Chapter 51
I walked through the hotel lobby, stewing. When Morgan walked away, I didn’t go after her. I could do nothing but stand there and watch her vanish inside.
When I stepped out of the elevator and started toward my room, my gaze fell on Chad’s door.
Despite having accused Morgan of breaking our truce and playing our old game, deep down, I knew she wouldn’t lie about that for the sake of sabotage. Our game had been outlandish at times, yes, but it was fun. It was never meant to cause any true harm.
I didn’t stop at Chad’s room. I went straight to mine and quietly walked inside.
I peered into the bedroom from the lounge of the suite to see Loralei lying under the blankets in bed, seemingly asleep.
I closed the door to the bedroom, then stepped out onto the balcony off the lounge with my mind still on my conversation with Morgan.
Ironically enough, what she told me about Loralie and Chad wasn’t even what surprised me most.
It was what she said afterward.
And if I really wanted to sabotage your relationship even after we called a truce, why would I have spent the last three months avoiding you?
Why do you think I stopped coming around, Wes?
I couldn’t stop wondering what exactly she meant. I had a thought—more of a hope—but at the same time, I was afraid of letting myself believe it. I berated myself for not asking her to elaborate, but I’d been too taken aback to even respond.
And the fact that whether or not her words meant something was what I was focusing on rather than the actual bombshell she dropped on me about what she saw spoke volumes.
I didn’t sleep in the bed that night. What little sleep I did get was on the sofa in the lounge.
The following morning, I woke before Loralei, got dressed, and headed out of the suite. I walked down the hall and stopped in front of a door, knocking loudly. I didn’t give a fuck that it was barely eight in the morning.
I heard stumbling, and a moment later, the door swung open to reveal a boxer-clad Chad with his hair sticking up all over the place. “Dude, what time is it?” I didn’t answer. I brushed right by him and into his room. “Sure, come on in.”
When he shut the door and turned to face me, he parted his lips to speak, but I didn’t give him the chance. “I’m just gonna come right out and ask this…” His brow furrowed. “Have you been messing around with Lora?”
I had my answer immediately, evident by the way he suddenly couldn’t look me in the eyes.
“I’ll take the way you’re being too much of a pussy to look at me as a yes.”
Chad heaved a sigh, lifting his gaze to mine. “Look, I’m sorry. It just…kind of happened.”
“Oh? Care to elaborate?”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “The night after you introduced her to me, I saw her while I was out with a guy from work. I went up to say hi, we had some drinks while we talked, one thing led to another…”
“And then you just kept sticking your dick in her afterward?”
“I mean…yeah, I guess.”
I let out a wry laugh as I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Wow…”
“Honestly, I didn’t think you’d even care.” My brow furrowed at his words. “I mean, it’s you. You’ve never wanted any kind of relationship in your damn life, and out of nowhere, you pop up with a girlfriend. I thought you were just fucking around with her.”
“You didn’t think I’d care? And even if I was just fucking around, you think that makes it okay for you to go behind my back for weeks?”
“I mean…” He threw his hands up. “We’ve always had this little rivalry going. It’s just what we do, Wes.”
“We may have had a stupid rivalry when it came to calling dibs or who got to talk to someone first, but we have never fucked around with a girl the other is with, regardless of the capacity. So don’t even try to justify it with that because that’s bullshit, and you fucking know it.”
Chad went quiet, knowing I was right. He broke the silence a moment later. “So…where do we go from here?”
“Nowhere,” I stated.
“Really?” He scoffed. “You’re just gonna let some girl come in between a decade-long friendship?”
“I didn’t do that. You did.” I shook my head. “We’re not the same guys we were in college, and I think it’s safe to say we’re on different paths. And we obviously have different definitions of loyalty.” He looked at me, clearly taken aback by my stance. “Just pack your shit and go, man.”
Without another word, I walked by him and out of the room.
I thought you were just fucking around with her.
The words Chad said rang true in a way, something I’d known from the start.
I gave Loralei the label she claimed to want, only to force myself to forget about someone else.
What I’d done wasn’t much different than “fucking around.” It was for an entirely different reason, but it didn’t make it any better.
That didn’t give Chad a pass for being a two-faced douchebag, though. And once someone lost my trust in such a way, they didn’t get it back.
However, I could acknowledge that I’d gone into this relationship with Loralei for all of the wrong reasons. I’d known it from the start, but I tried to convince myself something real might still come out of it. But nothing would ever make it real.
Because I wanted real with Morgan.
I was in love with Morgan.
No matter who came along, there would be no way of giving all of myself when my heart was somewhere else, even if it was unrequited.
My relationship with Loralei was my way of forcing myself to let go of any feelings I had and simply forget Morgan, but it didn’t work. I’d been forcing it from the beginning.
And it needed to end.
I walked back to my room, and when I stepped inside, Loralei was sitting on the sofa in the lounge. “Hi, babe. Were you guys out super late? I didn’t hear you come to bed last—”
“We need to talk,” I cut her off. I didn’t have time for fake pleasantries. I had to get this conversation over with because there was another, much more important one I needed to have.
“Okay…” Loralei’s tone was hesitant.
“I’m just going to be blunt and straight to the point. This—you and I—it needs to end.”
Her brow furrowed. “What?”
“Listen, I dove headfirst into this relationship when I shouldn’t have, and for all the wrong reasons.
I was trying to force myself to be in it when the truth is I wasn’t and never would be because I was still holding onto feelings for someone else.
And that wasn’t fair to you, and for that, I’m sorry. ”
I decided that I wasn’t going to bring up the fact that she had been messing around with Chad. I had my own blame in this, like getting involved in the first place when I had feelings for someone else.
Loralei stared at me, her expression twisting with irritation. “This is about Morgan, isn’t it? You two were together before us, and when I found out that night at the bar, I just knew something was still going on between you two!”
I arched my brow. I wasn’t going to lie, but her audacity left me a little stunned.
“Yes, it’s about Morgan, but nothing has been going on between us.
And we weren’t actually together before, we just…
we weren’t together. Did I have feelings for her?
Yes. And I still do. But nothing has happened between us since before she left for Miami, which was months ago. ”
“You expect me to believe that when you saw her last night, and now you’re suddenly breaking things off with me?”
I shrugged. “You don’t have to believe it, but it’s the truth.”
“I can’t believe you’re doing this! I thought we were happy!”
“Seriously?” I scoffed. “I wasn’t even going to bring this up because I was trying to own up to my faults that had more to do with my decision than your own, but you’ve been messing around with Chad for the last few weeks, so you couldn’t have been that content in the relationship if that’s what we can even call it. ”
Her eyes widened. “Wh-What?”
I gave her a look. “I had enough respect to be honest with you about my blame in this. The least you could do is show me the same.”
“Wes…” Her entire demeanor shifted. “Chad and I…that was nothing.”
“Well, clearly, you and I weren’t either.”
I could tell my indifference was irritating her. “Why are you so calm about this? It’s like you don’t even care!”
“Because I don’t,” I replied matter-of-factly. “We both had our faults. We just need to call this what it is, Loralei.”
“And what’s that?”
“Over.” We stared at one another for a moment before I lightly clapped my hands. “Well, I’m gonna…” I clicked my tongue and threw my thumb over my shoulder towards the door.
“What the hell am I supposed to do? You expect me to stay here with you and your friends when you just broke up with me?” she spat.
“You can stay in this room. I’ll drop by later to get my stuff when I have a room lined up.”
“I’m not staying here! I’m going home!”
“Okay. That works, too.”
I didn’t wait for her to say anything else; there was no point in keeping it going. I walked out of the room and down the hall, leaning against the wall as I pulled my phone from my pocket. I needed to message Morgan and find out what room she was in so I could talk to her.
I needed to apologize for making her think I didn’t believe her last night—it’s not that I didn’t, more like I didn’t want to because it was Chad. Regardless, I owed her an apology. And, even if I was terrified, I was done hiding how I felt about her.
I wanted to tell her.
I needed to tell her.
Before I could send a message, I heard a door down the hall open and glanced over to see Lucas and Callie emerge from inside. “Hey,” Lucas greeted me. “Are you waiting for Loralei to go to breakfast?”
I let out an awkward chuckle. “Uh…more like breaking up with her.”
“What?” Lucas and Callie both said in unison.
I gestured to their room, and we all walked inside. I turned to look at them when the door latched shut. I then reiterated what Morgan told me she saw at the club last night, my response, and my conversations with Chad and Loralei that morning.
Lucas and Callie were both wide-eyed by the time I finished. “Sabotage? Callie questioned. “Why on earth would you accuse her of something like that?”
A quiet laugh escaped me; they still didn’t know about our little game. “That’s a story for another time. Right now, I need to find Morgan. I need to talk to her. What room is she in?”
Callie sighed. “Wes, she…she left.”
My brows shot up. “What the hell do you mean she left?”
“She stopped by last night and told us she booked an early morning flight back home. She looked upset, but she wouldn’t tell us why. She said she was fine and didn’t want to ruin the rest of our trip and that she would talk to us when we got home.”
She hadn’t even told Callie what an asshole I was last night. Fuck. I grumbled as I rubbed my face with my hands before dropping my arms to my sides. “I gotta go—I need to go after her.”
“You’re going after her?” Lucas repeated.
“Yes! Because I need to tell her that I’m fucking in love with her, and I can’t do that if she’s not here!”
Lucas and Callie both went wide-eyed with grins.
“Well, alright,” he said with a chuckle before pulling out his phone. “Go get your shit. I’ll get your flight booked.”