Page 89 of Tangled

My phone starts ringing repeatedly, Olivia’s name flashing across the screen. I can’t talk right now and the distraction is blinding while I’m driving, so I silence my phone and turn it over so the screen stops illuminating the cab.

I just keep driving, lost in the fury racking my body and the fuzziness in my mind. I blank out so hard, I barely remember the entire trip as I pull in my driveway and shut off my engine. Slamming the door to my truck shut, I trudge inside and throw my phone across the room, stomp into my kitchen, and quickly locate the bottle of whiskey in my cupboard. I reach for a glass and fill it half full as my hand trembles and the bottle clanks against the rim. I shoot back the amber liquid and quickly refill it, throwing back shot after shot until my stomach turns and the ache in my chest starts to dull.

Once I’m satisfied with my level of inebriation, I stumble across my house and locate my phone that I tossed when I got home. Taking a seat on the couch, I unlock the screen and see the list of missed calls from Olivia, along with dozens of texts and voicemails.

And then the anger comes back and I chuck my phone across the room again, the thud of it hitting the wall and then the hardwood providing the only sounds besides the background noise of animals calling out into the night outside.

“Fuck! I… I just don’t get it!” I shout into the room, throwing a pillow from the couch over my face as every emotion courses through my body.

I’m so goddamn angry, my skin is vibrating from my pulse.

My heart fucking aches in my chest as I picture the two of them together, and then realizing that he fucking cheated on her just like he did to me with Natasha, makes me want to bash his face in more than anything I’ve ever wanted to do in my life.

I feel tears threaten to fill my eyes when I think about how I had planned for the evening to go—the dinner we would share, my confession to her about how I truly felt.

And now all I can think about is the two of them together. How the fuck did this even happen? How did T.J. end up in northern California and woo Olivia, and then fuck it up—just like every other relationship he’s ever had?

Did Olivia know who I was? Did T.J. ever talk about me? Was her coming home and weaseling her way into my world a plan the two of them had hatched together?

I had heard through the grapevine that T.J. left our town at the same time I did, his reputation destroyed when people found out about what he and Natasha did behind my back. I can’t imagine they hid it all that well either, so I’m sure our neighbors and other people knew what was going on.

So did he find out Olivia and I were together and then came home to stir up some shit as some retribution for the direction his life took after he devastated mine? I wouldn’t put it past him at this point. I always felt he was jealous of me, jealous of what Natasha and I had, jealous of my goals and aspirations when he had no direction of his own in his life. His dad had mapped out T.J.’s life for him before he graduated high school—securing him admission to Oregon State University and demanding he major in business so he could take over their drug store chain when his father retired.

And after he took the one thing from me that he didn’t have—a woman to call his own, and his world shattered simultaneously with mine—was his goal always to get back at me? Was this the opportunity he saw and then pounced?

Some crazy shit is running through my mind as I remove the pillow from my face and inhale the oxygen I was lacking. This turn of events is so fucking crazy, I can’t even form words or coherent thoughts that make any sense. The list of questions in my head is a mile long—as even more start to bellow in.

Is he here to try to get Olivia back? Is he still at her place? Fuck, I left her alone with him, not even contemplating what he’s capable of. But if I know Olivia like I think I do, she wouldn’t betray me—would she?

Hell, I thought Natasha would never cheat on me and look how that turned out.

And suddenly, every ounce of reassurance I felt just a few hours ago about my future with Olivia is drained from my heart and my mind. My ray of hope, the sunshine that brightened the darkened sky I was living in for years was just extinguished with one visit from a ghost of my past.

Chapter 37

Olivia

“What the fuck just happened?” I shout at Trevor as he sinks back down in his chair and pulls on his hair right after Kane stormed off. I tried calling him a few times before I turned my attention back to Trevor, but the calls went unanswered.

“God, Olivia. I have no idea! How do you know Kane?”

I walk over to him as he looks up at me, and then I smack him across the face.

“What the fuck? What was that for?” He yells while rubbing the sting off of his cheek.

I bend down low and get right in his face, pointing a finger at his chest. “That was for Kane. You are such a selfish bastard, Trevor! Do you even know what you’ve done to him? You slept with his fiancé for crying out loud!”

Trevor moves to stand, which causes me to back up from him. I’m not afraid of him, but I can see the anger brewing behind his eyes.

“Natasha seduced me, Olivia. Not the other way around. And she was lonely, and my friend was a whole world away. We turned to each other and sought comfort in one another. But she wanted more, and I didn’t.”

“So you ruined your friendship for some convenient sex? God, you are one of the most self-centered people I’ve ever met! I can’t believe I was with you for as long as I was!”

I study this man that I thought I wanted a future with and chastise myself for my naivety. My God, what would my life have ended up like if I had stayed with him and never caught him cheating on me?

“And apparently this is your M.O. since you fucked around on me, too. First you screw over your best friend, then you screw another woman behind my back. Tell me, Trevor. Was she the first? Or was I the first woman you were ever unfaithful to?”

His silence fills the room, and I know I have my answer.

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