the couch, sitting down. “Continue.”
I walk into the family room and sit in the chair adjacent to her. “I gave her my phone number to hook up again, but I was never interested in dating her. I saw her at the bar we used to hang out at after the games, called Carmelo’s. I had a good game one night, got a little drunk, and went home with her. After that, she acted as if we were in a relationship. She’d message me day and night, and when I stopped responding and blocked her, she sent me gifts at the arena. She found out where I lived, and she left stuff there for me. I found her on my porch after a game at two in the morning. I tried to be nice, but she just didn’t seem to get the point. I eventually changed my number and moved. In the end, I had to file a restraining order against her, and she was banned from the games.” I scratch the back of my head.
Eloise doesn’t say anything but crosses her legs, waiting for me to continue.
“She got into the parking lot once and broke into my car, was waiting for me naked in the back seat. I called the cops, and she was arrested. It stopped after that, and I ended up getting traded and put it all behind me.”
“So, let’s fast forward to you lying and telling me she was just a fan when I caught you with her the first time. And then you telling me you were at the gym today when you were having coffee with her.” She waves for me to speak.
I’m so mad that Lila put me in this position. My life was on track. Eloise and I were doing so well, then bam! Sure, I fucked up by not filling Eloise in, but if Lila would’ve just backed off, it wouldn’t be an issue.
“The first time she reached out when I was here was when she sent a picture in the mail.”
She sighs, and her head falls back against the couch. “When we got back from camping?”
I nod.
“That’s when you started acting all weird. Where is it?” She crosses her arms.
Fuck. I stare at the floor, feeling like the world’s biggest douchebag. “In my dresser drawer.”
She stands and rounds the couch. I get up and follow her to my bedroom.
“Get it,” she says, gesturing toward the dresser.
“I totally forgot it was in here.” I open my underwear drawer and dig to the bottom, pulling it out. “I was going to throw it out, but I forgot. I haven’t looked at it at all. I swear.”
I hand the picture to her, and she glances at it before ripping it in half. “Do you have any idea how stupid all this makes me feel?”
Tears well in her eyes, and she charges out of my bedroom… our bedroom for the most part, because since camping, she’s slept in my bed every night.
“I didn’t want to scare you,” I say, chasing her.
“Scare me? So, you lied to me?” She whips around and runs her fingers under her eyes, wiping the tears there. “You lied.”
My stomach bottoms out. I feel as though I’m going to be sick. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to find out about her and leave me. I thought I could get rid of her, and then it wouldn’t matter. But she refused to listen. Even today at Beans, she kept telling me how good we were together, no matter how many times I told her that I was with you. That you were the one I had fallen for.” I step closer, but Eloise puts up her hand to stop me.
“You chose to lie to me. Why do people think I’m incapable of dealing with shit? I don’t need to be handled with kid gloves. I’m a grown woman!” Her voice raises.
“I know you can. That’s not it. It’s me. It’s all on me because you don’t deserve to have some woman harassing you because she believes she’s dating your boyfriend. A woman who is putting shitty things on your social media?—”
Her head rears back. “Wait, how do you know about that?”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “You mentioned that one comment, so I’ve been checking your socials to see if she was continuing to send them. I’ve caught a few before you deleted them off your posts.”
She throws her arms up in the air. “What else, Conor? What else have you been handling behind the scenes to make sure I stay in some bubble?” Jesus, she’s animated when she’s angry.
“Nothing.” I shake my head.
“And that was her at Peeper’s when you told me she was just a fan.”
My shoulders sag. “I thought I could handle it.” I step closer. “Please. I’m so sorry. I was stupid for not telling you.”
She puts up her hand again. “I need to be alone.” She walks by me into my bedroom, purposely keeping a distance so our bodies don’t touch. She comes back out with her pillow. “I’m sleeping in the other room tonight. Don’t bother me.”
Her door slams shut, and my head falls forward. I’m such an idiot. I fucked up this entire thing.