Chapter 18 Old News #2
“Matt, meet Owen. Because, in case you missed the memo, Braden is Owen.”
“What the fuck?” The anger radiating from Matt rivals mine.
“My only intention was to get to know each other.”
“Is that what we’ve been doing, or has everything been lies?” I throw my napkin down on the table. “You know what, I don’t care. I’m done with this. I’m done with you. You and your alter ego can go fuck yourselves. I’m out of here.”
I grab my purse, jump up, and scramble out of the restaurant as fast as humanly possible. From behind, I hear Matt tell Braden not to go after me. Thank God he stopped him. I can’t deal with any more bullshit at the moment, and I certainly can’t trust a thing he says.
Braden
“It’s not what you think,” I tell Matt as soon as she’s gone. I tried following, but he stopped me, and frankly, I don’t blame him.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is. It sounds like you’ve been playing her, making her believe you’re someone you’re not, and you got caught.”
“I wasn’t trying to play her. Everything Owen said is true. I didn’t feed her any bullshit. It was all real. I didn’t lie to her.”
He scoffs. “I’d say posing as a fake person is a lie in itself, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Fuck. I didn’t want her to find out like this.”
“You mean you didn’t want her to find out at all.”
“It was the only way I could think of to get her to talk to me. I liked her. She couldn’t stand me. But then, when she finally started talking to me, as in Braden, I didn’t know what to do about Owen.”
“A decent person would’ve dropped the charade—you didn’t, and now you’re paying the price. The best thing you can do from here is leave her alone.” Matt stands, throws twenty dollars on the table, and walks away without another word.
How did this night go downhill so fast? I knew it would be an issue when Matt announced my mom was from Florida. I should’ve confessed right then and there. What was I thinking?
With no reason to be here, I take my meal to go and book the nearest hotel for the weekend. My original plan was to ask Poppy if she wanted me to stay with her, but that’s out of the question after this fiasco.
Between lunch tomorrow with Jim and my flight on Sunday, I’m not sure what my next move will be. I don’t know where she lives, so I can’t knock on her door and beg for forgiveness. I’m certain she won’t answer my call or respond to a message, but I have to do something to make her understand.
I barrage her with texts, one after another, reassuring her that nothing I said was a lie, trying to explain that my intention wasn’t to deceive her. As expected, I received nothing in return. For all I know, they might not even getting through. She could have me blocked.
I’m devastated, and I have no one to blame but myself.
Matt’s right, I’m paying the price for my deceitfulness.
I’m just like my father. I didn’t cheat on her, but I may as well have with how badly I’ve hurt her.
Finally, I give up and go to bed, knowing I can’t do anything more tonight.
Tomorrow’s a new day, and I’ll start fresh.
When I wake up the next morning, though, I’m still completely fucked in the head. I have no idea where to go from here. After hitting the hotel gym for a couple of hours, I’ve still not come up with a solution, and it’s time for lunch with Jim. Hopefully, he’ll have some advice for me.
“Well, that’s the sorriest face I’ve seen in a while. Since your girl’s not with you, I’m assuming it has something to do with that. Take a seat, son. Tell me what happened,” Jim says before my butt hits the chair. He was already here and saw me approaching, looking like death warmed over.
For the next half hour, I spill everything. I’ve puked my whole life story out by the time I’m done. From childhood, to my ex-almost-fiancée, my aversion to relationships, to the shit show of a mess I’m in with Poppy—all of it.
“Braden, if anyone needs a drink right now, it would be you.” He raises his hand to signal the waiter and orders two old-fashioneds.
“I don’t know what to do. I like this girl—a lot. She came out of nowhere, and I’m ready to tie her to me any way I can. I fucked up.”
“You sure did. That’s because you’re human, and humans fuck up. You’re not the first, and you won’t be the last. You just need to decide how you’re gonna fix it.”
“That might not be possible.”
“I heard somewhere they call you the Butcher. I would think if a butcher excelled at cutting something up, he could certainly put it back together. So figure out how to do that.”
“I got nothing. If you have a suggestion, I’m open to anything.”
“Have you tried knocking on her door yet?”
“I don’t have her address.”
“I know you’ve got private investigators working for you. Seems like a no-brainer to me.”
He has a point, however…
“I’m not sure how much more I should dive into her life after using Owen to find out everything I could about her. Don’t you think it would piss her off even more?”
“What about those friends you share? Can’t you explain the situation and ask for it?”
I laugh. “I’m betting our mutual friend won’t be on my side.”
“I’d say if you’re sincere and you tell them how you feel, you might be surprised.”
I shrug, figuring nothing can make it worse at this point. “I guess it’s worth a shot.”
“Anything is worth a shot right now, wouldn’t you agree?” he says, raising his hand to signal another round.
“Yeah.”
“So, you get her address, go to her house, and beg her to listen to you for five minutes.”
“You think groveling will be enough?” I ask, hopefulness filling my lungs.
“Nope,” he says matter-of-factly.
I deflate.
“But it’s a start.”
By the time lunch is over, four hours later, I’m two sheets to the wind and not fit to talk to either Eli or Cici. Instead, I go back to the hotel room and pass the fuck out.
The next morning, I have a slight headache as I struggle to remember everything we discussed yesterday afternoon.
As I try to recall the evening before, losing count of how many old-fashioneds we drank, at least one thing stands out.
Not to be deterred from my goal, I tuck my tail between my legs and dial up Eli.
“Well, look who’s calling. Surprised I’m hearing from you while you’re with Poppy.”
“Yeah… about that. We had a misunderstanding.”
“You don’t say…. This wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact you went onto the same dating app she was on, would it?”
I groan. “Did she already call Cici?”
“No. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out when I ran into Warren last night. Funny, but when I asked him about it, he said it was the craziest shit he’d ever heard of and that he wouldn’t be caught dead on a site like that.”
I groan into the phone. That’s two for two. I’m crap at this whole deception thing… obviously. Apparently, I’m not like my dad, since he was pretty damn good at it.
“Look, I feel like a broken record, but I wasn’t doing it maliciously. I just wanted to get to know her. I like her and she wouldn’t give me the time of day, so that was my solution. I didn’t mean for it to blow up like this.”
“I can’t imagine you did. I’m sure we’ll hear all about it on Wednesday, so why are you calling now?”
“I was hoping you could help me out. I need to talk to her and explain. I can’t just give up.”
“Where do I fit in?”
“Can you ask Cici for her address. And her parents’ address. I can easily have Justin find it, but I’m trying to go about it the right way.”
He chuckles. “Isn’t it a little late for that?”
“Listen, I’m beating myself up enough. I don’t need it from you too. Are you willing to help me or not? If Cici hasn’t heard yet, you might want to do it before she hates me.”
“You sound like shit, so you’re obviously wrecked. I’ll at least give it my best effort.”
Instead of staring at my phone for the next however long it takes, I decide to jump in the shower.
I’m toweling off, stepping out of the bathroom, when I receive a notification from an incoming text.
Holy shit—he fucking did it. I’m not sure how he managed to drag the information from Cici, but I’m hella glad he succeeded.
With a clear mission, I dress quickly, with more fervor than I’ve had since Poppy walked out of the restaurant, ready to make the first attempt at getting her back.
Thirty minutes later, I realize I’m probably making the dumbest move of my life by knocking on her parents’ door. This is not how I wanted to meet them, but I have no other choice with my flight taking off in a couple of hours.
The door opens to the last person I expected. Matt. What the fuck? I’m out of the picture, and he decides to swoop in to pick up the pieces?
“What are you doing here?” he asks, venom pouring from his mouth.
Anger clouds my vision as I respond. “I could ask you the same thing?”
“I was invited—unlike you. So you can turn right around and leave. Poppy wants nothing to do with you.”
“If that’s the case, she can tell me herself. I’m not leaving until I see her.”
“I don’t think you’re in any position to make demands. You’re old news as far as I’m concerned.”
He starts to shut the door in my face, but I stick my foot out to stop it.
“Poppy! It’s Braden. Please, just give me five minutes.” I’m yelling as Matt shoots daggers.
I open my mouth to shout again when Poppy’s voice sounds.
“What is going on?” she hisses, on her way to the door. “How did you know where to find me?”
“Eli gave me the address. Look, just hear me out. I’m begging,” I plead.
“You don’t have to, Poppy. I’ll get rid of him if you want.” Matt tells her, making me want to punch him in the face.
“How about you stay out of it. Poppy can handle this herself.”
“It’s okay, Matt, I’ll take it from here. Thanks, though,” she says, pulling the door open.
“Okay.” He steps back and turns into the house. “Come get me if you need my help,” he adds, walking away.
She smiles at him, walks outside, and shuts the door behind her, barely looking me in the eye. “Nothing you can say will change my mind at this point, and I certainly have nothing to say to you.”
I back up to give her space. Her body language clearly states she doesn’t want me here.
“I have so much to tell you, but I’ll start with, I’m sorry.
I fucked up, I know that. It was a dick move.
” I shake my head in frustration. “When I heard you went on a dating app, I went crazy. I wanted more time with you, but your opinion of me was less than stellar, and I thought that was a good way to do it. Obviously, it wasn’t. I know that now.”
“Yeah.” She scoffs. “You mean, now that I’m on to you?”
“No. I knew it needed to stop, but I couldn’t figure out how.”
“Telling me the truth didn’t occur to you?” Her arms cross over her chest while cocking her hip.
My head drops, and I blow the air from my lungs. This isn’t going well. “It did. It’s just…. Fuck. I’m not doing a good job at explaining.”
“It doesn’t matter because it’s too late for that.”
“Can I do anything?”
“You can leave.”
She’s right, nothing will change her mind at the moment, and the last thing I want to do is make it worse. “Okay, I’ll go. For now.”
“How about for good. And don’t bother texting or calling. We’re done. What’s interesting is that you’re so against cheating and lying, yet you just spent weeks lying your ass off.” Her parting words hit their mark before she goes inside and slams the door in my face.