Page 123 of One Wrong Move

I can’t really make out Nate’s expression. But his eyes are on mine, that I see, and rapidly approaching.

His hands are on my shoulders the next instant. “Are you okay?”

“No. I’m pissed off. I’m crying because I’m angry, not because I’m sad. Okay? Because I’m not sad.”

“Okay,” he repeats. His thumb smoothes over my cheek, brushing away a tear. “What did he say?”

“The usual bullshit. He paid off the entire cancellation fee for the caterer. And that’s on top of the original deposit, the one we can’t get back, that we put down with his money. A few weeks ago, I tried to make a payment for the venue, and I was told that they had already received it!” I shake my head and force my voice under control. It’s trembling, and I hate how shaky everything is coming out, how weak. I’m angry, damn it.

“I see,” Nate says. But he doesn’t sound like he sees at all. “And you want to pay your half?”

“Yes! Because otherwise… otherwise, he is going to hold it over me forever.”

“How can he?”

“Oh, he’s sneaky. He’ll find ways. Like calling my parents or guilting me about his family… He knows that I wanted to pay my portion, to be free of any kind of debt to him. But now, it means I’ll have to pay him every month for the rest of my… well… until I’ve paid it off.” I shake my head. “I’ve tried so hard to get away from him. And here he is! Making it impossible.”

“He wants you back,” Nate says. “And he wants to punish you.”

“Yes.” I reach for the paper towels on the kitchen island and use it to dry my cheeks. A humorless laugh escapes me. “God, I’m so sorry you heard all of that. I never meant to drag you into… that.”

“To open the box,” he says quietly. “You wanted it to remain untouched at the back of some shelf somewhere.”

“Yeah.” I blow out a breath, my tears slowing down. The burst of anger fades as quickly as it had come, simmering down to the low-level annoyance I’ve felt since I left Dean. “I know he means… a lot to you.”

Nate shrugs. “We were college friends.”

“You were going to be his best man. At the wedding.”

“Yes,” he says. But the corners of his mouth tip into a crooked, not entirely happy smile. “I think we both know that Dean is a bit more calculating in his decisions, though.”

I blink at him. I hadn’t known that Nate noticed that.

“I’m not an idiot,” he says. “I know when people want me for me, and when they want what my money or influence can get them.”

“Oh,” I say with a swallow. “He did always seem… jealous of you.”

“More so in the past decade,” Nate says. He runs a hand in his hair and looks away, toward the stove and the water still boiling there. “I don’t think either of us has been a… loyal friend in the last few years.”

I shake my head. “You haven’t done anything.”

“Mm-hmm,” he says, but it doesn’t sound like he believes me. His gaze turns concerned. “Is this part of the reason you called it off? The wedding?”

I wet my lips. Are we really going there?

But Nate is my friend. And I no longer suspect he’ll go to Dean. “Part of it,” I say. “But there was more…”

Nate nods and takes a few steps back. Toward the built-in wine fridge. “White or red?” he asks.

I smile at him in gratitude. “Yeah, I think I need that. White? It’s too warm for red.”

“You got it.” He chooses a bottle and motions for me to continue. So I do, sinking down at the kitchen table. Watching as he pours us a glass each.

“It didn’t start out that way. I mean, you saw us, right? We had a great time together,” I say.

Nate’s jaw tenses, eyes focused on the wine he’s pouring. “Yeah.”

“But somewhere over the past years, I realized… I had lost myself. And became what he wanted. We spent the summers the way he wanted, visiting people up and down the Eastern Seaboard who he wanted to see. I tried applying to two internships before this one, one in Boston and one in Paris… and he discouraged me from both. Said it would be unwise. And I believed that.”

---