Page 80 of Dear Roomie
“You’re right. After the party, I’ll—”
“No, no more stalling. You are doing this now.” He releases me and moves back toward the loft. “I’ll go let him know that you need to talk to him, and I’ll be waiting on the other side of the door to back you up if you need me.”
“Okay,” I tell him, but he’s already gone back inside.
The last of the sunlight disappears below the horizon, painting the sky with the star-speckled indigo of twilight. I slip the sparkling shackle off my finger and steel myself for this past-due conversation, drawing on the shadows to give me the strength to do the thing I could never do in the light of day.
“Hey, babe, your dad said you wanted to see me,” Tanner says as he steps out to join me on the porch. I turn away from the railing to face him, and for a moment, I’m struck with a pang of bittersweet nostalgia. The carefree smile and joyful gleam in his eyes make him look so much like the boy I was in love with for so many years, and this is the last time I’ll ever see him like this. It doesn’t last long; his face falls as soon as he sees the solemn expression on mine.
“We need to talk.” I don’t beat around the bush, and my tone doesn’t leave much room for ambiguity. Despite the growing lump in my throat and the heat behind my eyes, my words sound steady and decisive.
He flinches, his hackles raising knowing where this conversation is going. “Ophie, baby,” he pleads, “don’t do this.”
“I’m sorry.”I really am.“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t marry you.” I hold the ring out to him in the palm of my hand. His eyes flit between it and my face, and a myriad of emotions dance across his features before he straightens his shoulders and hardens his expression into an icy mask.
“This is because ofhim, isn’t it?” His nostrils flare and his lips curl into a hate-filled sneer. “The roommate.”
“No—” I start to lie but catch myself. If there was a time to be one hundred percent honest, it’s now. I owe him these truths, even if they are painful. Even though this is the end, I respect the fifteen years of history between us enough to give him that. “Not entirely.”
“How long have you been fucking him?” He is eerily calm, but his tone is honed with bitter sharpness.
I think I’d rather have the burning rage. At least I know what to do with that.
“I’m not fucking Morgan,” I snap. As much as it stung, he was right to reject my advances. At least Tanner won’t have that to hold over me when all of this is over.
“This”—I gesture between us with my free hand—“would have happened with or without him. Let’s be real, things haven’t been good between us for a while. You prioritized your dad’s campaign and your image over me time and time again, and I can’t remember the last time I felt like I could just be myself around you. We could have worked through that, but you broke us the second you decided drinking and drugs were more important than us. We were over then. It just took me a while to figure that out. All Morgan did was show me how it is I deserve to be treated in the meantime.”
“I’m sure he has shown you plenty.” He barks out a bitter laugh. “I should have beat the shit out of him while I had the chance. But really, James, it’s a low fucking blow playing the addiction card. I know I fucked up there, but I apologized, and I got soberfor you.If that was really the problem, you should have ended things then instead of stringing me along for months while fucking your roommate behind my back. So go ahead, place all the blame on me if it makes you feel better, but we both know this is happening because you are a cheating whore.”
Each of his words is a carefully crafted blow, a cold and calculated dismantling of my defenses, pulling all the bottled rage and resentment out from below the surface.
“I’ve never had sex with him!” My anger explodes out of me from the pressure of it all.
“Fine, you didn’t fuck him. But tell me to my face that you don’t have feelings for him.”
I can’t.
“That’s what I thought.” Tanner shakes his head and grabs the ring out of my hand. He starts to retreat but hesitates, deflating as a look of anguish flashes across his face for a moment before the cold mask returns. “Get fucked, Ophie.”
He turns and walks back into the party.
My shoulders slump as all of the fight leaves my body, and uncontrollable laughter bubbles up past my lips. That’s how Dad finds me, laughing like a lunatic in the starlight.
“Are you okay?” he asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m fine,” I say around gasping bursts of laughter, and the truth is, I’m more than fine.I’m free.
“Let’s get you home before that asswipe does something stupid.” My dad ushers me down the staircase and away from the life I woke up thinking I’d be trapped in forever. I’ll figure out how to navigate my relationship with the twins later. Right now, I just want to go home.
When Dad said home, I knew he meant Grandma Anne’s small cottage, but that’s not home to me anymore. My heart yearns to be back in Athens with Morgan. I’ve wasted enough time already. I don’t want to waste a second more without him.
Chapter 31
Morgan
The stagnant air inside Double Teep is thick with the sweat that pours from our exhausted bodies. As if it wasn’t already hard enough to breathe through the humidity, Gage traps my face against the damp canvas of his Gi, stealing my breath entirely. I tap to the pressure seconds before the buzzer sounds, signaling the end of the round.
“Good work, guys. I’ll see you next week,” Coach David calls, dismissing the class.
