Page 74 of Beautiful Thing

I pivot on my toes, taking light footsteps across the creaky floor.

But right as my hand turns the doorknob, I hear Archer speak. “I loved her. But she chose that asshole over me.”

Holding my breath, I slowly turn to face him.

He’s quiet for a moment before he goes on. “I fell for her back in high school. She sat in front of me in Biology class and I was so gone for her I didn’t know what to do with myself. When she asked me to dance at the Valentine’s Day fundraiser, I decided I was going to marry her the minute we graduated high school.” He grunts bitterly. “I was an eager, little fucker. Eager and in love and so dumb. At the time, I’d just gotten my first job—at the hardware store, actually—and I immediately started putting away a portion of every paycheck toward buying her a ring.”

“Oh, Archer…” I hear myself gasp, my hand leaping to my chest as I take a few steps toward him.

The sole of his foot taps rapidly on the old carpet. He tears his glasses off again and drops them on the table. “It was crazy—I knew it was. But I’ve always been a person who takes commitment seriously. Maybe it’s an ‘oldest kid’ thing.” He chuckles dryly before raking his long fingers through his thick hair. “The problem is, she didn’t feel the same.”

“What do you mean?” I ask him.

“Kathryn and I dated exclusively for a while. But then she started flirting with other guys. When I told her how much I hated it, she said she wanted to ‘keep her options open’. I knew I couldn’t handle that, but I liked her so much I went along with it. I compromised my own needs. Because I was convinced that I could convince her to choose me in the end. I did everything in my power to win her over. But it killed me, having to share herwith guys who didn’t give a fuck about her as a person. Guys who saw her as just another blonde with a nice body.”

My heart aches under the weight of his words. I watch the way his shoulders bunch up with tension. It’s taking everything in me to not just walk over there and wrap my arms around him.

“She got a summer job, working the reception desk at the local country club.” Pain slashes across Archer’s face now. “That’s how she started seeing Dan.” He collapses against the backrest of his chair, absently moving around the pieces of his half-finished jigsaw puzzle. “The two of them had started fooling around. I pretended not to know about it. I tried to just focus on winning her over once and for all. But everything went to hell one day when I went to surprise her with lunch. When I got there, she was already enjoying a mouthful of Dan’s dick in a golf cart on the edge of the woods.”

“What did you do?” I hear myself whisper, my heart pounding as I lower into the seat facing him.

“I broke down crying like a little bitch.” Archer grinds his molars. “And then I kicked his ass.”

I gasp loudly, hanging onto his every word.

“My heart was fucking broken and the dipshit was being smug about the whole thing. He made it clear that he had every intention of continuing to get his fill of Kathryn every chance he got. And my fist went flying like it had a mind of its own. I practically blacked out, losing my shit on him. The next thing I remember is security peeling me off him and tossing my stupid ass to the curb. I’m lucky he didn’t press charges.”

I cover my mouth with my fingers as my eyes start to blur with tears. My heart breaks for the teenaged version of Archer, having his spirit crushed in such a cold way.

“The worst part is, Kathryn didn’t try to fight for me, she didn’t show any remorse, she didn’t ask for another chance. Shetold me that Dan was an opportunity she couldn’t miss out on and that she had to make the ‘smart choice’.”

I laugh bitterly. “Great to see that her ‘smart choice’ is working out so well for her today.” Her husband clearly doesn’t seem to be interested in her or their kids in the slightest.

“I was devastated and all she cared about was the doors that Dan’s trust fund and old money could open for her. Doors that the meager engagement ring money I was naively saving up never could.”

I rub a hand over my aching heart. “I hate what they did to you, Archer.”

He shakes his head as if to downplay his pain. “I guess I didn’t have the right to be hurt—I knew from day one what I’d gotten myself into—but I was hurt, dammit. It hurt more than anything I’d ever experienced. Maybe I was more disappointed in myself for letting her lead me on. I should have never let things get that far. I should have protected myself. To this day, I’m still kicking myself for being such a fool.”

“Archer, you were a teenager.”

He lifts his chin defiantly. “Yeah. I was a teenager then. But I’m a man now. And I’ll never carelessly open myself up to making that kind of mistake again. To answer your question, I decided a long time ago that being alone was better than feeling the way Kathryn made me feel.”

I’m beginning to get the bigger picture of the puzzle that is Archer Brighton. So much of this enigmatic man makes more sense now.

“So you’ve never been in a relationship since then?” I ask.

“I tried, but I never found someone who was willing to give me the depth I was looking for. I can’t do the superficial relationship thing. I can’t deal with disloyalty. It just doesn’t work for me.”

“But you can’t let your entire life revolve around one heart ache,” I insist. “You can’t let one rotten person dictate how much happiness you’re allowed to have in your life. That’s not fair to you.”

He refuses to look at me. He doesn’t want to hear it. “Kathryn altered the trajectory of my life. All I know is, I haven’t been able to look at the world the same ever since.”

I’m on the verge of tears. I don’t know how much longer I can sit here without them spilling down my cheeks.

I reach across the table and lay my hand on top of his. He flips his palm over, making my chest stutter when he weaves his fingers through mine.

“You have to live your life, Archer. To the fullest. Because Kathryn is living her life. It is clearly a shitty life, but at least she’s living it.”

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