Page 49 of Between the Paragraphs

I’m in the middle of reviewing some documents when there’s a knock on my door, followed by it opening, and a call from my football buddies. I smile as I hear them walking down the hallway. My smile quickly falls when I see the worried expressions on their faces.

“What’s up guys?” I ask.

Kevin, the most level-headed of our group looks at me for several moments, making me set aside my computer. He doesn’t say anything which is the most worrisome of all.

“You’re worrying me,” I tell him before I look at Tom and Nathan. All three men sit down, holding an iPad.

“Have you read anything today?” Kevin asks.

“I’ve read lots of stuff today. What specifically are you talking about?” There are things written about us all of the time so I don’t understand why they look like their dog was just shot.

Kevin lets out a sigh. “You need to read this,” he says. He hands over his tablet.

I look at it and notice it’s the article Maria wrote. I didn’t realize it was out. Why are the guys so upset about it? It makes zero sense. The interview was fun with both Miles and me. We had a hell of a lot of more fun after the interview.

“It’s a tell-all, Mason. It’s sharing things you don’t want shared, talking about your brother, your personal life, and . . . the team. It’s not in a flattering light. It was just published this morning and it’s gone viral,” Kevin says.

My heart lodges in my throat. I look down and start reading, my heart sinking with every paragraph I read. There are personal stories in here that shouldn’t have been shared. There’s information about business strategies and some things that talk about stories I’ve shared with very few people. Utter betrayal flows through me. I’m silent as I finish the article. Finally I set down the iPad.

“I don’t understand,” I say, my voice quiet.

I look up to see the frustration on my friends faces. I hear my door open again and wince. I’m not shocked when I see Miles enter the room, shock on his own face. I look at him not knowing what to say. I’m the one who brought Maria into our lives.

“What in the hell happened?” Miles asks.

“I have no idea. You were there, and I heard everything you said to Maria. This article is inflammatory and false,” I tell him.

“I can’t see Maria doing this. She’s not that woman,” Miles says. I’m shocked he’s defending her. I grab the iPad and point to her name at the top.

“It can’t be more clear. She’s betrayed us,” I say. I’ve never been this hurt in my life. The woman I was going to ask to be mine forever cheated on me and I didn’t feel this betrayed.

“Something else has to be going on. We heard the rumors about her company,” Miles says, still not wanting to place blame on Maria. All of the arrows are pointing straight at her, though.

“I told her during the interview how hard it is for me to trust people. Was she laughing the entire time?”

“We all like her,” Kevin says. “She’s the best I’ve ever seen because I never would’ve guessed she’d do this.”

My phone rings and I look to see Maria calling me. I immediately send it to voicemail. I can’t talk to her right now. I’ll lose it. I need to figure this out and have a clear head when we next speak. Right now I feel like I’m falling and I might never land on my feet.

“Do you really think she’s behind this?” Miles asks. It’s clear he doesn’t want to believe it.

“I don’t see any other explanation,” I tell him, filled with anger and sadness. I was ready to give her the world, but I guess that wasn’t good enough. It appears that selling me is more important to her than having my heart. When will I learn?

“Maybe you should talk to her, let her explain,” Kevin suggests.

“I won’t believe a word she has to say right now,” I tell him. We’ve all been here, and they know better than to argue with this. Each one of us have been betrayed. This is worse than any before now for me. It’s worse because I fell for her, really opened up. I told myself that wouldn’t ever happen again, and then I gave her my heart. I feel like my body’s been cut open, dissected, then left on the ground to rot.

“I agree you should cool off,” Miles says.

I nod at him. “I’m going to look into it,” I say. “I don’t make accusations lightly, but I don’t see any other reasonable explanation.”

The room’s silent for a moment, everyone processing their thoughts. My phone rings again a few minutes later. It’s Maria again. Why is she calling right now? Is she thinking I won’t be upset about this article? Has she come up with a story? I don’t know.

I turn my phone off. I have some damage control to handle right now. The men take off and I start making some phone calls. I don’t like what I find out. I sit back at the end of the night with a drink in my hand. I should be used to this by now. I’ve been betrayed before, and it will surely happen again. This doesn’t mean I’m going to sit by and take it, though. If Maria believes that, she doesn’t know me nearly as well as she thinks she does. She doesn’t know what a huge mistake she’s just made.

Chapter Twenty-one

Maria

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