Page 70 of It's Complicated

Aiden shifts uncomfortably in his chair and then he starts talking…

29

JACE

At home, I’ve just gotten out of the shower and I’m in my room, pulling up a pair of boxers and sweatpants getting ready to commute to Lori’s house, when my phone pings on the bed with a message from Aiden:

From Aiden:

Man, I screwed up

Multiple scenarios play in my head.

Did he cheat on Kirsten after we left the bar on Saturday? Nah, that doesn’t seem like Aiden.

Is he having cold feet and said something stupid? Could be… for all his good qualities. Sometimes Aiden speaks before he thinks.

But the next message clarifies the screw-up has nothing to do with him or his upcoming nuptials.

From Aiden:

I accidentally let it slip with Lori about the pact

I don’t need to ask what pact.

The next text arrives just as an incessant pounding starts at my door.

From Aiden:

Just a heads up, she might be coming your way, fuming

Yeah, no kidding!

I pull on a white T-shirt and brace myself as I go open the door.

“Tell me it isn’t true.” Lori storms into the apartment, eyes blazing, hair wild. She wheels on me, gesticulating like a mad person. “Tell me you’re not single-handedly responsible for the last fifteen years of heartbreak and misery.”

I sigh. “I’m not responsible. If Aiden really wanted to get with you, he would have. Pact or no pact.”

“So you’re not even trying to deny it.”

“What? That Aiden and I made a stupid pact freshman year and never spoke about it for another fifteen years?” Barring the last time Aiden brought it up two weeks ago.

“Don’t give me that.” I hate to see how Lori’s lower lip trembles.Loatheit. Despise myself for being what caused the hurt. “You knew Aiden would take a promise like that seriously and stick to it, no matter what. All the times I thought something might happen between us, and he pulled back at the last minute as if he’d suddenly remembered he wasn’t supposed to be romantic with me. It drove me insane. I could never understand it. And when I spoke about it to you, you just stood there and said nothing! Not once. Did you have fun? Did you enjoy watching me cry?”

Heat rises on my neck all the way to my ears. “You think I had fun? I was in love with you, Lori, and all you ever wanted to talk about was how much you loved Aiden.”

“And you just stood there, knowing you were the only thing keeping us apart. What kind of love is yours? The selfish”—now she makes a ridiculous dude voice—“‘I’ll have her or no one else will’ kind?”

“Do you really think that if at one point, Aiden had fallen in love with you, a stupid pact would’ve stopped him from coming onto you?”

“Well, you made darn sure that possibility never even crossed his mind. Or that if it did, he’d think twice before acting on it. Take the option off the table. Why? Why would you’ve done such a cruel thing to me?”

“Because seeing you two together would’ve killed me,” I shout.

Lori jumps, taking a step backward, and I try to calm down.

I take a step toward her, putting my hands forward, signaling I mean no harm. “Lori, I’m sorry. I know what I did was selfish but—”

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