Page 201 of The Charlie Method

“What’s going on, mate?” I push.

There’s a long silence. Charlie must sense the tension, because she lifts her head from her laptop.

“Will?” she says, frowning.

He doesn’t break the eye contact, focused only on me. “Your dad told me about Shannon.”

My breath jams in my throat, and for a moment, I feel like I’ve had the wind knocked out of me. Fucking hell, Dad. He knows I don’t like advertising that shit.

Charlie’s apprehension is aimed at me now. “What? Who’s Shannon?”

“Your ex,” Will prompts, not quite mocking me, but there’s an edge to his words. “That’s what you’ve always referred to her as, right? Your ex?”

I clench my jaw.

“Beckett,” Charlie says. “What’s going on?”

Will glances at our girl. “Shannon wasn’t an ex who cheated on Beck,” he says flatly. “She was his girlfriend who died.”

Charlie stares at me. Speechless.

Will tips his chin at me. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah,” I mutter. “That’s right.”

“What the fuck, Beck? Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you let us think Shannon cheated on you?”

I shrug, trying to play it off like it doesn’t matter. Like I hadn’t lied to my best friend about something so significant.

Charlie blinks, still looking stunned. “She didn’t cheat on you? Shedied? How?”

When I don’t answer, Will fills in the blanks. “Leukemia,” he says.

“Why would you lie about that?” Charlie exclaims.

I don’t look at either of them. I can’t.

“Beckett,” she pushes.

“Charlotte. I didn’t want to talk about it then,” I say irritably, “and I sure as hell don’t want to talk about it now.”

Now they’re both staring at me in disbelief.

“You can’t just pretend it didn’t happen,” she says. “You can’t brush it off like it’s nothing.”

Anger rises inside me, not at them but at the whole damn situation. “I’m not brushing it off. I just don’t want to be that guy. The one everyone pities and looks at like he’s broken. After Shannon died, everyone treated me like I was some kind of charity case, walking on eggshells around me. I fucking hated it.”

“So you made up a story?” Will is incredulous. “You’d rather people think she cheated on you than know the truth?”

“Yeah, I would. At least that way, people stopped feeling sorry for me.”

“But you’re still hurting.” Charlie reaches out and touches my arm, but I shrug it off.

“I’m fine. It was a long time ago. I’m over it.”

“Are you?” Will challenges. “Because you don’t seem fine.”

“What do you want me to say? That I’m still torn up about it? That I think about her every damn day? What’s the point? She’s gone, and I had to move on. So I did.”

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