Page 36 of All Our Secrets

That night, I went home with Peyton, knowing my best friend and her best friend were the same King. I recalled the glassy-eyed, flushed look she’d given King the day they met. Then it all clicked. King had rambled on and on about a girl he met while gaming online. Coincidentally, her name was Peyton too. Talk about fucking shitty luck, and he gave himself away so easily. I knew immediately Peyton was the chick he raved about because of two things.

The first was when he told her to call him Silas. No one fucking called him that.

The second was the way he took off like the place was on fire. If King would have stayed that day instead of storming out of the bar, unable to look at Peyton, I might not have figured it out as quickly. Or maybe, like Peyton, I would have been clueless. But I saw his reaction to her. The tremors in his arms as he left the bar. I saw how soft his gaze had been toward her right before it hardened when he stared at me. He’d never leave—no,runlike he did if something hadn’t upset him. Each encounter after that confirmed my suspicions because he couldn’t stand to be around me much anymore, especially if I was with her.

A good friend would have cleared the air with King, but Peyton had looked at him the moment they collided with that pivotal, hopeful expression, like he was someone she’d dreamed about a hundred times before, and the truth wouldn’t come out. I couldn’t speak up. Because I wanted her. I wouldn’t have introduced her to my best friend if I hadn’t seen my future when I stared at that brown-eyed girl.

I didn’t know why I’d thought of such a thing again. What did it matter now? If I had cleared the air, given King’s secret away… The outcome didn’t matter.

Just like I didn’t dare tell King I knew his secret. Eventually, I stopped feeling guilty about it. He never uttered a word about it either, and I was okay with that. Hundred percent on his side about keeping it a secret, even if it meant he kept it from me too. I got the girl. I married her.

Stepping into my bedroom, I spotted King staring at a picture of Peyton and me together. His thumb trailed over Peyton’s face. As a ghost, I supposed I didn’t breathe, but my lungs still locked up. “What are you doing?” I asked as I wondered how much my wife still thought of that online friend of hers. And how much he thought of her. King couldn’t possibly still be hung up onmywife.

He didn’t even look away from the picture. His chest expanded. “I wonder, Theo…” He glanced over at me. “Really. Why are you here?”

He kept asking like I was supposed to have the answers. And every time the words flew out of his mouth, they were accusatory. It kind of sounded like my best friend didn’t want me here. But that couldn’t be right. Once I learned how to communicate with Peyton the way I could with him, we could be happy again.

Every muscle in my body tensed as he placed the picture down. He was so at ease. Never once acting guilty or ashamed for being in my home. Nearmywife when I knew the thoughts he’d had for her at one point. The things he didn’t know I knew. And the ones I wish I didn’t see reflected in his eyes every time he encountered Peyton, even now…

King wouldn’t hit on my wife knowing I was there. Or at all… He couldn’t even man up and say who he was. But why… was his presence here upsetting me?

“This is my home,” I said. “I belong here. Not you.”

King cocked his head. “Do you remember the day you died yet?”

“Why do you keep asking?”

“I’ve been reading… Apparently, some ghosts need to remember how they died in order to move on.”

“I don’t want to move on. I want my family back.”

The vein in his neck jumped. “I won’t let you put her through that.”

“I’m getting really tired of you saying that. My wife should choose. Not you.”

“Peyton is a widow.”

“What is your problem?” I spat. “She doesn’t even want you here. You make her uncomfortable.”

“One more time, Theo.” King held up his finger as his forehead creased. “If she calls me again after I leave because you scared her, I’ll pull her out of this goddamn house, and you’ll never see her again.”

My heart dropped. I gawked at my best friend. He’d go that far? Anger rippled up my spine. “Are youthreateningme?”

“Silas?” Peyton poked her head through the door. A mere foot away from me. When I reached out for her, my fingers slipped through her face. She moved away, holding her face. “Brr, random chill.”

Chill?I dropped my hand.

“Were you talking to someone?” she asked.

“Muttering to myself,” King replied.

She snorted. “More like yelling, but Rosie wanted me to tell you to come eat before you head home.”

“See that? You’re going home tonight. She wants yougone.”

King ignored me as he followed her out of the room.

Even so, I suspected my best friend would always be in love with my wife. I’d do whatever necessary to keep them apart.

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