Page 95 of The Chemistry of Us

“I did.”

Not this bullshit again. “Tru, I’m trying really hard to stay calm right now, but no, you didn’t. You omitted the real reason I was upset.”

She frowned. “The real reason? The only reason I know is because of Sandra and your dad.” She paused. “Wait, was there another reason?”

“Are you playing me right now?”

“No! I’m serious!”

I wanted to scream, but instead, I took a few seconds to calm my racing heart. “Tru, Dad said you knew everything.”

“What’s everything?” A tear slid down her cheek. “Because all I know was what I walked in on.”

My mind raced. “About my mom's affair? How my dad isn’t actually my biological dad? When I caught them, I asked if you knew, and he said you knew everything.”

Tru’s face paled. “Vaughan, I swear to you, I did not, nor have I ever known that until you just told me right now.”

“W-what?”

“Vaughan.” More tears slid down her cheeks onto the down comforter. “I swear on my own life I had no idea. God!” She jumped to her feet. “Is that why you did what you did? You thought I was lying to you about it? That’s huge! I would have talked with you and asked if you were okay. You dealt with that on your own that night? Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because he said…” My throat caught. “He said you knew everything, and I just—fuck.”

Tru walked around the bed and knelt in front of me, grabbing my hands. “If I knew that, I would have told you so you wouldn’t get blasted like that, and if I’d known that night, I wouldn’t haveeven let you have sex with me. I would have held you.” Her lower lip quivered. “I would have told you it doesn’t matter who brings you into this world. What matters is how your existence can change it—you changed mine. It doesn’t matter where you come from, Vaughan. It’s about who you love and what you leave behind.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “I would have liked that speech.”

“I would have meant every word.”

I pulled her into my lap and hugged her. Tru’s arms flew around my neck holding me there, keeping me there while we sat in silence.

She never betrayed me.

She’d been in the dark too.

My dad had just flippantly said it.

I broke us.

I was the one who broke us because I was too afraid to ask—too afraid that she knew and was ashamed of me or that I’d somehow kept it from her.

It was a tactical, let-me-hurt-you-before-you-break-me scenario.

I regretted it all.

Especially losing her and all this time we could have been together.

CHAPTER 34

VAUGHN

Now

This energybetween us flowed in the air. This magnetic pull never went away. If anything, it only intensified as the years evolved.

She always controlled my thoughts.

My actions.

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